As soon as the weather turns a little cooler, or when I just get tired of summer, I decide that it’s pumpkin season and start looking for all things pumpkin spice. I love the warming cinnamon and ginger, the herbal clove, cardamom, and allspice, and the general sweet juiciness of pumpkin puree. Each pumpkin spice product has its own blend of sweet and spicy, which makes it all the more fun to try them all.
This time, I tried Pumpkin Chai from Love Tea. I got a chance to try this company’s more summery blends earlier in the year, and really enjoyed what they had to offer, so I thought I’d try their version of my favorite fall flavor. This Pumpkin Chai really stands out from other teas and coffees with the same name. Love Tea’s blend has lots of chai spice and pumpkin flavor, but it also has prominent citrus flavors.
In addition to the crisp black tea base and warm spices, this blend has hibiscus, orange, rosehips, and lemongrass. These ingredients set this apart from other pumpkin blends, and it offers a great change of pace to have the tart kiss of citrus alongside the usual herbs and spices. The hibiscus bring enough tart red fruit flavor, that this almost feels more like a mulled wine-flavored tea. The oranges and cloves together make for a delicious cold-weather flavor combination that often pops up in winter-themed candles and baked goods as the season goes on.
If you think you have tried every pumpkin spice that the world has to offer, try Pumpkin Chai from Love Tea. Even beyond the Halloween, the orange and spice flavors will warmly guide you into the winter season.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Love Tea
Description:
Our 2016 Brillliant Winter Blends started with this one. Put your Pumpkin Chai Latte on notice! This is all the flavor without the coffee. A black tea blend with Izmir Chai Spice all rolled into the perfect winter warmer. Serve this with a splash of milk (or flavored creamer) and a dash of sugar and your friends will never believe you are drinking tea. Start your holiday shopping now and get in the spirit with us.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Kid-Friendly Novelty, Delicious, Gross Swampwater from David’s Tea
David’s Tea company always have the cutest seasonal mugs, and I just can’t help but check out their fall collection as soon as it goes up on their website. Their loose-leaf teas are generally all blends, and tend to be on the sweeter side. That said, it is a colorful and friendly place to get started for those who are new to tea.
This Halloween season, I ordered a cute ceramic jar with glow-in-the-dark ghosts. To get the jar, it came filled with tea, and this blend was such a good time I had to write a review. The tea that came with my jar was Swampwater. This green rooibos blend is flavored with papaya and passionfruit and is decked out with orange and black-cat sprinkles. It smells sweet and fruity in the dry leaf, and tastes even more sugary when brewed. The tropical flavors reminded me of gummy candies or melted popsicles. Definitely a sweet indulgence, but a nice reward for Halloween.
The real trick with this blend is that this tea brews up murky and opaque– like swampwater! It reminds me of those gross-out candy workshops that all little brothers seemed to have in their toy collection. When brewed with hot water, the sprinkles melt to change the color of the brew, and this innocent rooibos ends up looking as densely colored as a cup of matcha, but more brown than green. Even if you like to drink your tea iced, I recommend brewing this hot and chilling it. If the tea is used in a cold brew, the sprinkles won’t melt and you won’t get this sensational color-change magic.
Because of its decaf nature, the sweetness, and the novelty of the color change, this would be a great drink for a kids’ Halloween party. It looks gross and tastes great, and what kid can resist some black-cat sprinkles on Halloween? If you order it soon, you might still be able to get the glow-in-the-dark ghost jar as an added bonus. Happy Halloween!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: David’s Tea
Description:
After we retired this fruity limited edition tea, we never thought we’d see it again. But this Halloween, it rose from the grave one last time. With rooibos, papaya, passion fruit and black cat sprinkles, it’s a spooky blend worthy of any Halloween festivities – and best of all, it steeps to a sinister dark green colour. The scariest part? People can’t seem to get enough of it. So make sure you get your hands on this frightfully delicious tea before it goes back to the grave.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Happy Witch Blend from Sunshine Cottage
One of my favorite Etsy shops is Sunshine Cottage. They offer great flavored teas, tea accessories, and other wonderful items sure to make you smile. So naturally when I saw they had a tea named Happy Witch Blend.. . I was all over it!
Happy Witch Blend is a mix of sweet apples, cinnamon, spices, and a touch of vanilla flavoring. A wonderful fall treat to be sure. I grabbed my tea pot and instantly started steeping.
A few minutes later, I had myself a gorgeous brew waiting for me to try. This tea had one of those amazing wonderful fragrances that make you just sit back and enjoy the moment.
One sip in and this tea was exactly what I was looking. Fresh sweet apple notes mingling with a mix of different spices that remind you of chai. The vanilla did give way to a sweetness that I noticed right away. The black tea base lent itself to subtle malty notes that I found myself really enjoying. They contrasted nicely with all of the sweet notes coming from the vanilla and apple flavoring. 
As good as this tea was without any add ins, I think a touch of honey would really elevate the tea even more. Or even a shot of whiskey or brandy. . .which is what I did along with a dollop of cream and a dusting of cinnamon on top.
This tea became a decent flavored tea to an insanely amazing treat. Perfect for those cold fall/winter nights that will soon be upon us here in the Midwest. Rich, decadent, sweet, with that heat that really resonates with you.
Simply delicious however you enjoy the tea!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Sunshine Cottage
Description
Make your inner witch happy with this wonderful flavored black tea. Hand blended it’s full of sweet apples, cinnamon and spices, with a touch of vanilla for smoothness – It’s magical!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Angry Pumpkin Black Tea from Design a Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Design a Tea
Tea Description:
A nice hardy blend of pumpkin and nutmeg with a black tea base. Served hot, will fill the room with the aroma of a “beautiful pumpkin”. Those were his words- I know, lame! .
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I hate to admit it, but I have a double standard when it comes to tea names. I absolutely hate it when a company will skirt around what type of tea something is, “It’s a deeply shaded fukamushi sencha harvested in the summer, steamed to perfection.” I get it. Just say it’s a gyokuro already! But when it comes to blended and flavored teas, the more ridiculous the better.
That is why I had to try this tea from Design a tea. I have so many questions. Why is this pumpkin angry? What happened in this tea’s life to make it so furious? Will it make me angry when I drink it? There is only one way to find out.
I brewed up 5g in my 12oz teapot for around 4 minutes. The resulting brew was like an autumn hug. Usually pumpkin flavorings fall short for me, but in this tea, the pumpkin was at the forefront of the brew. Luckily, it wasn’t an aggressive pumpkin. It was sweet and complimented the spices and the black tea base.
I suppose you cannot have a pumpkin tea without putting in some pumpkin pie spices. This particular blend highlighted the use of nutmeg. It was a good idea in theory, but the blend also had cinnamon chips. Yes, it is listed as the last ingredient, but the cinnamon tried it’s hardest to overpower the nutmeg. Throughout all this fighting for attention, what I get is a sweet slice of pumpkin pie. For my first fall-themed tea of the year, it definitely gets me pumped up for more. Bring it on!
I still don’t know what makes this pumpkin so angry, and the other flavors are not that aggressive either. The black tea base is mellow, sweet, with notes of sweet potato. This is a tea with a soothing profile, but I think the name Mellow Pumpkin would not sell as well. Thankfully, it did not make me angry to drink it, and I happily gulped down my pot of Angry Pumpkin to celebrate the beginning of October!
Pumpkin Spice Chai from The Tea Spot
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Tea Spot
Tea Description:
Our NEW seasonal Pumpkin Spice Chai may soon become your favorite tea to look forward to each Fall! This chai blend boasts a perfectly-balanced full leaf Assam black tea base with cinnamon, clove, cardamom, allspice, and pumpkin flavor to get you warmed up for Fall. This tea makes an amazing pumpkin latte with the simple addition of steamed milk. This seasonal treat will have you jumping in piles of rainbow-colored leaves in no time!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This year (at least this time of the year this year) seems like it’s been the year of the pumpkin chai! I’ve reviewed quite a few different pumpkin chai teas this year! I’ve enjoyed most of what I’ve tried (nothing comes to mind immediately that I did not enjoy, but some I definitely enjoyed more than others), but I think I’m saving the best for last! This one – this! This is one of the very best pumpkin chai teas that I’ve ever tasted.
The first thing that really impressed me when I opened the pouch of this tea is the aroma! Wow! I can really smell the pumpkin! It is a distinct pumpkin-y fragrance. It smells like the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning when the pies are baking! I smell notes of spice and black tea too, but the pumpkin notes are prominent!
The aromatic pumpkin notes are there in the brewed tea too. The fragrance wafting out of my teacup right now are scrumptious! To brew this, I used my Kati Tumbler and measured 1 heaping bamboo scoop of tea into the basket. I like to use just a little more leaf when I’m brewing a chai! This is especially important if you plan on going latte, because you want to accommodate for the heavier flavor of the dairy – or whatever product you’re using to make it a latte.
I brought 12 ounces of water to boiling and poured it into the tumbler and let this tea steep for 3 1/2 minutes. I usually stop at 3 minutes with a black tea (and especially an Assam, which this is!) but because of the spices, I wanted to give them a little more time to develop so I crossed my fingers and hoped that the Assam would let me steep it a little longer!
Fortunately, the Assam didn’t seem to mind the slightly longer steep.
This is a really delicious pumpkin chai. The pumpkin notes are distinct. They are THERE. There’s no mistaking the pumpkin here! This isn’t a pumpkin pie spice type chai where you’re tasting the spices of a pumpkin pie but no pumpkin flavor. This is PUMPKIN!
And even though the pumpkin flavor is strong, it is a true-to-the-squash type of flavor. It doesn’t taste artificial. It tastes like someone liquefied pumpkin puree and added it to my teacup.
The spices are nice. They’re good and strong – flavorful – without pushing it to the spicy level! It’s a distinct, spiced blend. Not just warmly spiced, but not quite “spicy” either. It’s somewhere between. Consider the amount of spice that you’d find in the typical pumpkin pie. Let’s call that mild spice. And then there’s the super zesty, spicy level … this is somewhere in between. This tastes like a chai that is also a pumpkin tea.
And I like that the spices are so thoughtfully balanced. I like that this tastes like a chai! I taste each of the spices: cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger. I am also tasting the allspice which is nice (and not always something that’s added to chai!) It’s warm, it’s cozy, but it’s also got a certain zippy invigorating quality that I get from a well-spiced chai.
You might think that with all that pumpkin and spice, that the tea winds up on the short end of the stick. But no! This is an Assam tea and it’s got some gusto! It is a rich, malty tea and the sweet, caramel-y notes together with the malt really play nicely with the flavors of pumpkin and spice.
For the purposes of this review, I didn’t go latte with this chai. I wanted to experience the tea straight up, with just a little bit of raw sugar added to enhance the spices a little. (This would also be amazing with honey!) After I finished writing my thoughts about the non-latte chai, I decided to add some steamed milk and it’s awesome like that too! So rich and creamy and yum! Better than what you’d find in the local coffee stop!
This is a very clever, well-crafted pumpkin chai. This is the best of the pumpkin patch!
