Genmaicha was a type of tea that I came to later in my tea-drinking life. I didn’t yet understand the toasty magic of having puffed rice brewed alongside a nutty green tea. Since then I’ve been on the genmaicha train and I don’t plan to leave. 52Teas has a great variety of genmaicha teas, like banana marshmallow or rice pudding. This time I’m trying Pumpkin Spice Latte Genmaicha from 52Teas.
In addition to the expected green tea and puffed rice, this blend contains pumpkin pieces, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The peppery allspice and herbal nutmeg make this tea smell specifically like autumn and not just your everyday chai spices.
Brewed, this blend is exceptionally well-balanced. There are the sweet flavors of a pumpkin spice latte, and a little warmth and depth from the spices, but they don’t drown out the toasty comfort of the original genmaicha.
As much as I love pumpkin spice everything, this might be one of my favorite takes on the flavor. The brew is creamy without being cloying, spicy without feeling generic, and the genmaicha base makes me feel so cozy and easygoing.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be ordering those PSL coffee lattes when they come back on the menu, but I’ll also be rooting for 52Teas to reblend this genmaicha beauty just in time for pumpkin season.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cocoa Chili Pumpkin from Tiesta Tea. . .
Tea friends, imagine this next paragraph as a deep-voiced movie-trailer:
“In a world of slightly-altered Earl Greys, chais, and variations on ‘creamy’ whatever, this tea dares to go where No Tea Has Gone Before. Pumpkin, chili, and cocoa: Can they overcome their differences to make a good tea?”
I’m not quite sure, but I’m definitely glad I tried it.
The pumpkin and cocoa are pretty straightforward: you experience the cocoa and the pumpkin on the tongue, and the pumpkin as the aftertaste.
The memorable feature is the chili. You can experience the burn as you swallow. It’s unusual. It’s a bit exciting. You feel like you’ve swallowed fire or walked across coals, without, you know, having actually left your living room or done anything dangerous.
The caffeine content is the bomb. This is part of Tiesta’s “energizer” line, and yuuup, that is what it is. Your mouth is sizzling and your eyes are bugging out.
You are prepared for your day. No matter how unusual it may be, you’ve already got this tea under your belt.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tiesta Tea
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pumpkin Caramel Torte from A Quarter To Tea. . .
My daughter is one of THOSE people who goes crazy over pumpkin-everything in the fall. When I saw this sample, I knew we had to taste it together, so I packed it up for the trip out of town to her place.
The dry leaf smells wonderful, with a creamy vanilla and spice scent that is very promising. The white tea leaves are large and there are chunks of all kinds of goodies in this blend. We followed the recommended steeping instructions to a T.
The steeped tea has a wonderfully comforting aroma, different from the leaves. The dry leaf smelled primarily of vanilla and caramel to me, but the clove is intensified by steeping and the aroma of clove tingles in your nose as you take your first sips. It isn’t strong enough to over-tingle the tongue or detract from the creamy caramel and vanilla flavors.
My daughter said she was pleased to find that she tasted PUMPKIN, and not just pumpkin spices as is so often the case. Maybe that is because of the sweet potato bits in the blend.
This was a limited edition blend that is presently sold out, so why review it? Because it may give readers a good idea of the skill of the tea blenders at A Quarter To Tea and some insight into the quality of their ingredients.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Ginger and pumpkin with a slight pastry and note cool into a dreamy caramel creme.
Abundant caramel when slightly cooled.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pumpkin Mocha Breve from Adagio Teas. . . . .
It’s sunny as hell, and the first day of Penn State’s summer break. Yet here I sit with a pumpkin spice tea. Because I break ALL THE CONVENTIONS. I’m standing strong against The Man. Resist where you can, kids.
Pumpkin spice is tasty all. year. round. Yum.
Throw in a little chocolate for taste and mate for kick, and I am ready to roll. This is a great blend.
It contains mate. Mate is a caffeinated genetically-not-technically-tea. Its influence varies from person to person. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this in any previous posts, but I feel like I should probably point it out to you now. My best friend could drink a mug of it and fall asleep for the night shortly thereafter. However, she has no idea how it would affect her baby (she’s breastfeeding), so she can’t drink it right now.
She’s worried her baby might react to mate the way I do.
Mate makes ME feel like a kid at Chuck E Cheese, though.
SORT OF RELATED FACT: Did you know that Chuck E Cheese’s full name is “Charles Entertainment Cheese”? I’ll wait while you Google that.
Regardless of whether you love giant mouse mascots, video games, pumpkin spice, chocolate, or caffeine, this is the tea for you!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Mate
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
That perfect delicious drink, invented and served by Levi to warm any girl’s heart. He’s sorta brilliant that way. This black tea is filled with the smooth sweetness of pumpkin and spices mixed with warm cream. A touch of mocha nut mate with accents of cinnamon, apples pieces and cocoa nibs might just blow your mind.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pumpkin Juice Green Tea from 52Teas. . . . #allthingspumpkin
When I was in University, my roommate and I used to like to host themed potlucks. Something about putting a theme on it encouraged people to really go all out. One of our potluck was fantasy-themed. We encouraged our friends to bring foods inspired by their favorite books, TV shows, movies, etc. Harry Potter was definitely a popular inspiration for many. Personally, I made Butterbeer while others brought Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties. One friend even brought cupcakes decorated as the Golden Snitch, complete with wings. Pumpkin juice didn’t make an appearance though so this is the first time I am trying a real life interpretation of this Harry Potter drink…
Now that I am drinking it, I can see where 52 Teas was coming from when they created this flavor. It is light but still tastes like pumpkin. Not just pumpkin spice but actual pumpkin, sweet and smooth. Though, pumpkin spice does trickle in nearing the end of the sip, ginger lingering in the aftertaste. The pineapple, however, is the key. It provides some much needed sweetness and brightness to elevate this to a “juice”. That to me is what sets this apart.
When this tea sample arrived from CuppaGeek, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I don’t know if this is exactly what I pictured when reading about pumpkin juice in the books, although I don’t think it was ever described so much as just mentioned throughout the series which means it is open to interpretation.
With that said, it is certainly a tasty tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and have been for a lot of years so this year as my Halloween offering, I decided I wanted to celebrate my favorite books with a tribute to one of the wizarding world’s favorite juices: Pumpkin Juice!
Having never actually tasted pumpkin juice, I googled “pumpkin juice” for some ideas on recipes for it. There are a few different recipes online for pumpkin juice and each of them were a little different. Some were a combination of orange juice and pumpkin juice – which sounded interesting! Another included dried apricots instead of the orange juice – also interesting! Others were made with peach or pear juice. But the recipe that appealed to me most was one that combined pumpkin, apple juice, pineapple juice and spices. I thought that the apple would add some pleasant sweetness to the savory quality of the pumpkin and the pineapple juice would add some brightness to the overall flavor.
I started with a base of fair-trade, rainforest alliance certified Satemwa estate green teas (OP1 & Zomba Steamed) and added chunks of dried pumpkin, freeze-dried apples and pineapple, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and touch of freshly shaved nutmeg. The fruits do soften the flavor of the pumpkin somewhat however, the overall flavor is quite autumn-y and delicious.
Taster size is approximately 15g.
ingredients: fair trade green teas and pumpkin.
organic ingredients: apples, pineapple, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and natural flavors.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
