Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where To Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
The classic taste of pumpkin pie blended with rich, delicious chocolate. This tea includes pumpkin shaped candies to add even more to the already delicious flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Pumpkin Pie. How do you improve upon this classic Thanksgiving dessert? Add chocolate, of course!
This is really yummy. I love that I taste pumpkin prominently in this cup – so often it seems that pumpkin flavor is elusive at best with some pumpkin pie flavored teas. But here, the pumpkin is strong – but not so strong that it is all I taste. I also taste a touch of pumpkin pie spice, and CHOCOLATE! And after a few minutes of letting the tea cool slightly, I also notice just a hint of buttery pie crust … yum!
And while the flavor of the black tea is a little less prominent than I’d like it to be for a flavored black tea, this is still really so yummy! I do taste the tea, but it IS a bit obscured by the stronger flavors of pumpkin, spice, and chocolate.
Interestingly, the way the spices are put together in this blend, it sort of gives the chocolate a sort of chocolate liqueur type of taste … as if this chocolate pumpkin pie were made using a chocolate liqueur like Godiva’s Chocolate Liqueur. I’m not big on alcoholic beverages – but that stuff is AMAZING! – and I love how that sort of flavor sort of comes alive in this cup for me. It’s like having some Godiva’s without having to pay the price tag of it. Plus, it’s in a much more consumable format for me – TEA!
I really am enjoying this tea. An excellent tea for this time of year … or any time of year really!
Pumpkin Creme Brulee from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Cinnamon, spice, and everything nice! Our Pumpkin Creme Brulee has a premium Organic Ceylon base and combines a scrumptious pumpkin with fall spices and a touch of cream for a delicious guilt-free treat. We recommend adding brown crystal sugar to enhance the cream flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
YUM!
I tend to be a little skeptical when it comes to pumpkin flavored teas, because some that I’ve tried have not really tasted very much like pumpkin. They usually end up tasting like pumpkin pie spice and not the squash itself.
But this Pumpkin Creme Brulee from Butiki Teas has pumpkin flavor … and not an artificial, chemical-y tasting pumpkin. This has a pleasantly sweet, mild squash flavor that melds deliciously with the gentle spiced notes of cinnamon and nutmeg.
And then there is the creme brulee taste! Creme brulee is without a doubt my favorite dessert. And this has that creamy, decadent flavor of the baked custard, making this a sweet, irresistibly good tea.
However, it wouldn’t BE a tea without the tea base, and Butiki Teas uses a high-quality Ceylon tea which offers a mellow background note. It is rich and pleasant, with a hint of earthiness that marries with the spices to give a slightly nutty fullness that supports the pumpkin notes well.
The flavors of this tea work together perfectly. This would be a lovely tea to serve around the fall and winter holidays to guests as it does have that autumnal feel to it. However, this IS spring, but at the time of writing this review, we are still experiencing a chilly spring … and this makes for a lovely afternoon treat – delicious and warming enough to forget that cold that lurks outside!
Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
After creating our Pumpkin Cheesecake blend last week, I was bitten by the pumpkin bug, and reminded of the delicious pumpkin pancakes my wife likes to make. As popular as our pancake breakfast tea is, I thought this could be just as popular–a Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast tea.
Here is the essence of pumpkin pancakes, drizzled in warm maple syrup and topped with a touch of fresh creamy butter. (To our vegan friends, I assure you this is still 100% Vegan, and we only use natural flavors–something of a miracle, if you ask me, but a delicious miracle.)
Taster’s Review:
As I sit here typing, this tea is in my mug which is placed right in front of me… and the aroma wafting out of the mug is irresistible. It smells so good that my taste buds seem to be focusing all their powers to make my hands stop typing and start sipping.
And … YUM! Yes, of course, yum. This is 52Teas we’re talking about. Frank is the “Willy Wonka of Teas.” I am sure that he’s working on some fantastic blend that is a 3 course meal all in itself.
But in the meantime, I’m blown away by this Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast tea. It really delivers what it promises: the flavors of pumpkin, pancake, butter and maple syrup are all there. Yummy! Plus, of course, I can taste the flavor of rich black tea.
The black tea base that Frank uses is a blend of Nilgiri and Assam teas, and it provides a very solid backdrop for the unusual blends that Frank dreams up. However, I have noticed that with some of the blends – more so than with others – it comes across as slightly bitter. And that is the case with this tea, so I recommend caution when brewing it, start out with just 2 minutes (or 2 minutes 15 seconds) and adjust according to your own taste. I brewed this cup at 2 1/2 minutes, and I think it could benefit with a little less time. It is still very flavorful, and I’m not getting much bitterness here, but, I can sense that if I steeped it even 15 seconds longer I would have a bitter cup.
As it is, though, it is rich and flavorful without being too bitter. Next time, though, I think I shall brew it for just 2 minutes.
I enjoyed my cup straight up and found that it is pleasantly sweet on its own. I then tried it with a little sprinkling of turbinado sugar and found that this brought out some of the maple-y tones a bit more which was nice. I think next time I try it, I shall try a drizzle of pure maple syrup and see how delightful that turns out!
At the time of this writing, this blend is sold out. I hope Frank does decide to reblend it for those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to try it, because this would make the PERFECT tea to serve with breakfast on Thanksgiving morning!
Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Product Description:
So, what goes into a tea named after the terrifying tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman? Pumpkin, of course. (The story goes that the horseman had the head of a pumpkin.) Add to this a select blend of herbs and spices, chai mix, cinnamon and ginger pieces. The taste of Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai, it goes without saying, is to die for!
Taster’s Review:
What better tea to drink on Halloween than a tea called Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai? If this doesn’t get the taste buds excited for tonight, nothing will!
The dry leaf is visually appealing, with not only lots of large pieces of spices tossed amongst the black tea leaves, but also orange, purple and green candy sprinkles for a touch of whimsy. There aren’t a lot of sprinkles (the photo above shows more sprinkles than I could see in my package), so they don’t add a whole lot of sweetening to the chai, and as always, I do recommend sweetening the chai as it enhances the spices. (I used turbinado sugar for my cup)
I tried this two ways: first, I tried it with just the sugar added to get a taste for the blend before I lattefy (Yes, it’s a word, I just made it up, ok?) with some steamed milk. The pumpkin flavor is well-defined. Very often with pumpkin flavored teas, the pumpkin can often be somewhat obscured by the spices, and since this IS a chai, I expected that to be the case with this blend. But it is certainly NOT the case!
Yes, the chai spices are strong, but the pumpkin is equally as strong and shines through the warm, peppery flavor of the masala spice. The peppery flavor of ginger and black pepper comes through strongest, but, I can also taste the cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom … as well as the flavor of the black tea.
One look at the ingredient list and you’d think that this chai has a lot going on, but, all the ingredients work together quite well. To be honest, when I saw that hibiscus and rooibos were both in this blend, I had to go and check my package, because I really don’t taste them, and I can’t really see any evidence of their presence in the dry leaf.
After finishing one cup with just the sugar to enhance the spices, I then moved on to what I’ve been looking forward to since receiving this tea – a Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai Latte! I mean, this time of year, every time I walk past a coffee shop I see signs announcing their fall flavors and it makes me WANT to try them; but, since coffee leaves me with some ill after effects, I must avoid these alluring advertisements. I love that Culinary Teas makes it possible for my own version of a fall flavored coffee-house special without the coffee.
And … YUM! All the flavors I mentioned before remain intact with the addition of the steamed milk, but instead of a “spiced pumpkin” sort of flavor, this is a bit like pumpkin pie filling topped with whipped cream that’s been added to my chai. This is absolutely delicious!
No tricks, this tea is definitely a TREAT!
Pumpkin Spice from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
This blend combines black teas with pumpkin and spice flavor to create a deep amber cup that is velvety smooth and aromatic. Its light, delicious taste is reminiscent of pumpkin custard. This tea, enjoyed year round, just adds another sensory delight to the mystique of the pumpkin!
Ingredients: black teas, pumpkin flavor and marigold petals.
Taster’s Review:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM THE SORORITEA SISTERS!
The hot cup of tea that sits before me now smells yummy. It smells the way my kitchen smells on Thanksgiving morning – freshly baked pumpkin pie! Delish!
This is a very tasty pumpkin spice tea. While it doesn’t have that pie/pastry flavor to it, it does have a delicious, savory pumpkin flavor with a hint of spice. It tastes very much like the baked pumpkin pie filling sans the pastry. And unless gramma is baking the pie (she made the most incredible crusts, but I digress), the baked custard is the best part of the pie anyway.
The black tea base is a brisk black tea. It is mild as far as black teas go, but, it works with this blend. It is pleasant and provides a delicious background for the pumpkin and spice flavors.
I could taste the spice notes right away, particularly the cinnamon. It isn’t a spicy cinnamon taste, it is more like a sweet hint of spice which enhances the natural sweetness as well as the savory notes of the fruit (or vegetable?)
It took a few sips for the pumpkin flavor to really develop. At first, I was left wondering: where is the pumpkin? But, by the time I was finished with my third or fourth sip, the pumpkin came through nicely. Now that I’m nearly finished with my second cup, I am questioning my memory! Did I really not taste the pumpkin? I mean, it’s RIGHT THERE! That is to say, it is a strong, prominent flavor. Rich and sweet. Delicious.
I prefer this tea hot, but that could be because it’s chilly outside and a good, hot cup of Pumpkin Spice tea is quite a comfort on a day like this. It really doesn’t require any sweetening, but if you like a sweeter cup, it wouldn’t hurt to add a drizzle of honey (or perhaps maple syrup!) or maybe try a little bit of brown sugar. The molasses in the brown sugar might add an interesting dimension to the pumpkin. Hmm… now I’m thinking I need to brew another pot of this tea!