Tis the season for all things pumpkin and spooky. I love this time of year. Being a huge fan of the horror genre, I love stealing away any time I can and enjoying a scary flick or indulging myself in the latest spooky book. And honestly, the best partner to any scary book or movie is a marvelously brewed tea possibly turned into a latte.
Cocoa Chili Pumpkin has been my go to pumpkin tea for the last couple of weeks. I can’t get enough of this tea. Typically I stay away from black flavored spicy teas. In my experience, the spices tend to burn your taste buds or the flavors are just incredibly muddy. Not with this tea.
Being one that isn’t a huge chocolate fan but a HUGE pumpkin fan, I wondered how I would feel abbot this combo and I have to say, it is delightful! Each sip starts off with this lush smooth pumpkin dark chocolate combo that mingles with the malty tone set by the black tea base. Here and there you pick up a bit of heat that does just that. Brings some heat that truly elevates the tea to a different level. The spices are blended perfectly and are not overdone by any stretch.
What draws me to this tea the most is the combination of sweet and spicy flavors. I’ve never been one that has been drawn to spicy teas in the past, but I just can’t get enough of this particular tea. I’m not sure if its the pumpkin dark chocolate combo that I can’t get enough of or if it is the heat this tea brigs. Either way, I’m going to need more of this tea soon. My bag is about gone and we still have a few more weeks until winter is officially here.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tiesta Tea
Description
Ingredients: black tea + chocolate chunks + ginger + cinnamon + pumpkin cubes + natural flavors + cloves + chili peppers + cardamom + pink peppercorns + marigold petals (CONTAINS MILK)
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Unique Pumpkin Chai from Love Tea
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!
Roasted Pumpkin Carrot Cake Houjicha from A Quarter To Tea. . .
So many pumpkin spice teas appear around this time of year, but most of them are just pumpkin spices and make no attempt to taste like pumpkin.
Here is a tea that offers the creaminess of pumpkin and carrot cake as well as the spices.
May I just begin by saying how happy I am that this has houjicha as the base instead of rooibos? So many of the fall spiced teas are built on rooibos that they are beginning to fall into the “avoid” category for me.
I made two steeps of this tea and drank the first plain. I thought I tasted clove at first, but it was actually ginger adding the kick beside the cinnamon. It is somewhat creamy but I don’t know that I taste anything I would identify as pumpkin or carrot. This is an older sample, though, so it may have been there when fresh. I am delighted to taste these spices without rooibos, though!
The second steep proved to be as colorful and as flavorful as the first. A friend who was drinking it with me said she couldn’t tell a difference between the two.
I decided to add milk and sugar to the second cup from the second steep (something I rarely do) because I think most people add them when they are using a flavored tea as a dessert replacement. I expected the milk to take the ginger down a notch but it really didn’t. Most teas could not handle milk on a second steep and still taste like the original.
So far, everything I have tried from A Quarter To Tea re-steeps brilliantly. This was no exception, and may be worth checking out if you are a ginger lover.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Roasted houjicha tea with autumn spices and the creaminess of pumpkin blended together with hints of vanilla cream, extra ginger and carrot for a pumpkin carrot cake experience sure to delight.
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!
Salty Caramel Pumpkin Black Tea from Simpson and Vail. . . . #allthingspumpkin
I had to brew this tea three times before I actually started to enjoy it. I don’t know what happened, but I usually brew my black teas for 4-5 minutes. Don’t brew this one for that long, it gets way too bitter and both the salted caramel and pumpkin flavors will be overpowered. This tea needs to brew for only 2-3 minutes in order to be enjoyable!
Aside from the brewing issue, this tea is delicious! I love pumpkin everything- pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin bread, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pie, and even pumpkin soup. So, naturally, pumpkin tea is going to be something that I have to try. I also really like salted caramel. The combination of pumpkin and salted caramel makes my mouth water. It sounds so good! I was really bummed the first two times I brewed this one because I though that the black tea was just way too overpowering and way too bitter. Thankfully I finally went to their website and saw that this blend is only meant to be steeped for 3 minutes. Once I steeped it properly I was in heaven. Yum!
This blend filled my kitchen with smells of creamy salted caramel and pumpkin. On taste, salted caramel was in the forefront with pumpkin and black tea trailing behind. Even properly steeped, the black tea is still dominant in the blend. My only critique would be for them to maybe use a less bold black tea next time because the flavors of pumpkin and salted caramel would have popped just a little bit more. Otherwise, this tea is really really good! I’m now wondering if they make a salted caramel pumpkin ice cream flavor because the combination is heavenly! Even though pumpkin season is basically over, this blend is still worth a try because it is really good. I will look forward to it next fall!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
Fall in a cup! The aroma of caramel and pumpkin will delight your olfactory sense with the promise of a warm, tasty brew. The amber colored cup offers pumpkin on the front end with the delicious salty caramel taste at the back. These flavors are the perfect marriage in that they complement each other without competing.
Ingredients: black teas, marigold petals and pumpkin and salty caramal flavorings.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
