Nik

Grandma's Pumpkin Pie from Della Terra Teas

Nik drank Grandma's Pumpkin Pie by Della Terra Teas

Second steep. Longer steep time, plus milk and agave. Verdict?

Aroma: The steeped tea has a much fuller, mellower fragrance with the addition of (vanilla soy) milk. It’s still mostly pumpkin pie spice, but now I think I might be able to guess that it’s supposed to be pumpkin pie, if I didn’t already know.

Flavour: Milk + sweetener definitely made a huge difference for me. The improvements in the fragrance translated to the flavour, as well: the end result was a much creamier concoction. Surprising to me was the fact that agave somehow worked much better than sugar. I added it on a whim because the box of agave straw things was getting in my way and I wanted to (start to) finish them.

Aftertaste: Out of nowhere, coconut. There’s no coconut anywhere. I don’t have coconut milk, there’s no coconut in the tea, but there you have it. Coconut. So weird! Good weird, but weird.

It’s a pretty weak second steep, so I’m glad I took the time to play around with it. Now that I know milk and sweetener improve the blend, I’ll give it a proper go with fresh leaves next time. In the meantime, I’m increasing the rating a bit to account for the improvements I was able to discover during this experiment.

Tea amount: 1 level tsp
Water amount: 6oz/~175mL
Additives: 2 agave straw thingies and some vanilla soy milk
Dry mouth factor: 0/10 (because milk)

2012-10-30 12:54:51 -0400

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5 min 15 sec

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Bonnie 2012-10-30 14:04:39 -0400

So NIK…you made it and have power too?!

Nik 2012-10-30 18:34:36 -0400

Hi, Bonnie! Yes, everything is fine here. The power flickered once or twice, but didn’t even really blink, much less go out completely. We were very lucky, especially for being so (relatively) close to where Sandy made landfall.

Dixie_Amazon 2012-10-31 11:52:33 -0400

Glad to hear it. Never can tell much from national coverage, it just talks about the flashy stuff.

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2012.10.07: I hear people like to understand other people’s ratings, so here’s a loose guide:

01-29: Dear God, why.
30-49: I’ll finish this cup, I guess, but no more.
50-59: Meh.
60-69: Decent. Maybe I can blend it with something else and make it better.
70-79: Heeey, this is quite good!
80-89: I love it, but I’m not in love with it.
90-100: Permanently resident in my Happy Place.

Update: I have steeped, and it was good. =] Still a tea-ophyte, though.

This is a tea site, so I feel like “well, I’m Indian” should be enough of an introduction. Because, I mean, it’s kind of in my genes, right? But the fact of the matter is that I’m an absolute tea-ophyte.

I’ve just discovered a world beyond Celestial Seasonings. I’ve just discovered “sachets” instead of “normal” tea bags and bought my first loose tea sampler. I don’t get the whole water temperature and steep time thing yet, nor that if I want to get a yixiang tea pot, I’d need one for each type of tea. I have this infuser ball thing, but I haven’t used it yet.

Don’t cringe, but right now I’m still just boiling water and pouring it over a teabag, adding some sugar, and drinking a nice, hot cuppa. I’d like to learn more, I think, and I’d like to train my palate. I figure participating in this community is the best way to do that.

So ya. Hi!