Pumpkin Chai

This tea was good as just tea but as a latte it was better!

I finally bought some (50g) of this. Last year I didn’t get a chance to do so, the two stores I tried to get it at were sold out. Can’t remember why I didn’t do it online but it doesn’t matter anymore.

I bought this and the cute stout fall cups — the ones with the red and orange maple leaves on them. I have a feeling these are selling quite a bit too.

The tea? It’s alright. Too much spice. It is a chai so you can’t fault them but again, too much stuff. Too much nutmeg, clove, cinnamon. The second steep was better. I had both steeps sweetened and with almond/coconut milk in them. To me this tea is quite similar to the glitter and gold (which I really don’t care for) and also similar to the oatmeal raisin cookie from Della Terra. So… Nay on restock.

The cups are great though. :)

Mmm.. This tea is quite delicious. Caramel, pumpkin, and a sweet hint of cinnamon. Yes, it is very good, but would I consider it a chai? No.. not really. It is very light and almost has a maple taste to it. The cinnamon is present, but not very bold and this tea is not very spicy at all. However, it is still a delicious autumn-inspired tea so I am happy!

Disclaimer: this tasting note is based on 2 samples in-store, and both of them were cold. Yes, that’s right. Today this was being served as an iced tea. WTAF?!

Second Disclaimer: I don’t like pumpkin. So keep that in mind.

Every year David’s introduces this tea I always write it off as soon as I see the name. I absolutely HATE pumpkin, so why would I like a pumpkin tea? Especially one where the rave reviews talk about how much this tastes like pumpkin?! NOT my idea of a good time. This year I decided to be adventurous and at least try it. I told myself if it was introduced in the fall collection again this year (they’d be crazy not to!), I would try it. I might even try a whole cup of it. But I would try it.

And so I tried it. And it was cold. Which was sooooo weeeeiiirrrrdddd. The tea guide emphasized over and over how much better it was hot, and I kept asking myself why the hell they would serve it iced. This makes no sense. I did get a bit of a pumpkin taste. A bit. It wasn’t enough to gross me out, which was probably good. It was spicy, but not traditional chai spices (no cardamom, I don’t think…and I really like cardamom). Mostly just cinnamon. A sweetness from the candy pieces. And almost…creaminess? I’m not sure. Something else. Can’t quite put my finger on it. It wasn’t terrible. I’m still going to reserve main judgement until I try a full cup of this. Next time…

Verdict: judgement reserved for next time, but based on this sample of the tea alone I wouldn’t buy it.

I know I’ve reviewed this one a million times, but I still love it. I know it isn’t even seasonally appropriate, but I don’t care. Sipping this with a dash of whole milk and it totally takes the chilly edge off this cold and rainy Spring morning. Just the right amount of spice with a hint of creamy squash. I am meh about a lot of flavored black teas these days, but this one continues to do it for me, even with the little candy pumpkins and whatnot. Happy Thursday!

I don’t know why I felt like having this so bad, but it did not disappoint: the spices are just right and there is a wonderful rich brown sugar note at the end of each sip. I haven’t really had time to drink much tea lately whimper but soon things at work will calm down and I’ll be able to focus on things like having a life. :(

I had a bit of a rambunctious kinda day, lots of energy and spunk. I believe it was a combination of having a really good day of hanging out with friends and gaming yesterday and the promise of storms today. Also I found out that there is a massive hurricane out in the Pacific Ocean that has my name, I have been waiting for a Hurricane Amanda pretty much my whole life. I really hope that either its path or the tropical upheaval brings lots of rain to the Midwest so that the drought conditions lessen even more. That would please me immensely.

Well, I did it again, I forgot that seasonal teas are in fact seasonal and have missed the season to write the review for this tea. Oops, I promise that in the future when I get a seasonal tea I will not just write about it in my tea notebook, but will blog about it immediately. Pumpkin Chai from DAVIDsTEA was part of their 2013 Fall Collection and is a blend of Black Tea, Cinnamon, Cloves, Lemon Peel, Squash, Carrots, Caramel Bits, and Pumpkin Candies. This tea really caught my eye when I saw that it was not only pumpkin spice themed, but also has squash bits! The aroma of this tea is very sweet and creamy with extremely strong spices. The cinnamon and cloves really overpower the rest of the aromas, but there is a faint hint of malt, pumpkin, and caramel under the potent spices.

As this tea sits and steeps, the delicious aroma of pumpkin and spices float out of the cup and around the room. The aroma is a blend of earthiness with much milder spices, and squash. Specifically the aroma of acorn squash and pumpkin bread. The aroma of the wet leaves makes me rather hungry for one of my favorite bread types. The liquid without the leaves is rather sweetly spiced with notes of creamy caramel and squash.

The initial impact of the taste is a tingly and numb feeling from the spices, it is a little overwhelming, but it quickly fades to mellow sweetness and spices. Adding cream and sugar (this is a chai after all) dampens the overwhelming spices, and now there is a rich caramel taste and strong squash notes. I still think that the spices are too strong, so much so that a few minutes after starting to sip this tea I started getting red in the face and breaking out in hives…sometimes that happens to me when I have too much cinnamon. I was really happy that this tea tasted like squash, but the abundance of spices really made this tea not a favorite.

For blog, photos, and a nice crafty tutorial: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/davidstea-pumpkin-chai-tea-review.html

This is one of my favourite Chai teas, I think I would enjoy it more if it had more pumpkin flavouring. One of the teas that makes me feel cozy and warm on rainy days. Does taste very good with a splash of fireball in it!

So good. Wish I’d bought more of this when I had the chance. Doesn’t taste like the fake pumpkin flavor that’s so prevalent in the fall, it’s a good balance and very doable.

Sipdown!

I finished this off last night with an overleafed cup and … I still don’t like it. It definitely had more flavor this way, but if I let it cool down too much it was bitter and nasty. I get pumpkin in the smell of the dry leaf and maybe a bit of spices when it’s steeped, but overall, I find it disappointing. Guess this just isn’t my tea.