Pumpkin Cheesecake

Re-review of this tea.

When I had this tea 2 years ago I liked it fairly well as a latte. I dunno if they changed the tea or if my tastes have changed (prob both tbh) but here are my findings:

way 1: plain cup: approx 1.5-2 tsp steeped 5.5 min in 8oz of 200F water: smells amazing, but tastes strongly of wood. This rooibos/honeybush blend is woodier than usual rooibos? Didn’t finish the cup.

way 2: 4 “perfect spoonfuls” (approx 10 tsp) steeped 5min in 8oz of 200F water then mixed with hot, frothed 1% milk: VERY strong wood taste. but milky! Gross. No pumpkin cheesecake taste in the least. Had to mix some anise milk powder (dutch treat- look it up) do I didn’t dump this down the sink. Even then it’s JUST palatable.

Giving the rest of the tea away to the first Canadian (sorry, I only have those stamps) who wants it. I can’t believe how much this was not like pumpkin cheesecake.

Only one serving left of this tea… I hope they’ll bring it back next year. It’s really good with milk and brown sugar (like Pumpkin Chai). It’s less spicy than Pumpkin Chai, so I drink this when I want a “neutral”, almost straight tea. I can really taste the green rooibos and pumpkin. Unfortunately there is a slight soap-ish aftertaste which I don’t like. But a very comforting drink.

I was really excited when I heard of this tea. Pumpkin? Cheesecake? YES PLEASE!
But… I don’t really get anything special from this tea at all. There’s an aftertaste that reminds me of the name? And it smells like pumpkin and lemon and sweet…. but I really can’t find myself loving it. There’s just not enough to it, and what there is just isn’t spectacular. Not… bad? Just… not anything really great either.

Dry tea smell: I smell no signs of pumpkin flavored life. smells strongly of honey.

Steeped but not yet sipped: Smells like pie crust with a bit of honey and cinnamon… not a good sign. I am a sucker for anything pumpkin.

Sipped w/out cream: highly disappointed. I expected creamy and pumpkiny. I taste dough flavored cinnamon water. I’m going to go add a splash of creamer….

Sipped w cream: Nope, still not havin’ it. Oh well, happy I only bought 2oz

I picked up a small amount of this tea on the way home from work today. I’m a bit of a sucker for pumpkin-flavoured things, especially this time of year when it starts to get cold, damp and windy.

The smell of the brewing tea filled up the house – spicy and sweet and very autumn-y. The flavour isn’t quite cheesecake, although there’s certainly some rich, creamy notes in there courtesy of the white chocolate. There’s something that’s very strongly reminiscent of a graham cracker crust in the flavour with that same honeyed sweetness – in that regard the red rooibos base actually works really well for this tea. There are some spices but they’re rather subdued and this clearly isn’t intended to be a chai-like tea.

It sort of misses a bit where it comes to the flavours it’s trying to replicate, but it’s still a lovely tea on its own. I’m definitively buying more before it sells out.

I like this tea almost as much as the Pumpkin Chai from David’s. That’s really quite a compliment since I don’t really ever like rooibos tea. Pumpkin flavor comes through nicely, it’s got a lovely spice without overdoing it and there’s a subtle, slightly tangy creaminess that I’m guessing is the “cheesecake” part. Little pieces of white chocolate add to the dessert-like quality of this flavor.

This was neither good nor bad but somewhere in between. It was savory in character and I couldn’t taste the cheese in cheesecake. I would not buy it again. There was a heavy flavor of rooibos which was good but little sweet flavor which was bad.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 min.

This tea is a funny story – when I first saw the ingredient list, I knew that I was going to hate it. Absolutely hate it.
Then I tried it, and I began to reconsider. I ordered a cup hot to see if maybe it was one good sip.
Nope, it was awesome. Me + Rooibos!? For reaaaaal!? This one makes a great latte, or add a touch of rock sugar or agave for a really sweet dessert treat. Like other reviewers, I don’t really get “cheesecake”, but the creaminess from the white chocolate really comes through. My big notes are pumpkin, “pumpkin spice” and the chocolate. Highly recommend.
My night time alternative to pumpkin chai.

I definitely got the pumpkin and the creaminess, but I didn’t get the “cheesecake” flavour in particular. But, that is still fine with me. I will just have to try it again to see if I get the cheesecake flavour next time I guess.

I am not liking this blend too much this afternoon. Most rooibos teas can be steeped for a long time but when this is steeped for a while it tastes artificial and ashy. I really need to stop buying things from David’s tea, I have no idea how they are so popular. I would say 50% or more of their teas are so bad I just end up throwing them away after I buy them. I am just ditching the remainder of this bag. Snickerdoodle was worse.