Grandma's Pumpkin Pie

Della Terra Teas makes the most incredible dessert teas and this one definitely lives up to that.

Pumpkin is one of my absolute favorite scents, almost every single candle in my home is pumpkin scented, as is my lotion and body wash and hand soap.. etc. That being said I have tried a good bit of pumpkin teas and best majorly disappointed in some. Not so with this tea!

Consistant with other Della Terra Teas that I have tried, the aroma of this blend is amazing! Immediately gets your taste buds ready and waiting to taste some of it’s pumpkin spice goodness.

Steep time was 2 minutes and I lightly flavored it with a few rocks of rock sugar.

Flavor was like that of a pumpkin spice cookie. (I have a confession to make, for all my love of pumpkin I do not at all like pumpkin pie, so I can’t compare to the taste of an actual pie). There is a mellow holiday type spice flavor that lingers on the tongue after each sip and the pumpkin flavor is very well rounded. Most of all, this tea is not too sweet or artificial tasting, which I find can be the problem with most holiday sweets type tea blends.

Another great one that has me eager to see what this company puts out this coming holiday season. Gingerbread perhaps…? (hint hint)

Tea swap tasting note…this one is from OMGsrsly. I was so glad she had some Della Terra teas for me to try.

This is one that is very potent to smell, which is why she had to put the tea samples in zippered baggies, and then wrap in foil to prevent all the teas smelling like this or the Orange Brûlée.

Anyway, so yes, very strong smell in the bag. It does remind me a lot of Davids Pumpkin Chai, though not quite. It does taste pretty much how it smells. The only thing I regret about this tea, is that while it was very very tasty, it wasn’t the tea I wanted this morning after all. I was expecting it to be cold and gloomy, and it was, in fact, warmer and sunnier, so I think I would have been happier with a different tea today, to match my mood, and the weather. I’m also wearing a very spring feeling outfit….green pants and a blue two tone striped cardigan over a white camisole/tank….so I felt bright and colourful, and feel like maybe I should have had something a little fruitier and less dense of a tea. I don’t know if that makes sense. Maybe Berry Good or Love Tea #7 would have been better in that respect.

I think that if this had been a really truly gloomy and rainy day, I would have been more mentally into the team, but it just didn’t seem to match today. But I repeat, it is a very very tasty tea, sweet and pumpkiny, with nice spices. Not as chai like as Davids, though I did always find that Pumpkin Chai was less chai and more pumpkin. I do love the little pumpkin candies.

I definitely look forward to the right day to give this beauty a try. I’m not gonna dock this tea any rating simply because I was not actually in the right mood to have it, so I will rate it in terms of taste.

Continuing with my pumpkin quest tonight, I dug further into the box that JackieT sent me and found this one. We have a winner!!!
This is hands down the best pumpkin tea I’ve found so far. It’s not in your face spicy but all the pumpkin pie spices are there, you can taste the pumpkin. This is really good.

Thanks Jackie, this is awesome. (Love the variety and being able to head to head compare teas like this).

Sipdown! Finally finished off the rest of my sample from tattooed_tea earlier today. It might be May, but I love pumpkin enough to enjoy it year-round. Besides, it was freezing cold today (but 90 just two days ago, seriously Kansas?!), so delicious pumpkin spice tea was just what I needed.

This smells absolutely wonderful. The pumpkin, brown sugar, and spices all come together to create the aroma of pumpkin pie. As with other Della Terra black teas, the trick is to make it extra strong. Once steeped, the pumpkin really stood out in both the scent and the flavor. I woud have preferred just a tad more spice, but this would be a good option for people who don’t want to be slapped in the face by cinnamon.

I can safely say that this is by far my favorite black tea that Della Terra offers (though I have yet to try Pineapple Upside Down Cake). This reminds me a lot of David’s Pumpkin Chai. Now that I think about it, I should have done a side by side taste comparison with my last cup. Too late for that now!

I am trying to rate and review some of the teas I’ve had for a while before opening new ones. I’ve had this one for a while now and while it is enjoyable I still find myself making my own chai when I want spice rather than drinking my chai influenced blends so I am better off not buying them. Saying that this is a nice representative of it’s genre.

It brews to a copper colour and has a scent that reminds me of graham crackers mixed with gingerbread cookies. It smells of cloves and nutmeg and a biscuit tone with a hint of ginger over something sweet with a hint of vanilla. It smells closer to the store bought pumpkin pie I’ve had rather than the homebaked ones in my family which usually smell brighter in someway.

The tea has a smooth slightly sweet and refreshing base over laden with cinnamon, then the deeper tones of nutmeg cloves and vanilla mixed with vanilla that remind me a little bit of cream followed by a bittertone from the base tea mixed with hints of sweet pumpkin. There is an aftertaste of cream, spice and sweet tea and pumpkin.

The spice especially the cloves are not overwhelming as they can be in this type of blend. However this blend still makes me think more of graham crackers mixed with a slightly stronger bite of ginger and cinnamon rather than pumpkin pie for some reason. It re-steeps decently well, maintaining a decent body and has a nice spicy flavour.

Since it nearly Spring… I am having Autumn tea.

This has a nice scent. The flavour is good. It’s nice and Autumn, but needs a little more spices. Good with yams.

Thanks Emily M for this.

Got this one in my custom try me pack a while back and am just now getting to it.
As soon as I opened the package I wanted to eat the tea! It smells so good! I get pumpkin pie, but more than that I am getting a nice loaf of pumpkin bread, which is one of my favorite things about the Thanksgiving season. Yum! It’s spicy, pumpkin-y, and sweet smelling.
Once brewed the black base came out more. It still smelled like spice and pumpkin (even the pumpkin bread smell remained), but it wasn’t quite as strong.

Taste: I’m getting a lot of pumpkin in here, and a fair amount of cinnamon, though I think it could be enhanced. It tastes like a pumpkin spice tea, though not sure about the pie part (or the delicious pumpkin bread I smelled!). I am picking up a hint of a nutmeg-esque taste, though I think that, too, could be a little stronger. The black tea base is very light, only popping through here and there. I think it’s a tasty tea, but I feel like it’s lacking somewhere; maybe the spicing? I think I’d like a bit more of the cinnamon/nutmeg combo. I also think having a black tea base with a baked-goods aspect to it would benefit this tea (some black teas I’ve had give off this wonderful taste and I think it would be perfect for anything that’s supposed to taste like a baked good). Here, the black tea falls a bit flat. In the past I would have liked this, but lately I’ve come to appreciate pure black tea and all the wonderful flavor profiles they can have. The mouthfeel is smooth, but I wouldn’t say creamy.
There is also a bit of an artificial taste that I don’t care for at points in the sip. Maybe this is from the pumpkin candies? Or maybe the flavoring is artificial… I don’t remember if it’s natural or not. Whatever it is, it’s not totally over the top, but I’m still detecting it.

I have enough left of this sample to have another cup, so I may try adding a little sugar and milk to see what I get.

Overall I think this tea is decent. Is it perfect? No. I think there are a few things that could be improved. Is it awful? No. I think some things are well done. To me, this is a blend that hasn’t found its sweet spot yet. I think a little more balance is needed. I wouldn’t discard or refuse this if it was given to me, but it isn’t what I’d call a permanent cupboard dweller. Now, if it tasted more like it smelled: YUM! Maybe every once in awhile I’d pick up a sample size.

I’ll update once I try this with milk and sugar.

Another from my swap with azzrian. Thanks!

So, apparently pumpkin chais and I aren’t friends. This is the second one I’ve had, and both times I’ve not detected much chai, and definitely no pumpkin. The black base is fine, drinkable and not bitter, but as a flavored black its missing the flavour. I might on gift this to a friend, see if they like it.

Pleas don’t worry azzrian, I love trying all the new teas you’ve sent, and I’m sure someone else will love it!

This tea was given to me by jess I can’t def taste the spices in this tea this is very good don’t really taste pumpkin but this tea is defiantly good !

I received this one in a random sample swap with Jes! So thank you :] Well I messed it up by adding too much water. Oops :/ But it smells like warm pumpkin pie! And I love the little pumpkin candies :D The flavor is slightly spicy with notes of pumpkin. The spice certainly does have a little bit of a bite to it! MM.. One of the better pumpkin teas I’ve had this fall :] A nice start for this morning! Thank you again!

Thanks Emilie for this sample!

Mmm fall teas. I love fall, I can’t wait to cuddle up in a sweatshirt and drink some tea and watch the leaves. Ah, I love it!
Steeped for 4 minutes, though 5 was advised. Didn’t want any bitterness but I have a feeling it would have been okay anyway.
This smells like a fall candle, which is a good thing! Lots of my favorite spices and of course pumpkin. It tastes really good too, I do get some sort of cool feeling on the back of my tongue dunno what does it, and it’s not bad. There is a little bit of something artificial in there, it may be the candies. Tasty nonetheless!

Tastes like the end crust of a pie with residual pumpkin. I am surprised that there is even a detectable pumpkin flavor in this, rather than just spice, but it’s artificial tasting. The overall flavor is rather flat and unexciting. Of course, after finding Butiki’s Pumpkin Creme Brulee, I have high standards for pumpkin and spice teas :D Thanks for letting me try this one Shmiracles :-)

The pumpkin taste was minute but I did not miss it at all. As others have said the cinnamon was light but this was preferable. The spices really came through and while not over powerful (I tend to be a fan of very strongly flavored teas) they stuck in my mouth and danced around a bit.

This is an excellent pumpkin tea! Not overly spiced! One of my new favs!!!

Mmmmmm! This is so spot on in flavor and smell I just can’t contain my love. I was hestitant about a pumpkin tea but then again, if you think about a gourd in a pie it’s a strange concept too…but a delicious one! This tea is smooth, with the perfect spice, and was an amazing addition to my night of watching DVR’s episodes of Fringe.