Sweet Autumn Tea

YUM! I wasn’t really excited to try this sample from Lupicia because it’s a rooibos blend and rooibos isn’t my favorite. But, here, the rooibos actually works perfectly. The nutty flavor of the rooibos accents the flavor of chestnut very well, and also brings out the sweetness of the pumpkin and sweet potato very well.

I also like that this tisane didn’t turn to an abundance of spices to create their autumn flavors. While I LOVE spices, it is nice to find a tisane that is so well flavored (and it tastes very authentic too) that it doesn’t require spices to make it taste like fall.

Warm and inviting and cozy. I am loving this.

I have decided to attempt to wade through the superslow loading that is Steepster. Why? Well, I miss having a tea-centric spot with friendly tea-folk. (And it’s really nice to check out what I rated a tea on Steepster from my phone when I’m at the grocery store.)

This one is one of the lovely freebie Lupicia teabags that they send out with their newsletters. The smell is amazing and pretty different. The newsletter description says chestnut, pumpkin and sweet potato. I think the smell is mostly pumpkin/potato with a slight sweetness under chestnut. After a few sniffs I can pick up the underlying rooibos scent. It’s kind of whacky smelling but I am intrigued.

The liquor smells more of chestnuts – warm, roasty, nutty, comforting. There is a small note of gourd-y sweetness that I think I’m picking up, too, particularly in the back end. The rooibos scent is there but it pairs nicely with the chestnut so I’m not icked out by it.

The taste is nicely mild. As with the smell, the rooibos pairs nicely with the chestnut. There is a little dryness to the end that, for some reason, I attribute to the rooibos but works with the chestnut. But it’s all quite pleasant. Slurping brings out the sweet potato/pumpkin notes (which to me have always seemed virtually the same) and it blends seamlessly into the chestnut.

All in all, I actually like this. Very fitting for the season and delicately done, I think. I could more see getting this for my fall-loving SIL thank I could for getting it for myself, though, simply because I’m more of a summer girl.

(Second steep: the dryness at the end of the sip is gone, the flavor is a bit milder and the texture is smoother. The chestnut doesn’t seem quite as distinctive, or perhaps the sweet potato/pumpkin is just a little more obvious as the flavor seems sweeter. Honestly, if I wanted a good fall cup? This would be it.)

This is a free sample I got from the nice folks at Lupicia with my monthly newsletter. It’s one of those pyramid teabags made from fabric that are so trendy these days, blah blah blah.

I almost did not try this because I usually never like anything with red rooibos in it. This is pretty well done though, with notes of japanese sweet potato and pumpkin those flavors seem to predominate instead of the rooibos. Flavor is kind of like a pumpkin pie and I wish it had some cinnamon in it (although you could add your own I suppose). Nice herbal dessert tea.

I stand amazed that I actually like this. Bravo to the folks at Lupicia and please open your SF store again soon! =)

It’s an amazing tea that can overcome my strong dislike of red rooibos. I’m impressed with this.

It’s super sweet even sans additions, and I usually like overly sweet concoctions. The flavor is strongly chestnut and sweet potato. I’m not getting much in the way of pumpkin, or at least not the way I’m used to tasting pumpkin in drinks.

In something like a Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte, it’s a lot of spice and milk and espresso. There’s very little actual pumpkin flavor, or maybe I should say authentic pumpkin flavor. The pumpkin that’s in this tea is more like slicing open a baked pumpkin and digging in. More natural and less processed.

The taste lingers long into the aftertaste too. This is a really nicely balanced cup of tea. The flavors mesh well together.

Yum! I’m liking this tea! It does still have a little bit of that red rooibos quality I don’t like. So, I won’t be placing an order. But I am enjoying my cup, and that’s saying a lot right there.

Drinking this sample tonight and the moment I opened the bag the delicious smell was the first thing I noticed. It is a full flavored cuppa that I truly enjoyed. The sweet potato is the strongest in flavor but is perfectly proportioned. A delicious well balanced cup reminiscent of all feelings and flavor of autumn.

I just returned from a three week long trip to Japan. One of my destinations was the town of Obuse in Nagano Prefecture. Obuse is known for its chestnuts, and there are many delightful confections and concoctions with the delicious “kuri”. So, receiving a sample of Sweet Autumn Tea, flavored with chestnut, I was excited to try it as soon as possible!
The scent of the tea bag is fantastic, chestnuts and sweet potato. I didn’t pick up on the pumpkin, but either way it’s still fantastic. When brewed in the cup, it smells of chestnut and roasted pumpkin, and the flavor is delightfully chestnutty. I can practically feel the texture of the chestnut as the tea dances across my tongue. This will be fantastic on a cold autumn day, overcast and the fallen leaves blowing across the landscape in a chill breeze. I’m ordering a package from Lupicia right now!

Oh, and if you happen to find yourself in Obuse, try the chestnut ice cream!

Edited to add second steep note:
Same parameters, yields a much more pronounced chestnut fragrance and flavor. Don’t discard the tea after the first steep, you’ll be missing out!

I received this as one of those free monthly samples in the mail. I forgot that the yellow wrapping meant rooibos. Nevertheless, I opened it and realized it was rooibos! It smelled sweet when it was dry. After steeping it, it smelled strange to me. I guess its the sweet potato, pumpkin, rooibos combination that threw me off. I don’t want to type this out… but it smells a little like vomitus… I was hesitant to taste it, but I love trying new things so I put it to my lips. The taste is nice, mild, and sweet! It was flavorful and delicious after I got over the initial scent. It is very very scarcely starchy with a chestnut type of flavor in the background. Delicious.

I don’t usually enjoy rooibos but this is yummy. It’s perfect for autumn of course. It’s great to have in the evening as it gets colder – especially as it’s naturally caffeine free. I was longing for roasted Japanese sweet potatoes, hearing the call of the street vendors’ “yaki-imo” in my mind, and this tea is a perfect nostalgic treat for those who have enjoyed an autumn in Japan. The pumpkin and chestnut and sweet potato flavours combine well with the rooibos but I can’t say any of them stand out. It’s more of a warm harvest taste, a taste that evokes autumn but not one flavour in particular. It’s a nice contrast and compliment to all the pumpkin spice things one finds in abundance this time of year (which I thoroughly enjoy as well).

I’ve only had a few different rooibos teas and I’ve liked them all until this one. This actually reminds me of Asian barley/corn tea~ it might be the chestnut that I find overpowering that is reminding me of the sweet, raw corn taste. The tea is much finer than tea leaves so I used a third of what I normally scoop~ steeped at 195F @ 4minutes (Rating: 35)

Update: Okay, so I tried different steeping times and amount of tea; I did 1/6 of what normally scoop for tea, 195F @ 2 minutes and it came out a lot milder than before. I’m going to change my rating to 45~

I got this teabag as a freebie from a promotion they were running when I went to their store.

I actually didn’t realize this was a rooibos until I opened the teabag. Good thing I wasn’t fiending for some caffeine.

This tea smells sweet and chestnut-y and tastes like sweet yams. I don’t usually put sugar in my tea, and this tea definitely does not need it. The second cup tastes even more like sweet potato. It’s a great fall flavor, but I’m not sure I’d buy a whole bag of this.

Autumn is here, and my favorite tea is once again in my cupboard. Sweet and nutty and mellow, the flavors and warmth of fall.