Pumpkin Spice

As you probably know, Hurricane Sandy is out in force in NY today! However, I live pretty far inland in Queens so I have zero things to worry about. Stocked up on candles, matches and batteries, my Kindle is charged and I have a gas stovetop so I can make tea no matter what! However the power is still on and it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna go out so I’m kind of just hanging out and watching Spider-Man.

Most people I know are treating this more like a vacation than an emergency—it’s pretty funny actually, so many people are acting like schoolkids. Yeah, no work today! Us New Yorkers don’t tend to panic until… well, ever. It’d have to be the end of the world. I had the news on earlier and all of the areas under mandatory evacuation still had TONS of people there. The reporter seemed baffled, but everyone interviewed was all “whatever, how bad could it be? I ain’t moving anywhere.” One lady stayed because the nearest shelter was 6 miles away—an insurmountable distance for people who have spent their whole lives in the city!

It’s raining pretty hard and it’s windy, so imagine my surprise when I got a notice that UPS is out delivering my Lupicia box! See, this story is kind of tea related. They haven’t come yet, but they deliver till 8 so I am just waiting to see if they actually show up. Funnily enough, my box was scheduled for Wednesday but for some reason it’s showing up 2 days early… in a hurricane. Yet my post office is closed. I was supposed to ship out a swap box today too. Damn you Sandy!

Okay, onto the actual tea. I got a free sample of this in the RoT catalog and it seemed like a good day for a warm fall cup. I know a lot of people here don’t like Republic of Tea, but I’ve always had a soft spot for them. Remember when Barnes & Noble used to stock them? Now it’s all Harney & Sons, but years ago you could find RoT tins there and that’s actually how my tea obsession took off. Their Moroccan Mint was my first loose-leaf love! So I was excited to try this one.

It’s kind of like a mild pumpkin chai. There’s a definite and strong pumpkin flavor and a smooth spicy taste, a bit of ginger and cinnamon. It’s nothing wow-worthy really, just a nice warming cup. If I didn’t have a pumpkin combo in my cupboard already (Culinary Tea’s Pumpkin Cream + Pumpkin Chai = heaven) I think I’d add this one just for a nice fall tea.

I have one sample of this and for some reason it looked good, so I decided to go for it. Not really pumpkin season any more, but oh well. The teabag has a strong pumpkin and ginger smell, with a little hint of spices. The tea has a rich, heavy pumpkin aroma. The flavor is pumpkin with a strong ginger finish. There is a light warming, spicy aftertaste that I imagine would be nice in the winter. For me, this tea is just a little too gingery. I can taste that flavor more than the pumpkin or any of the other spices. It’s not a bad tea, just nothing like pumpkin pie in my opinion.

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells strongly of pumpkin and ginger. Tea liquor aroma is of rich and sweet pumpkin.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium golden brown color.
-Pumpkin flavor with a ginger finish. Light warming and spicy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Fair tea. More ginger flavor than pumpkin.

I received a single sample bag of this. Steeped 2.5 minutes with water just under boiling. I was able to get 2 really good steeps.

This is a really nicely flavored black tea. The pumpkin spice flavoring is soft and creamy. The tea is subdued and in the background. This is probably the best pumpkin tea I’ve had.

It has a nice Autumn scent, and flavour. Since I prefer more spice, I like to add a bag of chai/

I got this as a sampler and it was great. It did not have the Chai kick witch is great no hart burn. I did not have to add as much splenda and the flavor was strong even after 2 brewings.

With just a bit of milk added, or vanilla soy milk, this tea tastes like liquid pumpkin pie! My favorite for the fall/winter. :3

Enjoyable, but a wee bit heavy on the nutmeg. Careful not to over-sweeten!

I really enjoy this tea, especially now that it’s getting cold outside. I purchased only one tin of this, and now I’m regretting that I didn’t buy a refill to get me through the winter since they are discontinued from their website.

I like that this tea has a nice pumpkin spice taste to it, but not too overpowering. It really makes for a great winter/fall tea. I haven’t tried it cold yet (says on the container tastes great cold), but I just can’t see this being a tea I’d even want to try cold because it’s so good hot.