Pumpkin Spice

This is the second time I’ve gotten this as a freebie in the Republic of Tea catalog. But last year I was making a pot of chai to share with someone and blended it in. So no review. My bad.

Ok, so the tea bag is very, very aromatic. I’m getting loud notes of butter-rum flavor, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and pumpkin. Good lord. They did not go lightly on the spice. (Yay!) Seriously, this smells like it would be a Yankee Candle. (I mean that in the nicest way possible!) Just handling the bag from the envelope to the cup leaves my hands smelling festive.

In addition to the usual stevia sweetener, I added a tiny splash of 1% milk. Ginger seems to be the strongest spice in the mix, followed by clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The pumpkin pie filling flavor is there, but the spices sort of shout over it. This could be my fault for steeping for so long.

This still might not be quite the pumpkin spice tea I’m looking for, but it sure comes close! Best yet, for sure.

This is OK. The black tea is a touch bitter. The spices are mild and there is no noticeable pumpkin flavor.

I don’t normally expect much from my pumpkin teas, (and I thought this was one in my history,) but this one was great. A great mix of spices and a hint of pumpkin. Glad to have gotten this sample.

Weird… site lost my notes.*

A fantastic pumpkin spice tea! I really love the flavor. I may let mine steep a little longer than some but I like the flavor bold (I do add a splash of milk and some honey to make it more like a slice of pie in a cup). I didn’t find that a 6-minute steep soured the flavor at all.

Used two bags for a 16oz cup.

This isn’t bad, but I don’t think I’ll go out and buy it. Has a nice spice to it but I think I’d prefer a heavier/more flavorful black base.

Sipdown! (97 | 194)

So we were at Lowe’s yesterday to get some new pendant lights, and there’s a World Market in the same shopping center. I’d never looked at their tea selection before so I figured I would go and check it out since we were in the area. I ended up coming home with one of the semi-recently released Bonne Maman herbal tisanes, and also this fall sampler pack from Republic of Tea. I haven’t historically been a huge fan of theirs, but I like having an opportunity to sample some of their teas without buying a tin of 50 bags, plus the flavors sounded nice.

So here we are! There are four teabags of each of six flavors, and I figured I would try to get in some quick sipdowns since we’re nearing the end of the month, and I only have two teapots’ worth of each tea.

I’ll be honest, this is the tea I was the least excited about. Pumpkin spice teas are never my thing, I always want more pumpkin and it’s never there. And this pretty much lives up to my low expectations, it’s a generic black base with mostly ginger and clove. There are other spices in there, but I’m not tasting them much, maybe a hint of the nutmeg. There’s also apparently pumpkin flavoring, not sure why they bothered, as I don’t get that at all. At least the black tea isn’t astringent, I suppose.

Anyway, generic pumpkin spice black tea. Inoffensive, but glad to have gotten it out of the way. ;)

I’m beginning to wonder if buying and then consuming a huge Costco-sized pumpkin pie might just alleviate all of the pumpkin tea problems I’ve been having. Do I just not know what pumpkin tastes like? Seriously…I don’t taste it here. There’s some sweet and some spicy and some fall….because fall is, in fact, a flavor…right? Maybe I’m mistaking pumpkin for fall. I don’t know. All I know for sure is that I have yet to find pie in any cup of pumpkin tea I’ve drunk so far….

Having said that, the mix of spices in this tastes pretty good. But it’s not pie.

This was a free sample in the catalog from The Republic of Tea. It’s delicious! Tried it without milk, and added milk to the cup, and I loved it both ways! I’ve ordered a tin of it!

At this time of year I’m swept up in pumpkin fever just as much as anyone else, so I’m really glad this was my Republic of Tea sample this month. This is actually one of the better offerings I’ve tried from this brand, and I wouldn’t mind buying it if it wasn’t so similar to things I have already. The spices blend perfectly, and while it doesn’t quite manage “pumpkin pie” flavor (I really would love to taste more true pumpkin teas), the effect is perfect for fall.

The dry leaf aroma is heavenly pumpkin spice. Mmm! I hope it tastes as great as it smells! Well, I lucked out. The flavor is a great representation of the aroma. The spice here is really nice and mellow. It’s not super peppery or gingery. The pumpkin adds a creaminess that balances everything out. Smooth. That’s the word I was searching for. This is a smooth tea. There’s no bitterness or astringency. I’m drinking this straight, but I think it would pair well with milk and sweetener. Mmm, now this is one I really enjoy!