65
drank Pumpkin Chai by 52teas
1216 tasting notes

Chai to Stay Dry! To go with the old “April Showers” motif this month I’m going to try to sample some of my chais and sipdown some of the chai tea samplers I have stashed away. (Though admittedly, Aprils in my area tend to be more windy than wet… ah well!)

Last October for my (now discontinued) tea blog I dedicated the whole month to trying different pumpkin teas, as I have a huge thing for pumpkin flavors/foods. Of all the teas I tried during that month, this one reminds me of the Pumpkin Chai Latte blend by Spice and Tea Exchange, which I found to have a more savory flavor rather than a sweeter, more dessert-like flavor profile like most pumpkin teas.

I have Anne’s reblend of this tea from last October. The leaf has a very spicy scent, particularly of clove and cardamom. The tea has a subtle savory pumpkin note, but the dominant flavor is a heavy spice note of cardamom and clove, with some light cinnamon and nutmeg flavors in the finish. The tea is not too spicy; there is a nice warmth to the tea, but it doesn’t create too much of a heated sensation in the mouth and is easy enough to drink straight, but has enough spicy depth it could work as a latte. I do however find that with such strong cardamom/clove notes, the tea takes on a much nicer, rounder flavor note with some added sugar. The black tea base is very smooth, and has a slight hint of smokiness. I don’t really get any vanilla flavor from the vanilla bean in the blend, or even any creaminess like vanilla tends to add, so drinking the tea latte-style with some warm vanilla almond milk may be the way to go if this is what you are after.

Not particularly pumpkiny or creamy, but a very savory chai that is a nice choice if you like cardamom and clove. It’s not my favorite pumpkin chai I’ve tried, but it’s a nice warm cuppa on a cold blustery spring morning.

Flavors: Cardamom, Clove, Smoke, Smooth, Spices, Spicy

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Lexie Aleah

Also had a Pumpkin Chai tea today! Mine had similar results in terms of lacking the pumpkin flavor.

Mastress Alita

I’m a firm believer that pumpkin is a year-round flavor, not a seasonal. _

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Comments

Lexie Aleah

Also had a Pumpkin Chai tea today! Mine had similar results in terms of lacking the pumpkin flavor.

Mastress Alita

I’m a firm believer that pumpkin is a year-round flavor, not a seasonal. _

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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