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See chai-off comparison here: http://steepster.com/cavocorax/posts/194631
(instead of re-posting it and spamming your feed)

See chai-off comparison here: http://steepster.com/cavocorax/posts/194631
(instead of re-posting it and spamming your feed)

My tea came in today, and I realized that I now have 3 different pumpkin teas. Well… obviously that means that it’s time for… a PUMPKIN CHAI-OFF!

May the best chai win.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the three contenders tonight are the Spiced Pumpkin Pie from Bluebird Teas (SPP), Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie from Della Terra (GPP), and Pumpkin Chai from DAVIDsTEA (PC). Who will win?

All three teas had a perfect teaspoon carefully measured out, placed in a color-coded bubble tea cup, and steeped for 4 minutes with 6oz of boiled water. No tea leaves were lost in the steeping of these teas.

After careful sniffing and sipping, these are the final results:

First prize goes to Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie! This was the immediate favourite after the first few sips, and the other two could not compare. It’s a comforting mix of pumpkin spices, with the perfect accent of cloves and cinnamon. Sweet caramel notes dance through each sip.

Second prize goes to the Pumpkin Chai. I brewed this stronger than I usually do and found that the cinnamon and squash notes are easier to distinguish. This blend isn’t as strong as the GPP, but it’s likely the closest to actual pumpkin now that I’ve noticed the squash.

And Bluebird’s SPP takes third. Sorry, SPP. Perhaps I shouldn’t have brewed it for 4 minutes as I found that it tasted strongly of carmalized/burnt squash. The cloves and ginger helped add to this overpowering concoction. I’m not ready to rate this yet though as it was only my first cup and a bit of tweaking might be all that I need to balance it out.

So there you have it folks. Three teas, but only one winner. That is of course, until I get my hands on Butiki’s two pumpkin offerings!

(img here: http://oi41.tinypic.com/33412xi.jpg)

This was one of the free samples I recieved in my latest order.

Since they were kind enough to ship to Canada FREE with their last promo (I wasn’t sure if it was UK only), I feel I should make sure I review their teas (honestly of course) here and on their site to help spread the word. They made my day. :)

Anyway this was a tea that I frankly wasn’t too excited about. I like some chai’s but don’t go out of my way to get them (aside from Pumpkin in the fall!). This one was really good! I need to get past my biases or whatever it is as I miss out on teas that I end up enjoying!

There is a nice smooth Assam base that I can taste lurking below the blended flavours. It has the nice chai spices that you would expect, but the coconut steals the show with the strong flavouring and the creamy mouthfeel it provides.

Would I make an order for this? Possibly. It was really well done. I’d recommend it to others too.

Forget trying new teas, and forget “reward” teas. This is my comforting make-it-all-better tea. :)

And I feel better already.

Ozli – I have TONS if you want some. :P

I thought I would make this up as a reward – I just got my first interview scheduled! Woo! (It’d been about 2 weeks since I started applying, and I was starting to wonder if I wasn’t going to be shortlisted anywhere – maybe I had a typo or something? IDK. So, phew!) It’s a company that does 3D printing so I’m really excited about that, but when the recruiter asked me about my salary expectation I gave her a number that was too low.

I hate being on the spot like that.

So now, if the interview goes well, I’ll have to try and negotiate. (stupidstupidstupid)

At least I’ll know what value to give the next interviewer if this doesn’t work out?

Anyway… this tea is supposed to make me feel better and focus on the good parts! This might all work out! And I might just magically arrange daycare in time for me to start a job etc.

It’s not working. Time to go unpack more boxes and fidget anxiously.
And listen to NIGHT VALE. (best podcast ever you guys, why aren’t you listening to it? http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/08/night-vale-podcast-itunes/)

Comparison notes here for Organic vs. Non-Organic version: http://steepster.com/cavocorax/posts/194378

This is another sample I was a bit worried about trying because I only had enough for the one cup, and wanted to make sure I could give it a proper review.

Time to stop stalling! (Although, I wish I’d brewed up some of the non-organic version for comparison. Maybe I’ll do that right now? Done. Both are about ~7 grams at 85C for 2.5 minutes, because THAT’S SCIENTIFIC.)

I quickly smelled both of these and found that the organic version (OGV) smelled darker and a bit like chocolate, while the non-organic version (NOGV) smelled malty and rich.

The OGV tastes dark and rich but I can definitely taste the caramel notes in it. It’s very smooth and luxurious too and I still swear I’m getting cocoa. Once it’s cooled a little it actually tastes better too.

The NOGV has a very similar profile. Maybe slightly less caramel? But I might be getting honeyish notes in there.

Hmmm. I’m really have a tough time digging right in there and finding the difference. The OGV is a bit earthier than the NOGV, while the NOGV might be slightly sweeter. I guess that means that I’ll re-order the cheaper one? :P Both are fantastic teas and I’d recommend them.

Thank you Angel for this sample. I have 100g of the NOGV, so it was nice to have just a cup of the other so I could see what I was missing.

Now, what am I going to do with all these steeped tea? That’ll be a lot if I re-steep them both! Ha! But then I might be able to add more to this comparison.

Also, I don’t recommend drinking THIS MUCH tea (especially rich black tea) on an empty stomach! :P Whoops.

I wanted Mother’s Little Helper, but I also wanted to read for an hour before bed and didn’t think I could do that if I was drinking THAT tea, so I opted for this instead.

It’s also a sipdown: BONUS. I love the orange-vanilla creamsicle flavours.

I haven’t had this in a while and nearly forgot about. It’s fantastic.