Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 min steep
maybe i should have gone even less.
in fact i’m sure i should have gone less.
even before tasting it i can smell bitter before i smell pumpkin :(
try again next time.

Thank you, Eva, for giving me a chance to try this tea!

This is good, but there was too much spice and not enough creamy pumpkin cheesecake flavor for me. I was also hoping for more of a buttery caramel flavor. The other 52teas blends I tried have been so incredible, but this one just falls slightly short for me.

I used 1 tablespoon of dry leaf for 375 ml of water.

Smooth and sweet tasting. I’m really getting a pumpkin-y flavour that reminds me of the stringy stuff when I’m pumpkin carving. There a liqueur-like taste in the background which must be from the caramel. It is a little too alcohol-like for me to enjoy. Clove-nutmeg and maybe cinnamon spice flavour is present. Earthy astringency does not compliment the overall flavour profile very well. Caramel sweetness (reminding me of butterscotch pudding) present in the immediate aftertaste.

I am not detecting much cheesecake in this blend. There may be some subtle notes of it as the tea cools.

I am not a fan of the pumpkin-caramel combination but I believe that this blend did a very good job in capturing the flavours.

Rating: 84

A hit for me from 52Teas! (finally!)

I made Magic Lemon Blueberry Pie yesterday for Canada Day, and the recipe calls for 14 oz of sweetened condensed milk. In the states you can buy a can of that amount, but here in Canada, it is about 10 oz, so I had to get 2 cans and have some left over. After DAVIDs Hong Kong Milk Tea tasting, I opted to try some sweetened condensed milk inmy tea, and I tried it in this one, and it was a hit.

I got creamy, I got pumpkin spice-y, and maybe a bit of crust. I don’t know how much or how little the sweetened condensed milk played a role, but it was certainly tasty, and since I am out of regular milk, this works in a pinch.

Thanks to sil for providing me with this sample.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to meeeeee…… ;P

This is another tea I already have a pouch of, although I’m certainly not complaining about having an excuse to drink it again. In the past I haven’t been too impressed with Frank’s pumpkin-flavoured teas as I couldn’t seem to get much actual pumpkin flavour out of them. This blend, on the other hand, manages to hit the mark quite nicely. It’s like pumpkin pie with caramel drizzled on top. The cheesecake flavour is milder though I suspect adding milk to this tea would bring it out better. It’s sweet, creamy and decadent, and it’s great for wiling away the evening while the cold winter winds blow outside.

When I open my package it smelled SO good! The first few sips were very strong with clove. Not a fan of strong clove… But as it cooled I got a bit more of the cheesecake and caramel. It’s actually pretty good :) I almost doubted it with the strong clove beginning.

Tea #7 from Another Traveling Tea Box

While this sounded very tasty, sadly I didn’t really love this tea. I didn’t hate it either and I feel a little indifferent towards it. The spice is more of a background note and I taste something sweet that could possibly be caramel. I’m not picking up the cheesecake or pumpkin flavors, which was a little disappointing.

I tried letting this cool down to see if the missing flavors were just subtle and less noticeable when hot, but they never did appear.

I just made my second order to 52 teas, couldn’t resist his peanut butter cup cheesecake! This tea was from my first order, and though I’ve had it several times now, I’ve put off reviewing it.

I really want to take a moment to praise 52teas business model. Not only does his model of temporary teas allow him to experiment and keep his inventory low while having a high turnover,more importantly his free shipping policy keeps customers buying week after week. With other companies, I hold off on buying things because I don’t want to pay for the shipping. I know its a measly five dollars or so usually, but something irks me as a customer when I have to pay for shipping; I feel like I just wasted that money. So I end up waiting and only buying large orders every six months or so, to take advantage of the free shipping that way. BUT even though I buy a lot more in that one purchase, I guarantee that I spend more at free shipping stores than the other, because I buy more frequently. So, something to think about, other tea shops!

On to the tea itself. I like the tea; you get the creamy cheesecake notes, vanilla, and an undertone of pumpkin and black tea that mixes together perfectly. I don’t taste any caramel actually, but I don’t mind too much. I wish the pumpkin taste was stronger, that is my only complaint. But, this seems to be a recurring thing with all pumpkin teas; maybe it is a hard flavor to bring out. This tastes great with a little soy milk, it brings out the creaminess to the extreme!

Oh this is just lovely! I’m not a huge pumpkin fan but this is warm and creamy with just a hit of spice. Aaaaaaaaaaah I love it!

On the fifth day of Christmas, 52Teas gave to me…Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake!

Another one that smells divine straight from the envelope. It’s actually reminding me more of a caramel latte than anything at the moment, so I’m interested to see how it develops. I can definetly smell caramel and a hint of something that might be pumpkin, so it’s looking good thus far.

Speaking of pumpkin, my last experience with a pumpkin tea wasn’t a good one. This is already shaping up to be infinetly better, though. Brewed, this tea takes on a sweet, slightly biscuitty note, and smells disconcertingly like cheesecake. I have to keep reminding myself it’s a cup of liquid when my nose is telling me otherwise.

Upon tasting, the name proves itself accurate. I can indeed taste caramel, pumpkin, and the same biscuitty note I detected while it was still brewing. It’s probably an indication of how new I am to this whole tea busienss that I’m still surprised when something actually tastes like it smells. It’s a revelation to me, though, and this is developing into a really nice tea, more so as it cools.

On balance, I think it’s the caramel that makes this tea truly delicious. It adds a smooth sweetness that rounds out the savoury spiciness of the pumpkin. It’s a 100% improvement on the last pumpkin tea I tried, and, although it’s not my favourite of the 12 Teas of Christmas so far, it certainly holds its own in terms of flavour. At the end of the day, that’s what really matters to me.