Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I’m really enjoying this delicate, understated take on pumpkin tea! I like that it’s not a chai or pie themed blend, cause I find I get bored of those rather quickly. They all taste a little too similar, and tend to go overboard on the spices. I love spices and spicy teas, but in a pumpkin tea I’d rather not have them as the dominant flavour.

This one is spot on for that. I can taste a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, but they’re not the flavour I notice first. That would be the smooth black tea base, followed by creamy pumpkin goodness! I mentioned that this one is subtle, and it is. At a 3 min steep I was left wanting a bit more depth of flavour, but I was starting to get some bitterness at 4 min. A bit of milk and sugar fixed that issue, but I had been planning on drinking it plain. I’ll need to play around a bit more with steep times.

I love the fresh pumpkin and cream flavours I’m getting here. I find this one to be a really comforting, relaxing cup. Something I’d drink after dinner or before bed (for some reason, the caffeine content in black tea doesn’t affect my ability to sleep, no matter when I drink it). The only thing I’m really missing is the ‘brûlée’ note. I don’t taste anything caramelized, both straight and with additions. Oh well! It’s delicious as is.

Even though I have two other pumpkin teas in my stash, I’m not sorry I got this one. It’s so different from the typical pumpkin brew! Really nice and rich yet subtle flavours, with just the right hint of spice.

Thanks ever so much to Courtney for sending me a sample of this to try, now I can knock it off my list!

I think I’ve come to the realization that I’m not a hunormous fan of cinnamon in tea. I don’t love chai, I didn’t love Davidstea’s Stormy Night because of the cinnamon…. I do like it if it tastes like a baked good, like oatmeal raisin cookies or that amazing Brioche tea. But just not as a main feature. And while this is perfectly enjoyable, it’s not like the BLAM!! Butiki awesomeness that I’ve grown accustomed to. Because mostly what I taste is cinnamon. Not much of the creaminess. Not getting a ton of other flavours besides the spiciness.

It’s not you, Pumpkin Creme Brûlée, it’s me.

ETA as it cools I’m getting some pumpkin taste. I guess I’m also not a huge fan of pumpkin flavoured things either, I do like Davidstea’s Pumpkin Chai though. I realize that goes against everything I just finished telling you, haha.

Yay, finally a pumpkin tea that tastes like pumpkin – which seems to be a difficult flavour to recreate as plenty of good tea blenders have tried and this is one of the only ones that in my opinion to have done it sucessfully. But there’s more to this tea than just pumpkin, the rest of the tea is smooth, slightly sweet and nicely spiced. The spices aren’t being used to cover up a harsh base or the lack of pumpkin flavour – they’re just a nice accompaniment. All around a tasty treat.

This note is going to be brief as this wasn’t my favorite of the day, but I didn’t exactly follow the parameters, the toddler had run off with the timer earlier. I also made the mistake of not having protein in the morning and hypoglycemia+ caffeine sensitive=very shaky, like I have not been in forever, but I’m blaming myself and the pancakes. Plus I’m not the biggest fan of Ceylon blends and have only had one other pumpkin tea, but will give this another go or two. It wasn’t as decadent as i expected but was quite tasty as it cooled. however it was totally eclipsed by the other two amazing Butiki teas today. But logged till later.

I could have swore that I had already used up this sample, but there it was tonight in my sample basket. Wow, this really reminds me of a Pumpkin Spice Latte, but better because of the creme brulee aspect. The base is smooth with very little astringency and the spice and pumpkin are in perfect harmony. I’ve had other pumpkin teas that should have been called spice teas, but the pumpkin in this tea is clearly the star. I’m a sucker for anything and everything pumpkin this time of the year so I’m pretty glad this got lost in my sample basket until tonight.

This is super good, but then, everything I’ve had from Butiki has been good. Okay, I’m sold – onto my shopping list this goes.

My first impression of Butiki Teas, and a great one at that.
The owner, Stacy, added many samples to my order (in fact she emailed me so I could choose them) and a nice handwritten thank you note.

This is as close to a pumpkin flavored tea as you can get.
The base is marvelous, the spices are perfect, and it tastes like ripe pumpkin and cream. You can really taste all of that in each sip and I really like the mouthfeel of it. I’m getting into black teas, slowly but surely.

‘’So many fall teas, so little time.’’

1.5 tbsp for 375 ml

Brewed tea has a very nicely balanced aroma of black tea and spice. I’m detecting the warm squishy pumpkin aroma as well.

Very mild flavour.

Ensure to mix the dry leaf well as some of the tea flavouring particles will sink to the bottom.

Brewed a cup of this tea to enjoy while watching an episode of Merlin with my husband after dinner. It still sits at the top of my current list of favorites. Some teas that I thought loved at first have lost their appeal, but not this one.

Thank you to Stacey! This tea is divine! Pumpkin, spices, sweetness, creamy. I was excited to try this one this morning makes it okay that I got up so darn early.

So, in the middle of another string of 100 degree days and I am drinking a hot tea better suited as a treat after raking leaves on a cool, windy fall day.

One thing I really like about Butiki Teas is that they tell you what kind of tea base they use in their flavored teas. This tea uses an organic Ceylon base-many companies would just list “black teas” on their flavored teas and you’d have no idea what it was. I also love that the base is organic-how often do you see that in a blend? Butiki teas really respects its customers and I greatly appreciate that.

The tea itself is delicious. I can’t really compare it to a “real” pumpkin creme brulee as I’ve been vegan so long, I’ve never had one. However, the pumpkin is very natural and it has that amazing creme flavoring that is also in the Canteloupe and Cream tea. Some reviews have felt they tasted too much cinnamon or too much nutmeg, I feel the balance between the two is just right. It is not a super sweet tea, however it is perfectly drinkable without sweetener. Butiki recommends adding brown crystal sugar (which I think is the same as rock sugar?) and it certainly brings out more flavors that way, but I appreciate the fact that it’s left up to me whether I want to add sugar or not as opposed to dousing the whole bag with sugar.

This tea just oozes Autumn and I can’t wait to get some more when (or if) the weather cools this October. I’ll definitely be having this with some pumpkin pie during the holidays.