Sweet Harvest Pumpkin

There. That’s better. Two cup pot, 1 bag with a teaspoon of plain Lover’s Leap Ceylon. Little milk. Now I can taste the pumpkin, not just the sweet.

Enjoying it with a picture-window view of my front yard (courtesy of a very gusty wind) that is now lushly carpeted with gold and tan leaves. By the time we get back from church, we expect a 30-degree temperature drop. Looks like a lovely tea day.

My first ever Celestial Seasonings courtesy of gmathis. Thanks. I had no idea what was in this when I brewed it this morning. It smells like pumpkin spice cake. It is very sweet. Now that I know there is Stevia in it, the sweetness makes sense. I can’t decide about the taste. It is something like pumpkin spice cake dipped in milk. It reminds me of a rooibos blend. It doesn’t taste like black tea to me. The spices are a different and interesting take on a classic.

Well, this is quite potent in the spice department. Additionally, when they say sweet, they really mean sweet. It’s not just a cute name.

There is stevia in this blend. After a couple sips I thought, is there stevia in here? It was funny because I just was looking in the thread about stevia leaf, and I am in the minority of not minding it in a blend. It just smells like bad alcohol decisions in DavidsTea blends. I never realized I could actually tell what stevia tasted like on its own just based on that smell.

This one, it doesn’t smell like it until you are drinking it, and it just has that clearly stevia aftertaste. I think maybe the pumpkin pie spices help hide the scent, but it just tastes like there is actually too much stevia used, and it’s a bummer. I was hoping this would taste like pumpkin pie, but it’s too sweet! I don’t know how that is possible.

Other than the stevia, it’s a nice mix of spices, a little different from your usual pumpkin blend. There’s ginger and chicory in addition to the usual cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. The pumpkin flavor is nice, but it’s just too sweet. I’d rather have to smell the stevia first and have it blend better into the tea than not be able to smell it, and have it as a prominent flavor.

It is much easier to drink this with very small sips at a time. Otherwise the lingering sweetness is hard to take, especially so early in the morning.

After enjoying the other Celestial Seasoning’s holiday blends that I tried, I decided to pick up a box of this as well. I enjoy the flavor of pumpkin, and really love pumpkin pie, which a couple of the reviews for this tea said it tasted like. You can definitely detect a pumpkin flavor in this tea. There is a surprising element of spiciness in this tea also, actually a lot of spiciness, almost like the finish of a very strong chai. There is also a really sweet element to this tea at the end, almost like a sugary sweetness, I can’t quite put my finger on it what exactly it is. I’m really happy that I got a box of this and I think a latte with this would be the ultimate pumpkiny goodness!

-Regular teabag without a string.
-Teabag smells of spices and ginger. Tea liquor aroma is of warm pumpkin pie.
-Tea liquor is a thick very dark brown color.
-Artificial gingery pumpkin flavor with a sweet stevia finish. Spicy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Sweet and spicy pumpkin flavor.

When they say “sweet” they really mean it. This got dumped and into the swap box with the other 19 bags.

Am I allowed to write about Matcha Pocky on here? Cause I found some in China Town yesterday and I’m eating some now and they are delicious. Even the biscuit part has matcha in it! Anything made with matcha is just so pretty. That green. :)

Anyways, I’m having this Sweet Harvest Pumpkin thanks to Josie Jade. I’m just tearing through that box of samples from her today. :) Plus I really have a craving for buttermilk pumpkin soup, but I don’t have any pumpkin. :( I do have buttermilk though. I think I’ll make a pudding with it later today.

I saw a lot of negative reviews about this due to the stevia. I actually don’t much mind stevia. It’s not as tasty as sugar or honey, but it’s better than Equal or Splenda. So I added a splash or almond milk to this since spiced teas really do taste better milked up. This particular tea tastes like the inside of a pumpkin pie. A bit of that delicious orange squash flavor. Lightly spiced with cinnamon and ginger. brown sugar? Not too bad. It’s a bit thin though. Next time, I might have to use two bags per cup.

EDIT: Husband just came by and made off with my cup of this. haha I think I’ll leave the rest of these tea bags to him. :)

Another Celestial Seasonings buy from Whole Foods yesterday, at least they’re cheap. :)

Yeah, like a lot of people mentioned this IS pretty sweet. Also Stevia leaves a bit of a funky aftertaste in my opinion. This does remind me a bit of Bengal Spice and I would say I’m detecting more spice than pumpkin. I added some soymilk to this which made it better, I think. It does remind me a little bit of Bengal Spice but it’s sweeter. I think this would have been fine without the Stevia and I’m not sure why they felt the need to put it in there!

Oh, this is so much better! After the abysmal fail with the Adagio Pumpkin Spice this morning, I needed something to sooth my poor, abused tastebuds.

I added two teabags to my 16oz infuser mug, 4tsp of raw sugar (I have a horrible sweet tooth!), and steeped it for three minutes. Mmm.

While the fresh teabag didn’t smell much like pumpkin, the flavor really comes out here in the steeped tea. This is like drinking pumpkin spice bread, where the cook hit just the right spice balance: enough to leave a tingle on your tongue, but not so much as to let any one spice overwhelm.

Actually, I think I might use a bag to infuse butter for the pancakes I’m making. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Update: If you’re curious at all, here’s how the pancakes turned out!
http://wordsabouttea.blogspot.com/2013/12/sweet-harvest-pumpkin-by-celestial.html

thank you so much momo for the amazing package of teas! Holy stevia! They should call this one stevia flavored. I’m definitely not a stevia fan. I feel like CS thinks the stevia tastes like pumpkin or something, so that is their idea of pumpkin flavor. The first tea I ever drank was a Celestial Seasonings chocolate chai, so there is some nostalgia there. I do enjoy some of their blends… the ‘Nutcracker Sweet’ especially. I was looking forward to trying the pumpkin as soon as I heard about it! They just went overboard with the stevia. The second steep has taken most of the stevia out, but probably much of the other flavor too. I’d say the second steep seems like it would have the normal amount of stevia you’d find in other teas. I don’t think they put much or any stevia in their other blends, unless they have started doing that now. That’s too bad, because it might have been a decent blend. I wouldn’t have minded all the spices with a better pumpkin flavor without stevia. I’m always up for trying though, so thanks again, momo!

I picked this up on a whim from the grocery store and I have to say it isn’t half bad! It really reminds me of a slightly less sweet, coffee-free Pumpkin Spice Latte. The pumpkin is present, spices are balanced, and the stevia isn’t overpowering. Many of the holiday teas from CS have been hit or miss with me, but this is pretty good.