Pumpkin Rooibos

I’m back from my trip, sad that 3 day weekends seem so short (as do all weekends, or any time I’m not at work).

I decided I wanted a cup of something from the minute I walked in the door but maybe caffeine was not a good idea at this late hour. I had not tried this blend from Fusion Teas before now. It smells exacly like a pumpkin pie when you open up the bag… mmm!

This was steeped for around 8 minutes with boiling water. I did add some soymilk to mine since that’s usually how I drink rooibos. This reminds me a bit of a sweet potato pie! There’s some stevia in it which is definitely not my favorite. I’d rather just add my own sweetener. Stevia leaves a weird aftertaste in my mouth. Aside from that, this blend has a lot of cinnamon, ginger and mace which does give it the flavor of a pumpkin or a sweet potato pie. If there was no stevia I certainly would have rated this a lot higher. Note to self: be a bit more careful on reading labels in the future.

So I found this fall rooibos blend in my stash and it appears to be two years old. Eh, I’ve had older. I also discovered we own an ice shaver. Apparently for years. How could I not know this? It’s fall outside and hot in the house so… I steeped a cup and poured shaved ice over it then added milk. I should have reversed the last two but I wasn’t sure of the proportions. Rooibos in a sealed pouch survived aging just fine. It’s tasty but not slushy enough. Good idea failed attempt. Next time I’ll know.

Having this with milk. Now it’s Creamy Pumpkin goodness! But I think that next time, if I"m planning to have milk in it, I will make it a bit stronger.

One more tea from Dexter3657 tonight before I switch to a tried, tested and yummy tea. Not that some of these were not yummy, but for my last tea of the evening I don’t want to try a new tea, I want to go to a tea I know for sure will deliver. For me, today it will be the organic buttered rum from DAVIDs. Although I have been staring at the organic blueberry jam from them and I really want to try that too.

Back to the pumpkin Rooibos though. Dry, it smells spicy like pumpkin pie spicy. Maybe some nutmeg, in there somewhere. The brewed smell… Well, I can now say I will be able to recognize Rooibos in the future. It has the same funky smell I found earlier today in the pineapple bacon (52teas) and in the Neapolitan honeybush (52teas).

I’m beginning to think I don’t care for Rooibos. Although its funny, DAVIDs pink lemonade is Rooibos and we like that one.

With this tea, I’m getting pumpkin mostly in the aftertaste. Can’t get past the smell though, with every sip I take it’s there. Maybe if I put some ice in here so that I no longer get the smell wafting up with the steam. Umm… This tea is not for me! I love pumpkin though so I don’t think it’s the pumpkin’s fault here.

It’s cold and rainy here today. Thought it would be a good day to drink the last of the Pumpkin Rooibos.
I think I over leafed the first cup, it was really intense. The spices overwhelmed the pumpkin and the rooibos. The second steep was much better, could actually find some pumpkin amongst the flavors. I only had about a tsp left so I threw that into the used leaves and did a third steep. This is better than the first two.
All in all not the worst pumpkin tea I’ve ever had, but does not live up to Della Terra’s Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie. IMHO.

Nom, thanks Fusion Tea! Smells really strongly spicy, in a lovely way! Lots of exciting pieces in the blend. There’s melty, caramelly looking stuff in the used leaves. Mmmmm. This is going to sound super weird, but the smell of the cup reminds me kinda of….pipe smoke? An interesting and complex cup o’tea.

This is a great tea with milk, provided you make it strong enough.

This did not taste like pumpkin at all. It tasted like hot buttered rum. It was good, just unexpected and it took me a minute to work out the flavors I was tasting.

Another one from Ost, thank you! Always wanted to try this one and here we have a sample. Such an awesome mix of ingredients here. I was hoping all of the sweetness was from the piece of caramel in the teabag, but it turns out there is also stevia. For shame! But otherwise it is certainly a tasty dessert blend — I like that there is both pumpkin and squash (the new list of ingredients should probably be updated). Not too heavy on the cinnamon or ginger. Nutmeg would have been nice! But I can add some nutmeg I have, I suppose (I bought some from Simpson & Vail especially to add to some teas!) Especially if the nutmeg replaced that stevia. No stevia would have meant a higher rating.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// few minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep