The Boy Who... (Formerly Harry Potter)

I’ve never logged this one? Maybe it got eaten! Well, it’s already time for a sipdown!
This tea has been an interesting journey for me. It is very, very easy to oversteep. I generally let my boiling water cool for a short time before steeping. Even then, I only steep this for 3min. maximum. The brew is an extremely deep, spiced cuppa. The “pumpkin” is, well, interesting. I don’t know if it screams pumpkin pie to me or anything, but it is an interesting try. The caramel tea in this is probably the least prominent of the flavors. This tea is very, hm, verbose. It is a dark, full bodied tea that is a good pick me up in the morning.

I have a feeling this is one of the teas I’d like better if I did something different than what I normally do (boil water, steep for about three minutes, drink straight). I’ve come to terms with this not being as pumpkin-y as I want everything to be and now appreciate it as a nice chai variation but it’s a little bitter, especially as it cools. I should probably add some milk and sugar, because what chai doesn’t like milk and sugar? I also might like it more with cooler water or an even shorter steep time. Still, not a bad tea, just one who I haven’t been able to make live up to its full potential.

This was my go-to travel tea for a while, as it held up really well under odd water temperatures. Sometimes the hot water spigot is 160, sometimes it’s 190, sometimes it’s a mystery. Anyhow, the addition of pumpkin spice and caramel to Adagio’s regular masala chai tempered the extremely aggressive cloves in that tea. The caramel adds a hint of sweetness, resulting in a tea that makes me think of a slightly spicy pumpkin pie.