Pumpkin Milkshake 2.0

Sipdown 200 (!!!) of 397.

I had one amazing mouthful of this before it turned so, so bitter. I’ve never noticed that before with this tea, so I read through some notes and found that other people have experienced the same thing. I had high hopes for this cup, too, because it had all the little pumpkin flakes in it from the bottom of the bag. I added some toffee sauce, because I didn’t have any brown sugar, and I’m powering through the bitterness because the good bits are worth it. I’m drinking it in a glass mug, and I can see quite the pile of fannings at the bottom of it through the almost opaque liquid (seriously, it looks like actual milkshake!) which is probably where the bitterness is coming from. If I ignore that, though, the rest of the tea is pretty great. Creamy, authentic pumpkin flavour which for once isn’t overwhelmed with spices. There’s something a little bit floral, too, which I’m assuming is coming from the DRT base. It’s a shame about the bitterness, because this is otherwise a really good pumpkin tea, which lives up to its name. Despite the bitter taste which is puckering my tongue, I’m going to nudge the rating up one from 73, because the first mouthful I had before the bitterness kicked in was magical.

This is one I’d long been eying, and after seeing the news for Butiki, I swept in and grabbed some. Appropriate for the season, I thought.
Its alright. There is a mellow warmth and earthy toasty note, and I do detect squash, but I’m not particularly getting pumpkin.
I’m glad I’ve got a bit of this, as I’m interested in playing around with it a bit more.

This sample came from TeaTiff! I’ve tried a few pumpkin-ish teas lately, some spiced, some not. So let’s try one more! This tea has an oxidized oolong base, and the leaves are dark grey-brown and twisty. There’s what looks like some kind of crushed orange candy mixed in, but after looking on Stacy’s website I found that it’s actually pumpkin flakes. Dry scent is sweet and creamy but not necessarily pumpkin.

The steeped tea actually smells like pumpkin pie to me, with a touch less spice. Mm… This doesn’t really taste very pumpkin-y to me. It mostly tastes like a whole lotta nutmeg with some cream and a touch of bitterness. There’s a little bit of pumpkin there in the aftertaste, but it’s mostly a spiced milkshake tea.

Really lovely, I was impressed with the creaminess. Have found Butiki teas to be impossible to overbrew too.

It feels too early in the year to be drinking a pumpkin tea. But I thought it would be a nice tea for today. It isn’t bad to drink, It definitely tastes like pumpkins. It’s a lot richer than I thought it was going to be. You really taste the creaminess in this tea, which actually makes the name quite fitting. Definitely tastes like what would be a pumpkin milkshake. Even has that pinch of spice to it. Now I am beginning to want to eat pumpkin pie. :O

Wow! Go on vacation for a few weeks and you miss a lot around here.

Well, I’m back and glad of it. I wrote up a few notes while I was away, which I’ll be posting over the next week or so. Right now, though, I want to write a note for this tea. Firstly, because this is a sipdown. Secondly, because this was a good start to a chilly day. And finally, because this last cup tasted more like the original pumpkin milkshake that I love: creamy and pumpkin-y. I assume that’s due to the extra flavored bits that always seem to end up at the bottom of a bag or tin. I enjoyed this tea, but I’m not sad to see it go. Here’s hoping the original Pumpkin Milkshake comes back one day.

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 170 degrees, 4 min, French Press

Tea Aroma: Smells like autumn spices!

Flavor: This tastes like pumpkin pie. It’s very lightly sweet on its own, which works for me. I didn’t add anything. It would probably be good with some milk and sugar, as well. This will be one that I go back to when the weather cools and the leaves change. Autumn morning tea!

Another amazing tea from Buitiki. Shocker! (need sarcasm font, of course I am not surprised). Dry, the leaves smell faintly like brown sugar and something else that I can’t put my finger on. When brewing, this smells just like you just opened up a can of pumpkin to make a pie. When tasted, I get a pretty strong dose of pumpkin over oolong, followed by some cloves (yum!), and finishing with vanilla and sweet cream. I did sweeten and add milk because this tea was obviously meant to be a dessert. It is completely fantastic. I never knew I liked pumpkin milkshakes, but I totally do. Another tea to add to my next order!

Edit: I got two good steeps out of this, but you really lose the pumpkin by the third steep. The second steep had less pumpkin than the first, but still had enough.

Final tasting note for this guy and it’s my highest yet. I guess it finally won me over! Here are the right conditions to drink this tea: cold night, big mug, 1/3 sugar to tea ratio. Mmm.

Tea #6 from the Traveling Tea Box C Round 2
I’ve wanted to try this since I saw it on the website and was thrilled there was a smidge left in this box. Just a smidge since there was just about a tsp full in the bag. So I used a smidge of 6oz of water since normally the measure is 1.5 tsp/8 oz.
I really don’t get the milkshake part, but I definitely smell the pumpkin in the brew. Like I have pumpkin puree in my cup instead of tea. Lol. I had a bunch of pumpkin flakes that I shook out of the cracks of the package, so that may be why it’s so strongly pumpkin.
Tastewise I definitely get the pumpkin, but that’s about it. It’s actually kinda bitter and astringent otherwise, so I wonder if the water I used was a bit too hot (177ish instead of 170) or I steeped it too long? Sugar doesn’t really help and if I added any more it would defeat the purpose of having tea and not just sugar water or soda. Lol!
Kinda disappointing, but again, that may be because of user error and not actually the tea. But I dislike the pumpkin-ness of it enough that I wouldn’t really be interested in ordering/swapping for it to try again.