Pumpkin Milkshake 2.0

This tea has a very distinct, fresh pumpkin flavor to it. I’m getting the texture of firm fruits that give under your teeth, like peaches, plums, mangos…meaty fruits. The tea base is vegetal and a little bitter, but I intentionally overleaf when I brew. That might have something to do with it. I’ll try brewing with the recommended amount next time. Anyway, I’ve had this tea a few times before sitting down to write, and I haven’t noticed much about it that says “milkshake” to me. I get the pumpkin and a green, vegetal taste that follows soon after, but no milkshake. There’s a slight creaminess after the initial flavors that hit my tongue, but it’s veerrrryy slight. I don’t think anything is wrong with my tastebuds. ): Ah, well.

Sleepy Hollow is on so why not have something pumpkin-y? FINALLY a good delicious pumpkin tea that isn’t black tea based YAYY!!! Another good tea from Butiki

hHm, I haven’t had this tea for a while but I am jumping on the pumpkin bandwagon that seems to be really popular right now. ;)

This tea has a lot of fine yellow powder in it, which I guess is from the pumpkin flakes? I’m not sure how much of the flakes to put in with the tea. I steeped this for 4 minutes and got a bit of bitterness, some sugar helped to bring the pumpkin flavor out a lot. I am enjoying this…

slurp!

MEGA PUMPKIN! I quite enjoyed this oolong blend. This tea has a very natural tasting pumpkin flavor over a malty, almondy oolong base with a soft creamy finish.

Love the pumpkin flavor – this is the most pumpkiny flavored tea I’ve had so far! I thought it would be more creamy, but this tea is still pretty delicious. With sweetener, there is a bit of a caramel flavor going on. Pumpkin 2.0 also does a good resteep!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/pumpkin-milkshake-2-0-butiki-teas-oolong-owl-tea-review/

This is another one that just wasn’t doing it for me. I got pumpkin spices, and maybe even a little pumpkin, but nothing that made me think milkshake. I have up and added milk about a third of the way through the mug, and that helped, although it really isn’t helping my cough.

Second pumpkin tea of the evening. I wanted to try this one back to back with Pumpkin Milkshake (1.0, if I may call it that), because I knew that’s the only way I’d remember either one clearly enough to be able to compare.

This one, with its Doke Rolling Thunder oolong base, is slightly different from 1.0. It’s less spicy, although there is a tiny hint poking through from the background. It’s also less creamy. What creaminess there is here is an undertone rather than an overtone. The upside of both these things is that the pumpkin flavour is clearer and better defined — it’s the centre of the tea, it’s subject, rather than an afterthought. The downside is that the base pokes out more, and is slightly bitter.

Taken as a whole, it just doesn’t seem to work as well, or as coherently, as the 1.0 with its darjeeling base did. I like this version for different reasons than the original, but on balance I think I prefer the darjeeling version. It’s smoother, creamier, and seems to fit together better. I do like the extra pumpkin flvour here, though, so it’s a very hard call to make. I’ll enjoy drinking more of both — they can hardly be considered the same, really. I think I’ll try this one with sugar next, though.

Another tea from CharlotteZero! Thanks for the large portion of this tea!

This smells very strongly of pumpkin, like canned pumpkin. It also tastes mostly like pumpkin and it’s quite creamy. The taste at first was a little artificial, kind of chemically. But half way through the cup it started tasting more natural. I got little notes of pumpkin pie spices here and there, but nothing too noticeable. I kind of liked it like that, made it interesting.

Again, I had this with sweetener and skim milk, so maybe the articifial/chemical taste is from the sweetener, that would make sense I guess. I really want to try this with agave and regular milk this weekend and see how that goes.

I tried the original pumpkin milkshake and I remember it being a lot different. Sweeter maybe, and not so heavy on the pumpkin. I like both of them though.

I bought some of this tea hoping that it would resemble the first version of pumpkin milkshake. Even though I wasn’t crazy about version 1.0, it definitely grew on me and I wanted to buy more. The scent of this tea is of creamy pumpkin and spice. I do smell a lot of cinnamon in the dry leaf, but after it’s steeped, the pumpkin definitely comes out more.

The start of the sip is creamy pumpkin, very reminiscent of version 1.0. It is abruptly put to an end by the most unpleasant bitterness. It seems that every cup I’ve had has turned out this way and I’ve brewed as recommended, adjusted temperatures & steep times. I wish that the blend weren’t altered because it was so much more delicious with the other base.

This is completely different from my last cup, so it’s taking me a few sips to adjust. It starts out slightly bitter and strongly pumpkin-y; not in a dessert kind of way, but a vegetable way. Then it gets to be more spiced, like pie, but it doesn’t actually get very sweet. It’s also sharp in a way I’m having trouble describing. The flavors are accurate, but I think my problem with this is personal issues with bitter flavors. Sorry Pumpkin Milkshake 2.0, I don’t think we’re meant to be!

ETA: This one left my mouth feeling strangely dry. This is really not for me and will be going to the swap pile for someone who can appreciate it more.

Backlog:

I don’t recall having tried the first version of Butiki Teas Pumpkin Milkshake, so I wasn’t able to compare notes, but, this is really good.

I also don’t think I’ve ever tasted a pumpkin milkshake. I’ve tasted eggnog milkshakes during the holiday season … but never pumpkin milkshakes (and my favorite milkshakes during the holiday season are the chocolate peppermint milkshakes from Burgerville. If you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, you probably don’t know what Burgerville is.)

Anyway … back to this tea. I love that the base is an Oolong. I love how the natural earthy notes of the Oolong accentuate the earthiness of the spices, and the natural “creamy” texture of the Oolong works to translate the milkshake-y-ness of this blend. Yes, milkshakeyness is a word, I just made it up. I can do that, I’m a writer.

A very enjoyable, harmonious blend. I expected no less from Butiki Teas. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/01/08/pumpkin-milkshake-2-0-oolong-blend-butiki-teas/