Orange/Vanilla

Autumn Harvest! Well, I found a bunch of other of my Tealyra blends on the D&B website looking for this particular one when I wanted to add it to the Steepster database under the proper source (it’s also from Germany, and now that I know Tealyra uses D&B as their wholesale source, I pretty much knew this was a D&B blend) but it appears it’s been discontinued… I double-checked on Tealyra’s site as well, and yup, it’s been removed. Another discontinued D&B blend, baaah! Hopefully it won’t be as amazing as Date Shake. Since I have no way of knowing the original name of the blend (Tealyra tends to rename the teas) I’ve put it under Tealyra… but there is no mistaking this is a Dethlefsen & Balk tea.

It smells very orangy, more like a creamsicle tea than something that makes me think of pumpkin, though the citrus has a very sharp, tart aroma. Steeped, it has a light tangerine color, and actually suddenly smells pumpkiny… how odd! The strong citrus in the leaf really mellows out in the steeped aroma, and it actually smells more squashy, but also quite creamy. The flavor of the tea still tastes very orangy, though. I do make out some pumpkin notes, but also tangerine and a slight tartness toward the end of the sip like green apple skins. There is definitely some vanilla, too, which brings a sweetness about midsip. It doesn’t quite taste like a creamsicle, because the orange isn’t as pronounced, but it does sort of evoke that citrus/vanilla flavor combo. I am happy to see the pumpkin flavor wasn’t completely overwhelmed, but at the same time, it isn’t as pronounced as I was hoping, since citrus is such a dominating flavor. It is quite tasty, though.

Next time, I may just try making a really strong infusion, and going latte with vanilla almond milk.