Pumpkin Spice Brulee

Sipdown. I am being teased by the faintest whispers of spice. It’s warm and comforting, but I wish I could actually taste.

Drunk with almond milk. :)

3 min at 185F

And that’s a sipdown (82) for this oolong as I drink my re-steeped cup of it. I enjoyed it – the spices were actually a little different from most of the pumpkin teas I’ve had, although it’s more spice, and less pumpkin. Pumpkin is just too subtle a flavour I guess.

Would I buy it? Perhaps. If the price was reasonable. But I don’t need to rush out and grab it.

Thanks VariaTEA. You’re right – this tea is murky and oily and not pleasant to look at, but the taste is good enough. I find all Teavana blends are oily and murky like that so I just don’t look…

Oh, I also don’t taste the oolong in here at all, but I didn’t see much of it in the leaves I steeped. Teavana seems to be light on the tea. :P

I was out near a Teavana and remembered that I wanted to get a to-go cup of this one to try it out. It sounded promising for a Teavana blend, and every once in a while they come out with a blend that I love.

This was pretty tasty but a little boring. It was mostly “pumpkin pie spice” with a hint of sweetness from the caramel (I got the tea unsweetened), but no real pumpkin to speak of. Also not so much oolong flavor, although perhaps that is not surprising given how far down on the ingredients list it is. This one wasn’t a winner for me but it was still a decent cup for the evening.

I had high hopes for this tea but a) it actually was .98 per 2 oz more than the tin said which made me really mad and b) it doesn’t taste nearly as good as its ingredients would lead you to believe.

SURPRISE.

Anyway I was drawn to it because it’s pumpkin and chocolate. I finally figured out how to have pumpkin chai at work (it requires adding espresso, but you don’t even notice! Also I just realized how expensive it is if you don’t get free drinks. $1.50 for the espresso and $.60 to add the pumpkin, jeez.) so maybe now I need to try chocolate and pumpkin something because this does not do the trick. I made chocolate pumpkin tiramisu for a potluck and THAT was what I was kind of hoping for here, just with more spices.

The second time I had it, I tried it sweetened which made it a lot more chai-like, but it’s REALLY missing the damn pumpkin, and the chocolate really doesn’t contribute any kind of creaminess so I don’t know what its purpose was.

Weak.

As a pumpkin spice TISANE this is pretty good. But it’s not a tea. I saw no leaves. None. I’ve read other posts about this problem, but this is my first experience with the lack of leaf.

Not worth the expense.

Really nice smell on this tea – super pumpkin pie and creamy. The taste is quite smooth, pumpkin with a moderate level of spice – mostly ginger, candy cinnamon and clove.
A pretty sweet blend for not having any sugar. Cons? No oolong flavor (can’t taste any tea for that matter) and has a watery end of sip.
Ehhh, worth 75% off!

steepsterites, i need your help. i received a package in the mail last week. it was pouring, the tea was fine… but the writing was murky. i had thought it was from one person, but apparently not!?

the envelope was filled with ziplock bags of teavana samples. one sample of david’s. it was addressed simply to ‘james’. i don’t know who to thank! =0( i feel bad!

the tea: i saw some pumpkin seeds, smelled plenty of cinnamon…. a nice enough oolong, but i find the name inaccurate: more a spiced brulee. cinnamon, nutmeg and the brulee essence- no creme element….

i think a vanilla element may have added the cream? not bad. thank you to someone =0\

This one is very interesting. So, like all Teavana “teas”, this is more fruit chunks than actual tea, which is absolutely fine for me since it means that it’s not extra caffeinated.

This is probably the closest thing I have tasted to Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. Yes, I realize that this doesn’t have coffee in it, nor does it have any milk, but the taste profile is very similar. I bet this would be really excellent as a latte. If I manage to get my butt to IKEA (planned for today) and buy a milk frother (they are only $1.99 there!!).

Anyway, I really like this. I used 2 teavana “perfect” teaspoons (I think they are more like 1.5 teaspoons) and added sweetener in my 16oz steeping mug.

This tea smelled amazing when I first opened the package. Then I inhaled deeper and smelled a very strong artificial flavor. The flavor of the tea itself is similar for me. At a certain temperature it smelled and tasted lovely, but all the other sips just smelled off and it had way too many different flavors going on that were not at all cohesive. Oh well. It was on sale and nice to try.

This is yet another tea from my swap with OMGsrsly – they’re all just too tempting to leave them alone!

I eyed this tea last time I was in a Teavana, but since I promised my husband I would only leave the store with one tea (and only as much as would fit in the tin I was refilling) this one lost out to the White Chocolate Peppermint Rooibos. I’ve been curious about it ever since, so I was happy to get my hands on a sample.

Teaware: 16oz ForLife glass mug and infuser
Measured dry: 3 teaspoons
Temperature: 195º F
Steeping Time: 3 minutes
Additives: 3tsp raw sugar

Like most Teavana teas, the dry blend is very chunky but the pieces are somewhat smaller than the others I’ve tried. Looking at it right now, I am a little surprised it’s listed as an oolong, because the small pieces of leaves I can make out look more like a chopped black.

When I poured in the water, I was a little surprised to see a slight brown foam forming on the sides of the infuser. I don’t know what that was, but when I removed the infuser it went away. I think it may have become part of the cloudiness in the cup, or the oily film on top. There are a lot of little particulates in the bottom and throughout the cup, but I’m not worried about it, because it seems to be part and parcel of the Teavana experience.

The actual flavor of the tea does evoke the memory if not the experience of a pumpkin dessert. I’m not getting the brûlée aspect of caramelized sugar, but there is a certain creaminess to it and a sweet little kick of spice in the aftertaste. I’m glad I got to try it!