Happy Halloween! What better time to post a review of a pumpkin tea that I picked up. When I was out shopping at Target yesterday, I stumbled across this Sweet Harvest Pumpkin black tea from Celestial Seasonings. I'm not sure if this is a new limited blend that Celestial Seasonings is doing, but I don't recall seeing it during the fall/winter in the past.
Now, generally I haven't been a huge fan of pumpkin tea. Pumpkin coffee I love, but I've yet to find a pumpkin tea that really knocks my socks off. So, I decided I'd give this one a try and see what I think. The ingredients are Black tea, Cinnamon, Ginger, Roasted Chicory, Natural Pumpkin Flavor with other Natural Flavors, Luo Han Guo, Cloves, Nutmeg, Natural Sweetener (stevia extract) and Pumpkin. I had to look up with Luo Han Guo is. It is a sweet fruit that has zero calories and zero glycemic impact. I'm assuming that it was added to enhance the sweetness of the tea.
On cold sniff, the tea has a lovely aroma of sweet cinnamon with a touch of pumpkin. It almost reminds me of pumpkin sugar cookies. When brewed, the aromas deepen with the cinnamon and pumpkin becoming more pronounced.
I've added milk to it as I do most black teas, but no additional sweetener. It's a bit sweeter than I initially expected. If you typically add sweetener to your tea, I'd suggest trying it without first and see if you really need it. I feel that this tea has a nice almost pumpkin pie taste to it when drinking. I think the milk helps to keep it from becoming too spicy or sweet and really brings out the pumpkin pie type flavor. Overall, this tea has a nice balance of flavor. As I get to the bottom of my cup I find it gets a bit sweeter than I would like, but it's not enough for me to stop drinking it. I would recommend picking up a box to try if you are on the hunt for pumpkin teas.
Have you tried any other pumpkin tea this season? If so, let me know if you found any favorites down in the comments below.
