Traveling Tea, Pumpkin Ginger Spice

Traveling Tea Description:
Pumpkin from ‘Our Garden’ Farm (New Florence, MO) oven roasted to bring out full flavor and sweetness, then combined with organic: Rooibos, Ginger Pieces, Clove, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

My Review:
I'm really not on a caffeine free joy ride, although it may seem like it lately. Today I had a diet Mountain Dew with lunch and it just seemed like a good time to try this one.

Rooibos is listed as the main ingredient but when you pour this out on a plate to examine it looks like a snack. Lots of big pieces of stuff. The scent is cinnamon and clove. I don't really notice the rooibos.

I steeped this for around 5 minutes using a Finum basket in my mug. The brew is an orange tinted light brown that resembles a watered down apple cider. It is kind of cloudy yet warm and inviting looking. The spices are more prominent in the brew scent than when dry. The aroma is cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.

I normally cannot separate flavors in a very hot cup. That is true here as well. What I got was similar to the aroma with a light bite late in the sip from the ginger. Once the cup cools into my normal warm range, it transforms. Now I taste the pumpkin.

I have had several pumpkin teas, all bagged and mostly with a black tea base, that had all the right spices in copious amounts that resembled pumpkin spice but they never actually tasted exactly like pumpkin. This one does. The spices are more powerful than the pumpkin so it slightly misses the mark as pumpkin pie but then again that isn't what this is called.

I know I am reviewing this at totally the wrong time of year. It isn't even available on the website until October. Just in case you plan way ahead on your tea ordering, this is the best pumpkin tea I have tried and strangely it is a rooibos blend. That may well be what makes this blend work so well. Also it is caffeine free, for when you don't want any additional buzz.

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