Thanksgiving Tea Review - A Review of Republic of Tea's Pumpkin Spice Black Tea

This year, during this Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, I am thankful for all of you, my readers, fellow tea aficionados, and fellow writing instrument enthusiasts. I decided to write a quick review of a tea that I was fortunate enough to sample at the San Francisco International Tea Festival, this year. (I highly recommend the SF Tea Festival to anyone interested in tea. You can learn more at this link.)

Today's review covers Republic of Tea's Pumpkin Spice black tea, an autumn seasonal blend. Sounds like the ideal tea with which to caffeinate after a Thanksgiving meal! Blended with the black tea is ginger, cinnamon, pumpkin flavor, sweet blackberry leaves, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice - quite the assortment of spices all in one. Subsequently, the aroma of the dry teabags has a heady intensity. That many spices all together instantly invade the nose at the slightest sniff. But they do smell really good. 

Five minutes of steeping a teabag in eight ounces of just-boiled water, and I have a cup of tea that smells rather mellow compared to the teabag. My guess is that the hot water tones down the intensity of the spices rather substantially. Notes of pumpkin are pleasantly sweet and noticeable - providing a great balanced aroma that lives up to the name of the blend. 

My first sip underwhelms me. For a five minute steep, I was expecting something a bit stronger. The cup is tasty, and the spices and pumpkin blend together well. However, the overall flavor seems slightly weak or watery, and I can taste a bitter note on the backend, which might come from one of the spices involved. The black tea does present a good base and harmonizes well with the other ingredients. 

While I did find this tea to be tasty, it was not all that I wanted, nor was it all that it could have been. If you come across it, I do recommend trying it; it might fit your palate! Otherwise, look elsewhere for your pumpkin tea fix, this fall. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate this tea a 3. 

Photo credit to Built from Ink and Tea.
Republic of Tea's Pumpkin Spice Black Tea is available from their website, here.
This review was unsolicited and uncompensated.
You can read more about my Personal Enjoyment Scale, here.
Text is copyright 2016, Built from Ink and Tea.