Pumpkin Spice Chai

This one is made by Twining's.

Flavor: This tea doesn't quite taste like chai. It is sort of spicy, but more in a "pumpkin bread" kind of way than in a "chai that has pumpkin flavoring" kind of way. Still, the pumpkin taste really comes through and gives it a pleasant flavor. Drinking chai, for me, tends to evoke images of India, hanging out with my Indian second-family, and heated arguments about cinnamon. The taste of this tea doesn't do that. It evokes images of Thanksgiving, the fall harvest, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and cuddling with someone at a cozy fireplace. Not bad things, just not chai things either. Also puzzling to me is that the smell of pumpkin is not strong at all, so I did not expect it to be much different from chai in taste.

One last thing to note: the pumpkin taste really comes out after just a few minutes of steeping. Unless you love pumpkin or really need the caffeine, take the bag out of the water before it becomes too strong.

Suggested Additions: Black tea, recently, has been less tolerable to me than usual. I'm glad for the caffeine, but I've noticed it doesn't go down as smoothly as it used to. I have found I must put milk in black tea to ease the harshness or else I cannot comfortably drink it. So, I put a liberal amount of milk in my tea today, and a dash of sugar to add to that "pumpkin bread" taste. I would be curious to brew this tea and use it as the liquid in an actual pumpkin bread recipe.

Ingredients: Black tea, natural chai (what the heck? Chai IS tea!), cinnamon and ginger flavours with other natural flavours, natural and artificial pumpkin spice flavour, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove.

Purpose: Informative, and because today is Thanksgiving. It just seemed appropriate to choose a pumpkin tea. I was sure I hadn't tasted this one yet so I thought I would try it. Other than the idea about using it in pumpkin bread, I don't think I would drink this again. Its good, but I have not really embraced the idea of pumpkin drinks (pumpkin lattes, pumpkin eggnog, pumpkin chai) and would prefer my pumpkin in a pie or a bread item. Speaking of that... Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, and please, enjoy your feasts!