The pumpkin spice delight that can turn a coffee lover onto tea
I’m not really a tea person – except in the fall. My second cup of coffee starts to get nudged out by steaming, spicy tea slowly but surely come mid-September. (I won’t lie; Coffee upon awakening is non-negotiable.) Tea Forté has been a favorite brand of mine forever because they have such incredible blends, especially for the fall-holiday season. Plus their tea is USDA organic and kosher.
And Pumpkin Pie Spice is now officially my favorite Tea Forté blend. It’s black tea, so you get a caffeine hit, but it comes in at 20 mg a cup. That’s relatively light on caffeine when you consider that black tea usually contains 40-50 mg a cup. It has the exact right amount and mix of spices. Blended with the organic black tea is organic cinnamon, organic clove buds, organic ginger, and a hint of organic licorice to round out the flavor. This limited edition hews more authentically, in my opinion, to the iconic-coffeehouse taste that started the PSL craze than other teas do.
The Pumpkin Spice Petite Presentation Box holds 10 fancy pyramid tea infusers. The packaging is so nice that this exquisite little tea treat is the ideal Thanksgiving hostess gift. You’re cooking this year? Put it out with the pies and make your guests feel lots more special than they would if you plopped a box of Lipton on the table.
Tea Forté, by the way, if you’re unfamiliar, is a fantastic source for everything tea, including all types of colorful, elegant, and extremely giftable teaware as well as organic raw honey and amber rock tea sugar. They even share tea-centric recipes on their site, most of which sound amazing. Just to give you an idea, two of the enticing recipes that are built around the pumpkin spice tea specifically are Tumeric Pumpkin Spice Soup and Pumpkin Spice Tea Loaf.
A word about the infusers: they are not microwavable like regular tea bags are. The box states this, but I didn’t necessarily believe it. I should have: the adorable little leaf stands up so nicely because it has metal inside the stem. So, if you’re making tea just for yourself and don’t want to bother with a kettle, just remember to drop the infuser in the cup of water after you take it out of the microwave.
Tea Forté Pumpkin Spice Petite Presentation Box, $22 at teaforte.com