Pumpkin Brownie Honeybush

Finally got around to trying this one. It smells like spices, and a bit of cocoa. The is more like the pumpkin spices, but not much chocolate. Good, but not what I was expecting.

Ehhhhhh this was weird. Oddly sweetish aroma from the bag – familiar, but not what I was expecting, in that it neither smelled like chocolate nor pumpkin spice, more like… floral something. Odd. The flavour, though not bad, was also kind of weird, and not exactly how I’d expect a pumpkin brownie to taste. To be fair, though, I retrospectively am thinking that chocolate + pumpkin is a bit of an odd combo… maybe I wouldn’t like it to begin with! Ah well. Was playing ‘Stone Age’ online with my boyfriend tonight while drinking it, and wasn’t paying as much attention to it as I should have. Next time!

ETA: Hah, while resteeping I remembered what the aroma reminded me of. It’s of the spicing in both Cinnamon Roll HB and Strawberry Pie HB. Which is not, in itself, a bad thing, but it doesn’t quite fit to me here. Also, there’s not enough other flavour along with it – Cinnamon Roll HB was packed with this, plus frosting & baked goods flavouring, while Strawberry Pie HB was, duh, strawberries + baked goods. This is… eh? But as mentioned, I’ll properly review a first infusion of this at a later date.

I got two of these with my last 52 Teas order, I guess I was pretty confident I’d like it. I don’t have any honeybush teas in my stash currently and I’ve been happy with the 52T honeybush blends I’ve had in the past.

Pumpkin is a hard flavor to replicate in a tea. Most vendors, I think just use a lot of pumpkin pie spice. I steeped this for 5 minutes and I’m finding it enjoyable. It has a nice flavor AND I am getting the chocolate, as well as pumpkin and spice, which is good. I did add a bit of sugar and soymilk to mine but that’s how I drink a lot of my teas. I used coconut sugar and that probably helped to bring out the “brownie” flavor.

Some of the other reviewers didn’t like this one, but it’s a-ok in my book. I wonder if Frank reblended this recently? Anyway it’s nice for a dessert tea, I am happy with my purchase.

Okay, it’s October now and time for the tea buying moratorium to go into effect!

Backlog:

Having never tasted a pumpkin brownie before, I went into this tasting with my thoughts on what I thought a pumpkin brownie should taste like. I had my ideas … but how close they are to truth … I don’t know. Anyone who bakes pumpkin brownies should remedy this situation for me and send me at least a dozen of said brownies.

I do enjoy Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. These are one of my bakery favorites, actually, and when autumn comes ‘round – it’s here now, yay! – I’m always looking at my grocery bakery for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Because … yum.

In the meantime, I did enjoy this blend. The naturally sweet, nutty flavor of the honeybush works well with the brownie flavors and the earthy pumpkin notes. It’s sweet, a little chocolate-y, a little pumpkin-y … and well, it’s yummy. I like it.

From the PPT TTB.

This smells like autumn potpourri! All the spices and stuff! It tastes a little like it too, but not in a bad way. I think it’s the cinnamon. Cinnamon is the main flavor I’m picking up on, then I catch the nutmeg, then some clove. I’m not really getting a pumpkin flavor or any hint of chocolate. I’m having it without any cream or sugar. Added a little cream to the end of the cup and it mellows out the spices a bit, but it doesn’t bring out the missing flavors. Still, it is an interesting cup.

Pass the Stash TTB 2
My husband wanted to try this tea so I gave it a sip. This tea tastes like fall. It’s basically just honeybush with spices. I don’t really get any pumpkin brownie flavors. There’s no chocolate or pumpkin to it.

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

Another one from 52teas. I tend to enjoy honeybush blends when they’re done well, so I figured I’d give this a try. Supposedly there are cacao nibs in it, but I didn’t see any in my cup’s worth. Just looks like honeybush with flower petals in it. It smells kind of alcoholic, which is odd.

Meh, I wouldn’t really call this pumpkin brownie… There’s a bit of spiciness and maybe a small amount of pumpkin. I definitely don’t get any chocolate, but I guess that makes sense if I didn’t get any cacao nibs. To me, it just tastes like honeybush with a very light spice cake flavor. Not terrible, but not worth trying again.