How to Make Pumpkin Spice Tea

Pumpkin Spice Tea means different things to different people. It can mean a tea made from the spices you would put into pumpkin pie alone, or it can mean it literally has the taste of Pumpkin in it...either way, you'll find what you need below.

You won't be carving a pumpkin and removing what is inside to make this tea, though that could be fun. You will be combining ingredients that can be purchased, or for those in more exotic places, grown. Most of them may be in your spice rack or kitchen cabinet right now.

Ingredients:

Spices:

Allspice
Cinnamon Chips
Nutmeg
Whole Cloves
Touch of Shaved Ginger Root
(optional) Touch of Orange Zest

Pumpkin Flavoring:

Pumpkin Butter - If you choose to have the flavor of actual pumpkin in your Pumpkin Spice Tea, and not just the spices alone, the pumpkin flavor in your tea is going to come from Pumpkin Butter. This is a seasonal product, you may be able to find it in your food store, or at a Trader Joe's. It is also available online, and may be available online at times when you can't find it in the store. You'll find a few online options below.

Possible additions according to personal taste:

Vanilla
Honey (I like raw honey)
Stevia (Natural herbal sweetener)
A bit of Rum or Brandy

Tip 1: Look at the flavors in the pumpkin butter that you buy. What spices does it already contain? What sweeteners does it contain? This will affect how much additional sweetness or spice you may want to add.

Tip 2: If you already have a combination of spices that you typically use when making your own Pumpkin Pie, try using them as ingredients for your spice tea.

You may hit on the right flavor from the start, or it may take some adjusting of the spices to suit your personal taste.

It is really quite simple...but I'll remind you again, it's not an exact science, but of personal taste.

The "base" of your tea is going to be the spices. If you have purchased prepared spices, all you have to do is combine the spices in your tea ball, or coffee filter sealed with string, and put it into your teapot of water that has been brought to a rolling boil and then removed from heat. Here are more detailed instructions for you.

Combining the spices:

If you bake your own pumpkin pie, and have spices you like for your pies, take the same combination and put in your tea ball and brew as described above for a pot, or adjust to smaller quantity if you are just brewing a cup.

If you are using the spices in the "ingredients" section above, start out with equal parts of the Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Allspice, plus a couple whole cloves, and if you use the Ginger and Orange Zest, 1/2 a "part" of each.

If you use any of the ingredients in the "possible additions" section above, put them in after you have removed your tea ball...to taste.

You may think me lazy not to tell you EXACTLY how much to add, or not to add, but I'm not...the biggest factor here is how strong you want the spices to be, and everyone's taste is different.

Tip 1: The courser the spices are that you use in your tea, the longer it will need to steep.

Tip 2: It's very likely that if you are making one cup of tea, you may be able to get another cup of tea out of the same "already used" tea ball if you use it again soon enough.

Adding the Pumpkin Flavor:

If you want to have pumpkin flavor in your tea, this is where you add your Pumpkin Butter, start with a teaspoon full and stir it into the hot water along with your tea ball full of spices. Test the flavor and add more if you like.

You'll find your "perfect" amount of spice and pumpkin, I promise, and this can become a nice treat during the holidays season, right from October through December....and beyond if you really learn to love it!

It really is! And I thank whoever it was...and I have an idea of who it might be...for honoring this lens with a Purple Star!