The Journal · Autumn
Pumpkin spice, without the queue
Apple, carrot, cinnamon and cardamom. No syrup pump, no barista, no caffeine, and about 47p a cup.
The first cold morning arrives and so does the queue. Nine people deep, four minutes of waiting, four pounds and something, and a paper cup of warm sugar with a shake of cinnamon on the lid.
It is a lovely idea badly executed. The idea is spice and warmth in the dark half of the year. The execution is syrup.
The short answer
Pumpkin Éclat is apple, carrot, hibiscus petals, cinnamon, pomegranate, beetroot, cardamom, sea buckthorn and papaya. That is the complete list. It is caffeine free, so it works at nine in the morning or nine at night, there is no sugar in it unless you add some, and it costs about 47p a cup. One heaped teaspoon, three to seven minutes, and it goes hot, iced, or steamed into a latte.
What is actually in it
Nine ingredients, all of them things you could point at. Apple and carrot for body and natural sweetness, hibiscus for colour and tartness, cinnamon and cardamom for the spice, then pomegranate, beetroot, sea buckthorn and papaya underneath. No syrup, no sugar, no flavour sachet.
Carrot is the one people raise an eyebrow at. It is also the reason the cup tastes round rather than sharp. Carrot and apple do what the squash purée is meant to do in the drink you are used to, which is give the spice something soft to sit on.
The cinnamon and cardamom are whole, not powdered, so they come up on the steam before you taste anything. That is the part the paper cup cannot do.
Five blends for the dark half of the year
£7 for 15g, fifteen cups, up to £30 for 100g. All five are in the buy four get one free offer.
How to make the latte at home
Brew it double strength, then add hot milk. That is the whole method. A heaped teaspoon in 100ml of water for five minutes gives you a concentrate, and 150ml of milk on top turns it into the drink you were queueing for, for about 60p including the milk.
- One heaped teaspoon in 100ml of just-boiled water. Half the usual water, same leaf.
- Five minutes. Longer than you would for a plain cup. You want it concentrated.
- Strain into a tall glass or a mug. The infuser does this in one lift.
- 150ml of hot milk on top. Oat milk works particularly well here, because the apple and carrot are already doing the sweetness.
- Cinnamon on top if you want the full theatre. You have already got cinnamon in the cup, so this is for the look of it.
Hot, iced, or cold brewed
The same 15g pouch does all three. Hot is a heaped teaspoon in 200ml for three to seven minutes. Iced is an extra teaspoon, brewed hot, poured straight over ice. Cold brew is a spoonful in cold water in the fridge overnight, which gives the cleanest, least tannic version of the lot.
Cold brewed it is remarkable, because hibiscus holds its colour cold and the spice comes through without any of the dustiness you get from a hot brew left standing. Make it in the cold brew bottle the night before and there is a jug of autumn in the fridge door.
What it costs against the queue
Fifteen grams is £7 and makes fifteen cups, which is about 47p each. A hundred grams is £30 and makes a hundred, which is 30p. Add milk for the latte version and you are still well under a pound, against four and something on the high street.
And it is caffeine free, which the one in the paper cup is not. That matters more than it sounds in October, when it is dark at five and you want something warm at nine in the evening without paying for it at two in the morning. There is more on that in the evening cup.
Buy four, get one free
All five blends above are in the standing buy four get one free offer, which runs across 102 of our loose leaf teas with no end date and no code. Put five eligible teas in the basket and the fifth comes off at checkout.
Five 15g pouches is seventy five cups of autumn for £28. If you would rather have the spiced ones chosen for you, the Discovery Subscription picks five a month.
The dark half of the year
There is nothing wrong with wanting cinnamon in October. It is one of the oldest ideas there is.
It is just that the version in the paper cup is mostly sugar, and this one is mostly apple and carrot and whole spice, and you can make it at nine in the evening in your own kitchen without putting your coat on.
Questions we get
Is there a tea that tastes like pumpkin spice?
Pumpkin Éclat. It is apple, carrot, hibiscus petals, cinnamon, pomegranate, beetroot, cardamom, sea buckthorn and papaya. The cinnamon and cardamom carry the spice and the apple and carrot give it the rounded body that a pumpkin spice drink is reaching for.
Does pumpkin spice tea have caffeine?
Pumpkin Éclat has none at all. There is no tea leaf in it, only fruit, root and spice, so it can be drunk at any hour. The high street version is built on espresso, which is a different proposition entirely after about five in the afternoon.
How do you make a pumpkin spice latte at home without syrup?
Brew the tea at double strength, a heaped teaspoon in 100ml of water for five minutes, then top with 150ml of hot milk. The apple and carrot in the blend give you the sweetness, so no syrup is needed. Oat milk suits it best.
How much does a cup cost?
About 47p from the 15g pouch at £7, or 30p from the 100g at £30. The latte version comes to roughly 60p once you add the milk.
Is there sugar in it?
None, unless you add it. Loose leaf tea has no sugar in it at all. The sweetness in the cup comes from the apple, carrot and papaya.
Can you cold brew pumpkin spice tea?
Yes, and it is the best version. A heaped spoonful per 200ml into cold water, into the fridge, four to twelve hours. The hibiscus holds its colour and the spice comes through clean.
What else tastes like autumn?
Ginger Bread Bakery for star anise, cocoa and ginger, Detox Choco Chai for a full chai spice, and Mighty Maple for maple over green tea. Orange Vanilla Grove is the caffeine free one for later in the evening.
How long do you brew it?
Three to seven minutes with just-boiled water, one heaped teaspoon per 200ml. There is no tea leaf in it to turn bitter, so the long end is safe.
Cinnamon and cardamom, in your own kitchen, with your coat off.
Try Pumpkin ÉclatOr browse the whole tea shop.
JoJo