Fall is by far my favorite season. I love the weather; love the feel of the cool breeze on my face, love the smell of decaying leaves as they flutter from the trees. I love the howling nights, and the wet afternoons. I especially love fall food. Stews, one-pot meals, casseroles, scones, pies, lots and lots of coffee and tea. These things are comforting, warming, soul-soothing. I especially love pumpkin favored goodies, cinnamon spiked treats, and nutmeg spiked drinks. I love the culture of fall, I love dressing in layers, I love spending time in nature to witness the changing beauty, I love giant pumpkins, and I love Halloween. As October crosses into November many people get sick of the typical fall foods like Apple Pies and Pumpkin everything, they’re ready to move onto stuffing and cranberries, and spinach salads that have walnuts and pears. Not me, I’m quite happy that pumpkin is a fall-winter cross-over food.
You may recall my post about Califia Farms new Pumpkin Spice Latte from a few weeks ago. Well, I discovered yet ANOTHER pumpkin flavored beverage This one is Almond Dreams, Pumpkin Spice with Cinnamon nondairy beverage. I was super excited to discover this because almond milk probably tops my list of favorite non-dairy milks, yet aside from the awesome Califia Farms line of almond based drinks, most almond milks lack inspiration. Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate and vanilla almond milk, but where’s the flurry of holiday almond based beverages? Where’s the Chocolate Peppermint Almond Milk? Where’s the Gingerbread Almond Milk? Know what I’m saying?
Anyway, I very excitedly scooped up a carton of this the minute I saw it on the shelf and I couldn’t even wait to get home to try it. I cracked this baby open in the car and took a long hearty swig, much to my husband’s amusement. Unfortunately, Almond Dream’s Pumpkin Spice didn’t blow my socks off. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a rather tasty drink, it’s just not what I was hoping for. It didn’t tickle my tastebuds the way other pumpkin flavored drinks do. It didn’t wow me. As much as I like nutmeg, I find it to be an acquired taste and for me the line between just enough and too much is a very fine one. In the end I just thought the spiciness of this drink was not to my liking, and this particular pumpkin spice was somewhat thinner then I would have liked. Thicker then rice milk mind you, but a little thinner then your average almond milk. I did like that it wasn’t overly sweet, and that it’s lower in calories then many other holiday beverages. Although I found that the spices kind of muted the pumpkin flavor in this drink, and that it ended up tasting more like an eggnog then a pumpkin spice beverage.
So in the end, my conclusion is that if you really love pumpkin this drink may be worth giving a try. Certainly if you have allergies to soy, or coconut, or simply don’t like coffee this is a good option for you to meet your pumpkin needs. If however you’re somewhat picky like me when it comes to fall spices this may not be the right drink for you. Though, you never know until you try and I urge you to test it yourself and make your own decision.
As far as the practicalities are concerned Almond Dream’s Pumpkin Spice is soy, gluten, and dairy free, and contains 50 calories per serving. It has 2% sodium, 1g Protein, 7g sugar, 10% Vitamin A and Calcium, 25% Vitamin D, 30% Vitamin E, and 50% Vitamin B12.
You can learn more here Almond Dream
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