Stories Behind the Blend: Caramel Apple Pie
Growing up in our family, apples weren't just something we ate. They meant annual autumn trips to the orchard for apple picking and fresh cider, but even that wasn't the extent of it. In our family, apples were something we actually celebrated!
Mrs. Knapp has always loved all things apple, so much so that every year she would throw a Johnny Appleseed celebration for the kids. There were books about his life and history, apple tastings, and even a Johnny Appleseed song. It was the kind of simple family tradition that turned an ordinary fruit into something memorable and made the arrival of apple season feel like an occasion.
Years later, when we began dreaming up tea blends at Piper & Leaf, those childhood memories were still there. Add in Caleb's lifelong love of pie, and his firm belief that caramel sauce makes almost anything better, and the inspiration for Caramel Apple Pie was practically waiting for us.
A Love of Apples, Pie & Caramel
Caleb has always loved pies. Apple pie, fruit pie, cream pie, it really doesn't matter much, as long as it's pie. So when it came time to create a blend inspired by the flavors of fall, combining our nostalgia of apples with Caleb's love of pie was an easy place to begin.
Of course, there was still something missing: caramel. Caleb has also long had a fascination with making caramel sauces, and finding just about anything he can pour them over. Naturally, if apples and pie were going into a tea blend inspired by some of his favorite things, caramel needed to find its way into the cup, too.
Put all three together, and Caramel Apple Pie was born: a tea inspired by childhood traditions, favorite desserts, and the flavors that have always made fall feel like fall.
From an Alabama Orchard to Your Cup
One of our favorite parts of Caramel Apple Pie is that the apple story doesn't end with our family traditions. The blend also gives us an opportunity to use apples from Scott's Orchard, right here in North Alabama.
Our relationship with local growers has been part of the Piper & Leaf story from the beginning. While the tea leaves themselves must come from regions of the world where tea is grown, we've always loved looking closer to home for the fruits, herbs, and botanicals that help give our blends their distinctive character. Over the years, relationships with local farms and growers have allowed the flavors of Alabama to find their way into cups of tea enjoyed far beyond our little corner of the South.
Scott's Orchard is a particularly fitting part of the Caramel Apple Pie story. Apples are one of those fruits that seem to announce the arrival of fall all on their own, and incorporating Alabama-grown apples gives this blend another connection to the season and place that inspired it.
If you’ve been around Piper & Leaf for any length of time, you know that the connection to real ingredients is important to us. We want you to be able to look into a Piper & Leaf blend and recognize the pieces that make it special: real fruit, herbs, spices, and flowers mingled among quality tea leaves. Creating an interesting flavor isn't only about what a tea tastes like. It's about thoughtfully layering ingredients to create something that feels familiar and completely new at the same time.
What's Inside Caramel Apple Pie?
Caramel Apple Pie begins with a base of Ceylon black tea, giving it enough body to stand up to all those rich fall flavors. Apples bring the crisp fruitiness, while cinnamon, ginger, orange rind, star anise, licorice, and black pepper add layers of warmth and spice. Finally, caramel flavor bring everything together with the creamy sweetness that inspired the blend in the first place.
The result isn't simply an apple-flavored tea. It's our tea version of pulling a warm pie from the oven, adding a generous drizzle of caramel, and sharing it around the table.
A Cup Made for Fall
Maybe that's why Caramel Apple Pie has always felt like more than just a seasonal flavor to us. It carries pieces of our family's story with it: a mom who made apples part of childhood, a boy who never met a pie he didn't like, a love of homemade caramel, and Alabama apples harvested close to home.
It's a blend made for bustling leaves, sweater weather, and friends coming together. Brew it hot on the first truly chilly morning of the season, pour it over ice while Alabama is still pretending summer will never end, or add a splash of milk for an especially creamy cup.
However you steep it, we hope Caramel Apple Pie brings a little of that same feeling to your table, the sweetness of old memories, the comfort of familiar traditions, and one more reason to gather together and be grateful for the season.
