Caribou Coffee - pumpkin chai

Back in Denver and ready to head to Ohio.

Left for the Denver airport at 3:15am!  Ugh, that is really early.  I mean really really early.  

Was glad at 4 am the Denver airport had Caribou Coffee open.

https://www.cariboucoffee.com/

The traveling on this trip was crazy.  So, thankful to all my friends who carted me around.

Tuesday- Carrie picked me up at the airport.  Stayed at Rachel's house in the evening

Wednesday- Carrie, Rachel and I went to Estes Park.  Stayed at Carries house.

Thursday- Carrie drove me to Colorado Springs to Yeng.  Spent the day with Yeng.  Yeng took me to Kim's house.

Friday- (this was the hail Mary day- the unscheduled, but so fun day) Kim took my Hoskins.  Spent the day with them- eating, hiking Garden of the Gods, and playing games.  Gail picked me up Friday for dinner with 8 more friends.  Stayed at Gail's that night.

Saturday- hang out with Gail - went to Cripple Creek and stayed at her house.

Sunday- Yeng picked me up at 8:30 am and took me to Denver, it worked perfect, since that is where she goes to church.  Spent the day with the Carrie and Rachel.

Monday- flew out of Denver airport at 5:30 am.

Here is the last hand off, lol. Sunday, I am back in Denver. 

Flying out Monday, the 31st. It is halloween- so I wanted to show you the cutest costume I saw on line!

3:30 am and ready to head home.

At Denver airport they transport you by train to your terminal.

I was thrilled to see Caribou was open. I wanted a sparkling tea, but they were out of it, so I went for the pumpkin chai.

I thought the pumpkin chai was good.  The staff was friendly.  The price was decent.  The flavor was good, but I have had better, so I gave it 4 teacups out of five.  The flavor was a bit artificial.  But, not awful, but I do prefer the real flavor of pumpkin.

I am home!!!  Back in around 11am.

Earl Grey was super happy I was home.  He stuck close to me the rest of the day.  I missed him too, so I did not mind cuddling with him on the couch.

Rocky Mountain Sereni Tea Pumpkin Pie

Looking for a fun drink???  I made one!!!

I picked up Pumpkin Spice whip cream made with coconut at Aldhi.  I also decided to try my Pumpkin Pie tea from Sereni Tea.  I picked up this tea from Estes Park while on vacation.

This is an herbal tea, so your water temp can be over 200 degrees.  You will also want to steep for about 4 minutes.

There are some really delicious items in this tea...apples, carrots, hibiscus, cinnamon, cardamom, etc.  You can see the chunks of fruit and pieces.  This is real food, which gives real flavor.

Look at this cuppa!!!

This tea is great.  With the cinnamon and cardamom you get the warming sense like a chai, but, you also have the fruity flavors from the apple and the tart of the hibiscus.  Then there is the under tone of pumpkin. It is delicious!! The notes play so well together.

The star on top of this tea is the whip cream!!  You get the coconut so clearly, almost more pronounced than the pumpkin spice- and I am okay with that.  I love coconut!  The heat from the tea did melt the whip cream quickly, so you have to drink fast.

Java Haus Woodland Park CO pumpkin chai

My adventures in CO...

I flew in Denver and spent the first evening at my friend Rachels house.  Then the next evening I spent at my friend Carrie's house.  I was supposed to stay at my friend, Gail's house the next night.  Gail texted that she was sick.  They scrambling began...

I was to be in Denver two nights and then in Colorado Springs for the next three nights.  Two of my friends had full houses, I could not get a hold of my one friends, and then there was the college friend I had not seen in over 25 years....Okay, I did not contact the college friend.  

My friend Carrie said she knew a lady that she worked with that was always opening her home to people.  She talked me into calling her.  So, yes, my third night in Colorado I stayed the night at someones house I had never met.  Way to be flexible, right???  She even took me to another friends house.

Thankfully my friend Gail was better and I was able to spend two nights at her house later in the week.  What an adventure I had.  But, God is good and He was not surprised by any of it.  I was able to make a new friend Thursday night and then Friday I was able to spend the day with people I met this summer on a mission trip in the DR.  That day was spontaneous and unplanned, but I am so glad I was able to see these new friends.

This is the incredible view from my friends house.   I had an incredible time visiting my friend in CO.

I enjoyed drinking tea at Gail's house and enjoying the Rocky Mountain views.

Gail and I spent Saturday heading to the mountains. I was amazed how massive they were.  They just seemed to go on and on and on.   It was so fun to talk to Gail and catch up with her.  I love my Colorado friends!  We met a few years ago on a mission trip.   I can't imagine traveling without them.  They are beautiful, caring women, who love people and love the Lord.

We ended up at Cripple Creek.  We did a little shopping and had lunch.  We wanted to go down in one of the mines, but it was closed.  But, that was okay, it was such a fun trip.  The scenery was breath taking.

On the way home we stopped at Woodland Park for some tea.  I was able to introduce Gail to her first ever chai!!

The other fun thing was our barista was from Ohio.  Brewster, Ohio- which is like 15 minutes from where I live.  It really is a small world.

Java House is a really cute cafe.  I loved the vibe in there.  They were playing Christian music too.  I loved that.

https://www.javahaus.co/

The had a nice selection of drinks and the prices were good too.

We  got pumpkin chai's.  And Gail said she really liked it.  I did too.  It was fun to introduce my friend to her first ever chai.  I think I may have converted her to tea...or at least chai tea.

Five teacups for sure!  Flavors were on point.  The pumpkin notes were delicious.  The price was good.  The staff was friendly and the cafe was quaint and very clean.  I am glad we made this stop!

Wow, this place is beautiful!  I love God's creation.  I get He had so much fun creating the world.

Sugar Shack, Arnold Palmer, Estes Park

After taking a short river walk we decided to do some tourist shopping.  I grabbed another tea for the road.  The 32 oz Arnold Palmer- was big, way to big!  I should have never ever drank it all.  I almost burst on the way home.  

But the Arnold Palmer was really good.  The iced tea was unsweetened and lemonade was sweet, it was a great combo...and price was good too.

We did the river walk.  It was fun and the views were incredible.  I loved spending the day with my friends Carrie and Rachel and their granddaughter/niece for the day.  We laughed, we chatted, I drank lots of tea, we had a great time.

We also found a cute little park for Mali to play in.  This was a great way for her to get some energy out, so she would sleep on the two hour ride home.  And she did sleep.

Ohana Kava Bar- kombucha and Yerba Mate

Okay, this is not the place I thought I was going....

I was visiting friends in Colorado and my one friend told me to check out Kawa, I thought she said Kava.  She said she loved that place.  I looked at Kava, and was surprised this was my friends favorite place to go.  But, I saw that they had tea and kombucha and was excited to try it.

The friend I was staying with and I ventured out to this tea place.  This "bar" was only a few miles from her house.  I wasn't sure what Kava was, so I did I little research.  I decided that I wanted to try the tea, but I did not want any Kava in my tea.  It seemed to maybe be a little bit of a hallucinogenic item.

I also knew this was something different when I logged on to the website and they asked if I was over 18, lol.

Longboarders Brew-  Yerba Mate drink with Indo Tea, lightly sweetened with natural pineapple and mango juice!

https://www.ohanakavabar.com/

My friend and I walked in and looked at each other and said, surely this is not the place our other friend was telling us about...but, they had tea....

Kombucha on tap.

I saw on line they did a $5 kombucha tea flight.  When I got there, they did not have the flight, but said I could try all the flavors and then pick my favorite for a cup.

Raspberry was my favorite.  I loved that they had homemade kombucha on tap.  I would love to some day have a kombucha on tap!

Ginger, pear, raspberry, blueberry 

I also did the Longboarders Brew.  It is a get Mate tea.

Both teas get five teacup out of five teacups from me!  This places was not what I expected, but I still loved the tea.  The barista was super friendly and helpful.  The prices were good. I didn't care that I stood out like a sore thumb, and the other patrons didn't seem to care either.  

My friend and I sent this pick to our other friend.  She cracked up and said that this was NOT the place she was sending us.  She wanted us to try Kawa Coffee.  What are the chances that there are two tea/coffee places in the same town that have names that are this close.

I enjoyed the Kombucha very much.