Peet's Coffee & Tea

Post-espresso cuppa.

This morning’s cup of joy.

Mmm, first real tea cuppa all day, and this is delicious.
I am quite excited to have this tea back in my cupboard.

I really must get more of this before the holiday season is over.

Morning tea with a bit of flavored creamer.

End of the can. I need to find some of this and stock up…

I cannot stop drinking this…

I am, unfortunately, getting close to the end of this!

Seems to be my go-to morning drink

Moving is done at last. Unpacking is not. Time for more tea.

Having tea with my sister

Stillllll drinking!

This tea seems to be a new everyday-drinker…

Bought a cup of this at my local Peet’s while out running errands. Liked it so much that I went back and purchased a tin of it. I certainly did not remember trying this two years ago, though I still definitely like it.

I ordered a medium and they put two teabags in it. I should have taken them out a few minutes sooner or just used one and left it for longer. That said, even steeped a bit overlong, this tea was still delicious – extra large sips just brought out some astringency. Small sips were best, though, as it released the vanilla flavor very well and mingled it with the spices.

In my opinion, this tea is a tastier cuppa than the Peet’s Holiday Blend, which just seems to be spices and black tea.

A tasty cuppa, and such a nice change from plain cinnamon orange black teas.

Another lapsang for the new autumn season. I received this tea in a trade with Spencer a few months ago and have been holding onto it for chilly weather. There’s just something about smoky black tea and being out in the chilly fall wind.

This tea brews up dark and hearty, smelling heavily of pine smoke, as it should. To give an idea of how potent this tea is, it was in a ziplock on my kitchen counter. My boyfriend tossed his work shirt onto it without noticing and left it overnight. The entire next day, he smelled like a campfire. (Be careful where you store your lapsang, kiddies.)

The flavor matches the powerful aroma, with a twist of leather. But it also has a sort of tang to it that’s more like pine than any lapsang I’ve ever had. It reminds me of the scent of pine sap, right after a live branch is broken. I haven’t been impressed with Peet’s until now, honestly. This is a unique and interesting lapsang souchong.

Go ahead, pay an arm and a leg for an incredible dancong oolong. But tell me, does it beat this rival that costs only 6.50 per ounce (yes, in the land of dancongs that is a bargain)? I’ve paid more and found smokiness and often intense briskness (unusual in an oolong), but never the lovely hints of grain, stone fruit, and honey at the strength that is present here. Sold.

I got a sudden craving for chai tonight, so I made myself an iced cup.

This kinda another dud by Peet’s as far as I’m concerned. I was happy to see the cinnamon bark and ginger pieces when I made it, but their flavors are weak. The coarse black tea they used overpowers it. When I go for chai, I go for something heavy on the spices and complex. This will do for now, but it’s making me really miss Adagio’s Thai Chai.

This is another tea I got in a trade with Spencer. I made it iced and lightly sweetened in one large batch to share with my brother.

The leaves are very dark for a golden tip. And they were really crushed up. Not by fault of the trade, going through the mail, or whatever. This was very uniform, as if the leaves had been shredded tiny before being processed. Or during the process, I’m not sure.

It’s slightly astringent, but not bitter even after almost five minutes. A little malty, with an aftertaste that makes me think of cheap tea bags for some reason. Kinda average as far as Assams go, nothing really stands out about it to me. But it packs a nice punch of caffeine.

I wanted to pick some of this up last time I visited Peet’s. I finally did this time around.

Leaf Quality
The tea has a very high tippy concentration. Some leaves were completely golden, while others only had golden traces on them. The dry leaves smelled chocolaty, and like muscatel. The steeped leaves smelled leathery, like muscatel, and almost woody. The golden tips transformed into a dark brown.

Brewed Tea
The brewed tea was a dark coppery brown. It smelled buttery, slightly sweet, and slightly malty. It smelled very good. It tasted slightly smokey, malty, and brisk.

This tea was delicious. I wouldn’t use it as a breakfast tea, though. It was not as brisk as a breakfast tea. This tea would be good in the afternoons, or before lunch.

Finished up my sample, brewing it all at once for a bottle to put in the fridge. Nothing new to add. This is still kinda lame, and will just be fodder until I brew a bottle of something better…