Peet's Coffee & Tea

Its raining, I’m coughing, and I need tea, damn it.
Enter Peets. I love Peets, because the person behind the counter never gets “the look” when I ask for tea.
You know “the look”. The one where, when one orders tea from a hot beverage emporium, the poor soul gets that look in their eyes of “tea? Tea?! Do we even serve that? What goes in tea? I hope they dont ask about teas!”
I try not to go to those places. Partially because the beverages are just so expensive, and partially because the tea is almost never any good.
Not at Peets. And today, the guy there was the best Tea Guy, the one who is happily recommending things for you to try.
Today, though, its rainy and I’m still not entirely well, and peppermint tea sounded like just the thing. And it is.
The thing about peppermint tea- I dont notice when its good peppermint tea. I just drink it and go “ahh”. Not in a “write-a-sonnet” kind of way, just a vauge background pleasantness. I only notice if its bad.
This is not a bad peppermint tea. Its lovely. Sigh.

You know that you have too much tea when you “discover” hermetically sealed tins of unknown age while preparing to move. This one, Peet’s Yunnan Fancy, smells as fresh as the day it was purchased (whenever that was…), so I decided to brew up a cup on this frosty afternoon.

My most recent yunnan pot was Tazo Golden Monkey, which somehow set me up to expect a tea with a similar flavor profile. In fact, Yunnan Fancy, despite bearing superficial similarities—lots of golden tips and crisp twig-like leaves—tastes completely different!

The liquor is dark amber and the flavor is really quite smoky—against all expectations. In fact, it reminds me a bit of the lapsang souchong blends which I’ve been imbibing of late! Maybe closest to Russian Caravan (which is a lot lighter on the lapsang than is Baker’s Street Blend).

Well, I happen to like smoky teas, and this seems like a solid brew to me! I took today’s strongly brewed cup (1.5 tsp—not 1tsp) with cream.

Smooth, pretty color but not a lot of flavor. Like slightly grassy, warm water. Meh. I’ll finish the cup as there is nothing to which I object.

This is my favorite tea, and I became very attached to it since I drink it almost every evening in the winter, with a little local basswood honey. When it was discontinued I was pretty bummed out. However, I have figured out a pretty good ‘reconstruction’ of this tea, using the bulk teas available in the spice department of whole foods: 2 parts ceylon, one part jasmine, and 1/2 part sencha.

Weird smell… I am honestly not sure what to think, aside from that.

I like it! It is very nice and a real tea! It goes down smooth and has good ammounts of caffeine in it.

Sipdown #2 of the day, & of the Extravaganza!

I made this one stovetop, steeping the tea first in a bit of simmering water, & then adding some Almond Milk & letting the whole thing come up to heat. Quite honestly, I’m not a huge fan of almond milk in tea, although combined with some canned coconut milk it is greatly improved, but I’m too lazy/busy to open a can, so it was straight almond milk today. I also added a little Maple syrup.

This is a nice spicy chai, which is what I like! Thanks to TeaBrat for this generous sample!!

One of my all-time favorite writing-time teas. Be careful not to over steep. The line between perfection and bitterness is very thin.

I had a cup of this today at my local coffee shop (SO happy when coffee houses carry quality teas as well instead of that bagged tea crap). What a pleasant oolong! It had a light roasted flavor and leaves that did well with a second steep for the cup as well. When steeping, make sure you give these leaves ample room to expand. Like all oolongs, they will expand a LOT, and the more space they have to unfurl, the happier your leaves will be and the better your cup will taste.

The citrus was a little overpowering for my tastes. Not a terrible tea, but certainly not worth the price.

I’ve never had this tea so I thought I would give it a try this morning after passing Peet’s. I am finally getting my sense of smell back, which is nice. This blend is really festive, I’m getting a lot of clove and citrus but the vanilla is good here too and makes it nice and creamy, especially with the addition of soymilk. Not sure that I need to buy any of this for home but certainly would not turn down a cup if it was offered to me. I’ve never been incredibly keen on orange spice teas but this is better than most I’ve tried.

I continue to be surprised that I like this one; as I am not a huge floral fan. The jasmine, when you pay attention to your steeping, adds sweetness in addition to perfume.

Had a sampling of this from a friend a few years back and liked it; she and her hubby ordered a fresh new pound, so there was plenty for sharing. I am a lover of all black teas strong enough to clobber you over the head, so the jasmine in this is quite a surprise—makes it elegant enough for a china cup rather than a mug. Looking forward to trying some iced. If spring EVER makes it to Southwest Missouri. We’re beginning to wonder!

A friend shared; the pound her hubby ordered is not dwindling as fast as she’d like.

I am not a jasmine fan, and have had mixed luck with black/green blends, but this is pretty tasty. Pleasantly reminds me of Tazo’s Joy, which I loved at the outset, but had terrible problems getting it to come out consistently—couldn’t find the right time/temp sweet spot.

(This note might be a moot point at this point, though…I don’t see this blend offered on the Peet’s website currently.)

I worked for Peet’s for a few years, tasted every tea that came through those doors. Yet none compare to Red Cloud Cacao, my all time favorite. Not too overpowering, sweet chocolate and vanilla notes – throw in a bit of soy or almond milk and it tastes like hot chocolate. I usually drink it black, but if I’m in a sweeter mood I’ll stir in a little bit of sugar and soy. Peet’s recently brought this guy back, though I’ve since left the area. I still have a tin and a half hoarded away in my tea stash, so it’s become my “special occasion tea,” perfect for cold mornings where something a little sweeter hits the spot. Great for winter mornings and rainy afternoons.

This is the brand that turned me on to Jasmine tea and helped me realize that green tea can be palatable. It’s highly fragrant both in the bag and as a brew. The first time I bought a cup, I couldn’t stop smelling it. Kudos to Peets for producing the best bagged green tea I’ve had!

Welcome to little terri’s sipdown extravaganza!!!
We’ve decided to make the month of February our official full steam sipdown month! (Of course, we might change our mind at any time, but just for today, we’re going for it!) I haven’t done my official monthly tea count for the new month yet, & I may not even bother, because I’m pretty sure with all the various trades, orders, hoarding, etc, that I’m somewhere up around 400 teas, in varying quantities, & that’s insane.

SO, first up, teas sent to my from the lovely TeaBrat (you can change your name, but I still know who you are…whahahahaha!)

I went with Tony to the grocery store the other day, which I don’t really enjoy much because THAT store is full of foods I can’t eat. BUT I do like spending time with Tony, & as we were strolling down the coffee aisle (although neither of us drinks coffee) I did notice out of the corner of my eye that they carry Peet’s coffee. I haven’t been back to check, but I am wondering if they also carry Peet’s teas?

So this is a bold one! It is bassy, a little brassy & bright, & has a nice smokey character as well. This would be especially good with a pancake breakfast, I think, or something a little sweet like scones.

Thank for the sample Teabrat! Sipdown #1!

The last cup of tea I drank yesterday was Teavivre’s Lapsang Souchong, so when I first took a whiff of this in my cup this morning, I was certain that I hadn’t washed my finnum well enough last night. I often soak my tea steeping baskets overnight in water, to leach out any flavors that have clung to them, & last night I didn’t do that.

However, that is not the reason I was smelling smoke! This tea IS rich & smokey, & it’s also quite bold, deep, & daring. There is also a shiny high note, rather astringent, which makes this a better tea for me to drink with breakfast, as opposed to drinking it in bed before breakfast. Too much of a tea such as this one before breakfast can result in my tummy hurting. Definitely right up my alley otherwise, though!
Thanks to Amy Oh for this sample! :)

Sipdown #50!!!!
Yes, I’m feeling rather pleased with myself for having made it through 50 sipdowns in a week, & I didn’t rush through any of them either :)
Much thanks to Spencer for this one, which is interesting & tasty. I probably shouldn’t be drinking it this late at night. In my mind this was a caffeine free tea, but now I realize it has black tea in it. Oh well…it’s friday night, & after cleaning my house all day, I’m sitting on the couch at Tony’s watching the opening ceremony for the olympics. There have been blurbs on FB recently about boycotting the Olympics because of Putin’s anti-gay policies. Although I don’t agree with his policies either, I personally feel that boycotting the Olympics would be a major disrespect to the amazing athletes that have worked so hard to get there, & since the Olympics are about amazing athletes, not politics, I’m going to be watching them.

I would like to shout out a loud ,“thank you” to Spencer for sending me a sample of this. What a tasty treat!

Thought this sample bag from Spencer might be strong enough to overcome the unfamiliar water issue—and it does. The little bit of coffee residue from a shared Kuerig even blends in pretty nicely. Looking forward to a pure, unadulterated, familiar cuppa of anything very soon.

Licorice! I taste licorice. And a bit of honey and spices too.
All in all, not a bad blend. Even better as I got this cup for free, but I’m not going to buy any of it.
Gosh, the day has just gotten worse and worse, and I am very glad of a cup of tea to help me through the rest of it.