Peet's Coffee & Tea

So the local weather is completely nuts. It was 90 degrees (!!) on Wednesday, but today its pouring rain. Well, I prefer the rain, as its a chance to break out my sweaters, tights and tea again!
Not that I really put tea away, but you know the drill. Cold weather and tea drinking are just a perfect combo.
This is a very bold cup of tea. I know I say this every time, but I would not say its an Earl. Something bolder and stronger, maybe, but that suits the power of th lavender. Its a good balance.

Once again we play “you’re pulling my leg, this is an Earl Grey?”, with myself being the sole contestant.
I cannot find it. Where is the bergamot? His Lordship is unrecognizable with this much lavender in him. He’s turned bolder, darker, and altogether not like himself at all.
I mean, I kinda like him like this, but he just does not seem like the Earls I have known.

Goodness, but this is intense. Its so smokey. I would hardly think it was an Earl Grey at all, except that it says so on the tin. I’m getting no bergamot at all.
Instead, I’d think this was a Lapsang, smokey and strong, with the lavender making a strong second note.
But my tastebuds are wrong, as its Earl Grey!
Huh. This was interesting, and will need more testing. Fortunatly my sweet sister gave me a lot.

I like this tea. It’s usually what I go with when I go to Peet’s. Even when you leave the bag in for a long time it’s not overwhelming. I’ve bought it a few times to have at home too.

Up to now, this is my benchmark Yunnan. I compare all other Yunnans to this, and they all fall short, at least an iota. I’m sure that will change as I learn from this community! This is an amazing tea. Can be steeped a long time without getting bitter. Smooth malty, molasses flavor. Holds up to 3 infusions. The second is similar in flavoring to the first; the third is lighter and fruitier. When Peet’s offered it, it was an amazing value. I’m sure I’ll be paying 4x that much to get anything comparable. This has been my favorite tea for years. I travel a lot for work, and when I get home, coming back to my morning cup of this tea has been a warm homecoming. I prepare it as I do all teas, in a Japanese side handle pot that holds about 10 oz. of water. I use a Japanese electric hot water pot that boils the water and then holds it at 208 °F. I put 3 loose teaspoons (perhaps 4 actual if I measured them) in the pot, add water, steep several (~5) minutes (increasing for the later infusions).

Feeling tired this afternoon and all of a sudden started sneezing so I am either getting a cold or allergy attack. I’m hoping some green tea will help me feel better. I find this is a good solid choice for the afternoon due to the relaxing effect of jasmine. This isn’t too bad for a teabag but I gave 1/2 the box to my boyfriend who prefers teabags. I am really fighting to stay awake this afternoon!

Hi Steepster. I am so far behind on tasting notes it’s kind of ridiculous. There is just no time to taste teas with me being at work all of the time and being gone a lot on the weekends. Sad but I hope you haven’t missed me too much ;)

Recently got this at a Peet’s for cheap. They are discontinuing their tea line and bringing in the Mighty Leaf brand. I find this to be kind of a bummer and wish I had tried more of the Peet’s teas when they were around.

So jasmine does not tend to be a super favorite of mine. But if it’s done well it’s ok. I used two teabags in my tall glass tumbler. For a bagged tea, this isn’t too bad. The jasmine seems fairly strong and the tea itself has a vegetal quality that ends on a sweet note. I find some jasmine teas to be a bit bitter but this is pretty good. I definitely prefer the high quality jasmine pearls as the flowery flavor is more subtle. Might try using one less teabag the next time to give it more of a watered down & subtle effect.

I will probably end up giving the rest of this to my boyfriend if he wants to drink it (he likes the convenience of teabags). If you live near a Peet’s and want to try any of their teas, you need to act fast!

This is bit of an odd bird for Peet’s tisanes, it does not brew an intense cup, in general Peet’s tisanes usually brew very flavorful. The flavor is still very light with a 10 minute steep and a tablespoon for a cup of water. The flavor is more akin to lemongrass very lightly supported by ginger with hints of mint. The mouth feel though is thicker than expected. No real tartness from the rose hips. Overall this much more gentler than I expected. Would not buy again on the other hand if you have an upset stomach this stuff is excellent for that.

One of my favorite tea beverages to buy! I love this on a hot summer day the balance of jasmine and lime utterly refreshing but with jasmine it has a unique thirst quenching bite that makes it feel unique compared to other tea based beverages sold on the market. The jasmine note makes this feel like a more grown up beverage.

This was my first Assam and for years I drank it in the morning with a splash of milk. In the winter the malty sweetness so utterly comforting on a cold morning. Was this tea smooth, did I drink it without milk, nope, but in all honesty this tea just says add a splash of milk and feel comforted. Serve it your rustic thick pottery mug and let it take you through a cold morning.

I happen to enjoy a lot of Peet’s unflavored teas, in fact because I worked there they were my jumping off point into tea appreciation, yet for the most part their flavored teas frequently left me wanting. Well, Peet’s hit it out of the park with this tea blend. The chocolate and vanilla working beautifully with the base black tea. The smooth cocoa notes of the cacao shells and dusting of cocoa work perfectly to enhance the cocoa notes of the tea Better yet the vanilla is used with the right hand, supporting the maltiness of the tea, and bringing forward the depth. For a truly absurdly decadent experience brew this tea dark add a splash of half n half and a splash of real maple syrup.

Backlog – I didn’t like this too much when I tried it yesterday out of the store. I think this tea needs to be prepared gong fu or at least with short steeps to really appreciate the flavor. I could pick up some of the classic Phoenix flavor but mostly it got bitter and muddy after it was steeped for around 3 minutes. So I can’t really rate this either, but I feel bad for anyone whose only experience of a Phoenix Mountain oolong is trying it this way.

I got this tea at Peet’s yesterday morning to try it. I still think it’s difficult to taste a tea properly when it’s in a big paper cup and a t-sac.I did think this was a nice Ceylon, however. It had a very good, citrusy/lemon note that lent the tea a lot of brightness. I had mine with soymilk and sugar but I think it might be really good as an iced tea and definitely a good chpoice for an afternoon tea. Won’t rate it for now, however. Might need to pick up a tin someday to do a further investigation.

First day at my new temp job. Missing my tea collection already… :-P

Today was a true test as I found out when I got there they have a big project due tomorrow and they hadn’t even started it yet when I arrived. Oy… I almost walked out the door after I heard that but stayed. Pretty unfair as I don’t know them, their projects or anything about the job really. It took me most of the day just to get the documents organized, not to mention what needs to go in them. Well I guess after tomorrow they may throw me out the door but it really wouldn’t be my fault as their expectations were totally unrealistic.

So I got this tea on my lunch break as there is a Peet’s nearby. Honestly I cannot rate this because tea was not made to be consumed in a paper cup with a tea-sac. I thought it had a light, vegetal flavor with a bit of bitterness but mostly I just tasted paper and vegetables.

There is a tea kettle in the new office so I will try to bring some teabags with me tomorrow, I will def. be needing a tea break or two at some point during the day.

Backlog from last week.

Daddy had a Peet’s giftcard and he’s a fan of Starbucks soooo he treated me to Peet’s while he just nibbled on some of their baked goods.

It was just starting to get hot back home and I knew I wanted to try a tea of theirs and I saw a list of their tea coolers! I decided on this one because come on, it’s jasmine!! And I love jasmine teas so much :)

This tea was just okay. It was good and drinkable, but I didn’t taste the jasmine at all. It just tasted like a sugared limeade or something like that. I like limeade, but I would have preferred to taste a bit of the jasmine! But it was a nice tea to drink on a warm day

Drinking the bagged version, which is mediocre. It was okay, but I am glad I did not bring more to drink on this trip.

This tea doesn’t look or smell like much but after it is brewed their a clear sweet smell that comes out in the aroma. The taste has a wonderful apricot mixture with somewhat of a plum taste. This oolong goes from a dark brown/black color to a dark green color after being steeped which I found amusing.

The perfect tea to drink in my new yellow & blue yixing teapot!

I have been reading some of the other reviews and I don’t understand the low ratings but the average steeping time is also 4 minutes and 45 seconds which is way too long for a TGY. I also don’t think the baristas as Peet’s can really make a proper cup of tea with paper cups, t-sacs and hot water.

Anyway, I digress. I have been working on seasoning my new yixing and this is the pot I am going to use for TGY’s now. https://instagram.com/p/z-YKiMILQX

I used boiling water and then let the water rest in a glass pitcher for around 3o seconds before pouring it over the tea. I am using relatively short steeps of around 30 seconds.

This may be my favorite tea from Peet’s so far. It is oxidized nicely and the flavors that come forth are very soothing. I am reminded of roasted butter, sesame oil,apricots and mango. I don’t get a lot of floral out of this tea, but that’s okay with me. I really am enjoying the richness of it, it’s very lush and almost decadent somehow. Imagine if you poured some brown butter and sesame oil over a bowl of mango and apricot and you get the idea.

This is the only TGY in my collection at the moment and I’m so glad I picked a good one. I will thoroughly enjoy the tin.

Astringent, orange liquor. Brisk, slightly malty. Would drink again, if offered, but wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase.