Peet's Coffee & Tea

I received a tea bag of this as a gift. Wow! This tea was incredibly fragrant and delicious.

I opened the tea bag and poured the leaves into my infuser. It stood up well to a splash of milk and a dose of sugar, and I loved every drop. I guess I need to look into Assam teas!

What a delightful cup of tea. For those of you that like Oolongs that are on the light side, this is the perfect tea for you. I also like to steep my Oolongs at a much lower temperature and shorter time than advised.

I agree with DavidT on this one. . . double the amount of tea that you steep for one serving of this cup if you want a stronger flavor. I’ve always been a fan of Golden Dragon Oolongs, and for an RTD version of this, get Ito En’s Golden Dragon Oolong.

First off, I would have gone lower if I’d had better control of the water temperature. That said, I think it is still ok.

The dry leaves spell overwhelmingly of jasmine. It’s a bit heady. The pearls are small, and they are pale green and light yellow. They unfurl into an interesting bouquet of perfumy, almost bubblegummy jasmine mixed with a dark, vegetal aroma. The liquor is a transparent, light yellow-green.

As with most of the Chinese teas I’ve tried, this one starts off light and watery. This middle notes quickly transition into pure, liquid jasmine, with the jasmine aftertaste kicking in before I’ve swallowed. It finishes with a slightly vegetal taste, and the aftertaste is all jasmine. I almost want to call it a bubblegum experience, as with the initial spell. This tea is lovely, though not as complicated as I had hoped. I have yet to find a jasmine pearl in which the tea has more of a presence.

Overall, this is a lovely tea. I’d say that newbies would enjoy it, though I think that seasoned sippers might be a bit bored. It’s a good everyday tea.

I like this tea. It doesn’t blow my mind, but it is a solid tasting tea.

The dry leaves are a bit on the short side, but they have a nice golden down and there are a decent number of golden tips. The wet leaves open up nicely, with a faintly sweet smell that hints at spiciness with a deep earthy quality. Actually, I would identify it as the smell of wet leaves (wonder why?). :)

The liquor is a bright reddish-brown, and is fairly transparent. Its aroma matches the wet leaves. The taste is smooth and earthy, like a light pu-erh. The first note is fairly subtle, just good water with a little bit of the tannic tea flavor. In the middle notes, I almost taste some green tea flavor, like Dragon’s Well, for 1/2 a moment, before the tannic and strong black tea flavor pulls though. It is heavy-bodied and earthy, tasting almost like dirt or, again, wet leaves after a fresh rain. The aftertaste is a bit astringent, but not too much. I might have left it steeping too long (I’m at work and I wasn’t paying attention), but the water was cooler…

No milk, no sugar; I think they would ruin this tea. Overall, I like it, and I would rank this tea for intermediates and connoisseurs.

This is an excellent white tea. Could drink this all day. . .very very smooth.

Wow! This stuff is strong, just like chai should be. I definitely enjoy the spice on this tea and its full body, however, I think next time I’ll add creamer. I also like that it isn’t too drying on the palette.

Not too content with this particular tea. Lots of Floral hints. . .that are overpowering for my pallet :-/ I’m a fan of Peet’s Dragon Oolong . . . .but the Ti Kwan Tin just didn’t do it for me this morning. Perhaps, if I re-steep a few more times? I can see this tea tasting better if i diffuse it a bit. . . . .back to the kettle.

Both the the dry leaves and the brew have a fresh vegetal cent. The liquor presents a bright yellow cup, with a taste to match its smell. It’s not a very complex flavor, although it does pleasantly linger on the tongue for quite a while after sipping. A good relaxing cup of green tea, none the less.

A friend says:

In the words of the oldest man in the house,“this was nummy”. For a first time sipper, it was quite pleasant on a blustery December day.

Edit: I served my last cup of this up to my friend. I normally wouldn’t have brewed up the last pinch of one of my favorite teas, but he had never tried it before.

I remember this tea as being a wonderful mix of flavors. A medium coppery brew had robust black tea notes, as well as finer flowery and mild grassy green nuances that blended perfectly with just the right amount of jasmine flowers. This tea displayed none of the usual “chalky” betterness that I usually associate with jasmine teas. A wonderful anytime tea that I will definitely be purchasing more of.

Not the best chai I’ve ever had, but not the worst either. Little overboard on the cardamom, making it almost bitter. Possibly overbrewed; not sure. Had this at the shop, so I didn’t brew it myself.

I like Genmaicha a lot. To be honest, it is my favorite Japanese tea so far. I enjoy a few cups of sencha occasionally when I’m in the mood for it but Genmaicha really makes me happy, especially in winter.

So… I was craving it the other day and it turned out I had ran out of my all-time favorite Den’s Genmaicha and didn’t have another brand on hand either. I went to my local Teavana store to get some to tide me over while Den’s order gets here only to be told that Teavana doesn’t carry it anymore… Apparently Teavana did some changes to their tea line-up recently and now it consists 90% of fruit-flavored stuff. Well, too bad for Teavana.

Then I remembered that there was a Peet’s store close by and I saw some loose-leaf teas there before. The smallest size they sell is 4 oz so I have a lot of Genmaicha now. Unfortunately it is no good… I mean it’s drinkable but much inferior to Den’s. Aroma is weak, roast rice taste is wishy-washy and the worst of all it is astringent. THIS I can’t stand in my Genmaicha, it is supposed to be sweet and creamy.

I guess I’ll keep this as a back-up for now, at least the tin it came in is nice.

This assam brews a deep yellow-amber liquid. The flavor is smooth, full-bodied, rich and malty. There is a slight astringent bitterness that is easily cut with a splash of milk, which also complements the malty flavor quite nicely. A good, strong, morning cup of tea.

Peet’s Golden Dragon Oolong is a wonderful afternoon tea. It has a light, fruity flavor and a brews a bright golden liquor. Make sure to double the measurements of this tea to get a flavorful cup, as it is a large leafed variety.

This was a very disappointing Earl Grey. I can’t taste the bergamot at all, though I can taste something above the black tea. I’m not sure what it is, but I am fairly sure that I don’t like it. As per the tea itself: the Darjeeling is so-so. It is a bitter, bland, and overall bad tea. I am sad Peet’s.

Wow. This is a wonderful tea. I brewed it much cooler and I put in 3 teaspoons for two cups (leaning towards gong fu style). The dry leaves are only brown and have little smell. The wet leaves are brown and green, with some nice dark greens in the middle, and smell strongly of peaches.

Round one is light and airy, and very, very fruity. I taste peaches in that little cup.

Round two has a darker liquor, despite a shorter brew time (30 sec). Still peachy, though slightly less so, with that slight sesame taste I associate with oolongs. It’s all about the aftertaste.

Round three was a bit less exciting, but still great. Also 30 sec. Little peach, but a nice, complete oolong. It tasted of roasted sesame.

This is the first oolong that I have really enjoyed.

It starts off a touch watery, but then quickly slides into a slightly fruity taste; the cup moves on to a light-bodied, toasted grain mid-range, and finishes with a slight sesame aftertaste. This tea is smooth and light.

Dry, its leaves are dark, full, and twisted. They are very long. The liquor is a light, golden brown. I drank it without sugar or milk.

Peet’s Organic Pu-erh tea brews up as black as coffee, and has a wonderful earthy taste. Hints of moss and bark are just strong enough to contribute texture to the flavor with out adding any bitterness. I take mine with just a hint of sugar.

Strong apricot notes with low toasted grain or nuts. Really strong floral notes..kinda like drinking perfume after a while , it also had a buttery texture to the tea.

This tea was not very great. I’ve had way better teas. It was not worth the high price.

I just tried this at the home of a friend; it was nice, but not as good as Mariage Frères’ Bourbon.

At first I expected this tea to be very bitter, but in fact the taste is more smoky and acidic. I do enjoy the smoky taste to it. It really adds to the nice blend of black teas. Make sure you drink it straight, anything else would ruin the smoky flavor.

I drink this all the time – fresh and fragrant but not overpowering. Perfect for anytime.

I drink this whenever I really need a pick-me-up – smoky and rich, perfect with a little bit of milk.