Campfire in a cup

From Peets.com

A dear friend gave me a tin of Peet's Scottish Breakfast. He said quite a few times as he handed it over that it is malted or has a malted quality to it. Being the gluten intolerant person I am I heard "malted" and thought, well so much for that tea. (Malt is usually referring to malted grains-- grains of the glutenous variety are briefly sprouted then heat dried. It's actually a pretty cool process. Then they're made into beer and Milk Duds.) The tea tin doesn't have an ingredients list per se but it does mention "Indian teas" and "Lapsang Souchong" and "smokey."

Today at lunch I decided I wanted to try it so I checked out the website to see if it listed ingredients there. Nope, but there is an Ask Peet's line where I can talk to a true Peet's Coffee and Tea expert. I called. The nice young man (I say young but I bet he was the same age as me) cheerfully asked what he could help me with. This is what I said, "Well, I have a question about this tea that I received as a gift. It's Scottish Breakfast. He kept going on about how it was malted and I wasn't sure if he really meant malted or if he was just saying that for the fun of it. And I know that people with gluten intolerance can't have things with malted anything in it and there aren't any ingredients listed on the tin so I wasn't sure if I could drink it. So what did he mean by malted?"

I think he kind of laughed and said, "Scottish Breakfast is really just a blend of Indian black teas. The malt is a tasting note. So there isn't actual malt anything in it." Without a pause. He knows his tea. To which I said, "Oh thanks! Sorry for the silly question!" "Not a silly question at all (laugh laugh), have a good day!" Thanks Peet's Coffee and Tea for answering my paranoia question.

So I decided it was safe to try Scottish Breakfast. I pried open the lid and bang! Campfire! I made everyone on lunch break with me smell it. We agreed that the description of "warm hearths in the rugged Scottish countryside" and "smokey" were pretty accurate. After the covering and steeping for 4-5 minutes I tasted it and man, is it a unique taste. Have you ever tried Lapsang Souchong before? Well this is tea that is smoked over pinewood. I think it's a little more detailed than that, like a specific type of tea from a specific area, but generally speaking it's a smoked tea.

Scottish Breakfast tastes like a campfire in a cup. Really. My first thought was that it tasted like vegan hot dogs cooked over a barbeque. I can't remember what actual hot dogs taste like so someone will have to tell me if they thing lapsang souchong tastes like hot dogs. It's a weird taste but surprisingly good. I also can't remember what malted anything tastes like so I'm going with smokey. It's totally like a campfire in a cup. I suggest trying a cup of lapsang souchong at some point. Whenever I feel like I want a trip to the "rugged Scottish countryside" or just want to pretend I'm camping, I will certainly make a cuppa Scottish Breakfast. Maybe I'll even make a sheet tent and put on a fireplace DVD. A girl's got to make do when her husband loathes camping.

Let me know if you try some! I want to know what you think of any lapsang souchong!

Because I don't have any good pictures of the Scottish countryside, here's a picture of me in Scotland. I left the tea at work, so picture of the actual tea tomorrow.

Me living the dream, circa 1998

Today's tea tasting soundtrack: Hornpipes from Hell - Albannach

Hooray, tea!

Favorites

I love tea. I enjoy coffee too but there is usually a lot of sugar involved. Tea is wonderful all on it's own. Or, if you're feeling feisty, it's great with a dash of cream and sugar. In my case it's usually hemp milk and honey. For a person with food allergies and such tea is generally a one size fits all deal. There are a few exceptions but from what I've learned tea rarely has gluten involved and if the label says "cream flavoring" it's not coming from any animal. And most tea merchants proudly display whether their teas are gluten free, vegan, nut free, etc. But we'll get to that later. What I want to talk about is how great tea is.

Mint Chocolate Rooibos - David's Tea

Tea is great when you come home from work and it's been a particularly busy day. Like a non-stop "why-don't-you-have-tax-forms-I-need-this-book-for-a-school-project-due-tomorrow" kind of day. (What up, librarians!)

It's chilly out side and yet you feel a bit guilty for turning up the thermostat, so you don't. So instead you turn on the kettle and fill a tea strainer with your favorite guilty pleasure tea. Mine is Mint Chocolate Rooibos from David's Tea. You have all the fabulous antioxidants plus yummy chocolate plus refreshing mint.

Tea magic begins as soon as you put the spoonful in your strainer and pour the hot water over. Finally, after the requisite 4-7 minutes of steeping, you sit in the most comfy worn in part of the couch, mug in hand, and take a sip. Even if the first sip scalds your tongue and throat on the way down it's so worth it. All that matters is that Andes mint hot goodness-- and the dog nudging you to go out. Really, you should have taken him out first but oh well.

For five minutes you sit there sipping, and eventually you stop internally nagging the high school kid that waited until the day before to get To Kill a Mockingbird.

Tea can have a calming, restorative affect when taken at the end of a busy day. And that's one of the reasons I love tea.

Mint Chocolate Rooibos is a naturally caffeine-free tea with the added bonus of mini chocolate chips, peppermint, vanilla and chocolate mint flavoring. Rooibos (say it with me, ROY-boss) comes from the Aspalathus Linearis shrub that grows in South Africa. It's got more antioxidants than green tea, high in Vitamin C and low in tannins which apparently are the little buggers that can upset a person's stomach. Ultimately, it's a super tea. I just had a vision of a canister of tea with a big red "R" on it, wearing a red cape. Yes.

Thanks for hanging out with me in this first post. I hope you'll come back because I have loads more tea goodness in store-- recipes, tea reviews, window shopping tea related stuff, and random geekery that may or may not have to do with tea. If you can do it while drinking a cuppa it's probably fair game.

I leave you with today's tea drinking soundtrack: Pitch Perfect. The movie, the soundtrack, or both. Nothing like collegiate style a cappella.