If you haven’t experienced Peet’s Coffee, you have all my sympathy. It’s delightful. It’s strong enough (sorry, Dunkin’, I love it, but you’re not putting hair on anyone’s chest) without tasting overbrewed (see angry parentheses previous). And actually, it’s Starbucks’ long lost brother. Back in the day, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker began in the company of Alfred Peet, owner of Peet’s Coffee.  Eventually, Baldwin bought Peet’s and the others went big time with the brand we all know and love/hate.

Peet’s remained somewhat local.  I tried it while in San Francisco and seriously considered ordering it online.  It was Starbucks strength minus fierce bitter.  It was Dunkin’ Donuts plus more manliness.  In short, it was delightful.  If you can’t make it out to the West Coast, go for the Pike Place brew.  I give it a thumbs up.

Around the same time this article extolling the virtues of cold brew iced coffee appeared in the New York Times last year, my barista friend Raquel introduced me to the wonders of cold-brew coffee and I became a cold coffee convert.

Often called toddy coffee in the U.S. after a patented brewing system created by Todd Simpson in 1964, cold-brewed coffee uses less energy than most methods, since it only requires cold water, a filter, two vessels and some time. Coarsely-ground coffee beans are steeped in cold water to create a thick concentrate with less than half the acidity of hot-brewed coffee. This lack of acidity creates an extremely smooth, naturally sweet brew that’s easy on the stomach.

While the cold-brewed concentrate is best known for its wonderful iced coffee (created by mixing one part concentrate with three parts cold water, milk, or a combination of the two), it also makes a great cup of hot joe. Using the 1-3 concentrate-to-liquid ratio, just add hot water or steamed milk to the concentrate.

While commercial toddy systems are available for sale in coffeehouses and at Toddy Cafe for around $40 , it’s easy to make your own system with items you probably already have in your kitchen.

Cold-Brew Coffee

Makes 2 cups coffee concentrate

• 1/3 pound coarse-ground coffee beans
• 3 cups cold water

Equipment

• 2 32-ounce glass jar with lid
• large funnel
• Chemex coffee filter or three regular coffee filters

Make layers of water and coffee beans in first jar, being careful not the blend the mixture. Cover tightly and place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours but no more than 15 hours. The result will look like a muddy mess.

Place a funnel fitted with filters in the clean jar’s mouth. Gradually pour the coffee mixture into the filter, being careful to not overload it and allow thick concentrate to slowly drip before discarding grounds.

The concentrate will stay fresh if it’s tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Remember - use one part of the concentrate to three parts other liquid - hot or cold water or milk for the perfect cup or glass.

Emerald Flower Power is a beautifully hand rolled green tea, organically grown and sewn by artisans. An amaranth sphere bursts forth from the center of a green tea posy as it expands and comes to rest when the flower blossoms.

Jade Rings is also grown organically and the leaves are individually rolled so that they unfurl when the whole leaf is steeped.

Both teas maintain all the nutrition of power packed antioxidants. Nothing like a little ambience this Mother’s Day.

To check these out, go to The Groovy Mind.

Green Tea Tropical is another delightful whole-leaf artisanal offering from Mighty Leaf, a blend of green tea leaves, colorful cornflowers, and tropical fruit.

Pulling the silk tea sachet out of the foil envelope, I was immediately struck by how pretty this tea is. The green of the tea leaves was speckled with flashes of blue and red flower petals. The aroma was the second thing that captured my attention. Straight from the package, the tea gives off a lively fragrance that reminded me of nothing more than fruit punch. Clearly, this is not a fuddy-duddy tea!

I steeped the tea bag for the suggested three minutes in very hot — not boiling — water, then removed and discarded the tea bag.

As with other Mighty Leaf tea blends I’ve sampled, I found that Green Tea Tropical did not require any sweetener to enhance its flavor or mitigate bitterness. In fact, there was no hint of the bitter notes that sometimes characterize green tea. The brew was full-bodied without being cloying, and the flavor was bright, with well-defined notes of pineapple and guava.

Because this tea has such an unusually vibrant quality, I would take care when selecting food to pair it with. Although I didn’t have an opportunity to do so, I would try it iced, and serve it with salads or seafood. Hot, I think it would make an excellent stand-alone dessert tea. If serving with sweets, I would not match it with any kind of elaborate or rich dessert, but would offer only a simple pound cake or sugar cookies, or perhaps grilled summer fruits.

Green Tea Tropical does contain some caffeine, but less than black tea, and provides beneficial antioxidant compounds.

For more information or to order Green Tea Tropical or other Mighty Leaf teas online, check out the Mighty Leaf Web site.

Looking for additional writers to add to our team. Want to join in the fun and get your buzz on? Drop us a line at info@wellfed.net. We’d love to hear from you.

The label failed to indicate the inclusion of milk protein. It was only sold in some Stop & Shop stores in New Jersey.

According to Stop & Shop:

The recalled product has a “use by” date of May 7, 2008 (printed as 05 07 08) and a UPC code of 2529360028. Upon hearing of the announcement by WhiteWave Foods, Stop & Shop immediately removed the item for sale from its shelves.

If you have purchased this product, you may return it to Stop & Shop for a full refund or call Stop & Shop Customer Service Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM — 5:00 PM at (800) 767-7772 for more information. Customers can also visit the Stop & Shop website at http://www.stopandshop.com/.

Photo from Silk Soymilk.

Although it’s not surprising that green-tea liqueurs have apparently been around for a while in Japan (there’s green tea ice cream, why not liqueur?), according to its press packet, ZEN is the first to be formulated especially with the American market in mind. Seems like a good idea to me, as Americans are currently enamored of all things green tea. Riding the wave of that green-tea love, ZEN Green Tea Liqueur is essentially a blend of high-quality green tea leaves, herbs, and other flavors, in a neutral-spirits base with an alcohol content of 20 percent.

(ZEN is produced by the same company, Suntory Ltd., who makes Midori, a light, sweet, emerald-green liqueur that has become extremely popular in the United States. Together with Midori, ZEN is distributed stateside by SKYY Spirits, LLC.)  

Provided along with the bottle of ZEN was a little booklet of recipes. I chose a fairly easy one — the Zen Mojito — to sample first. Opening the bottle, which I’d chilled in the fridge for a few hours, I took a sniff. Raspberry iced tea, was the first thing that came to mind. The fruitiness was unexpected but pleasant, and I thought it was a good sign that the tea aroma was predominant over the alcohol. (For the record, it doesn’t actually taste like raspberries.)

Tasting the ZEN Green Tea Liqueur in the mojito, and then going on to taste it in a few other ways (over the course of a few days–NOT all at once), I developed a preference for those combinations where ZEN was the dominant flavor. The mojito was mmm, mmm mojito, but the rum in it masked the subtler herbal notes of the ZEN. My husband, who, for purposes of scientific objectivity, tested the recipes along with me, came to a similar conclusion, commenting, “I’d like to try the ZEN on its own, to see what it really tastes like.”

ZEN Mojito (recipe courtesy of ZEN)

• 1 ½ parts ZEN Green Tea Liqueur
• 1 ½ parts Matusalem Platino Rum
• ½ part fresh lime juice
• ½ part simple syrup
• Mint leaves
• Club soda

Muddle mint in a cocktail shaker. Add ZEN, rum, lime juice and simple syrup and shake. Serve in a tall glass over ice. Top with club soda.

Because it is tea based, ZEN Green Tea Liqueur seems to marry well with pretty much anything you’d pair logically with a cup of green tea. Good flavor and ingredient matches include ginger, mint, lemon, even cream. Ultimately, our favorite mix consisted of ZEN over crushed ice with a splash of ginger ale and a squeeze of lime. Simple and very “zen.”

Incidentally, chilled and served over ice, ZEN is quite nice on its own. Grass green, the liqueur served without a mixer tastes something like a reduction of honey-sweetened green tea flavored with lemongrass.

ZEN manages to avoid the cough-syrupy consistency that characterizes many liqueurs, having a body that is fairly light and mellow, rounded out with a pleasant herbal finish. Plus, there’s an authentic astringency from the green tea, which I found provides just the right balance to the sweetness. Overall, I really like this liqueur. It’s unique, elegant, and surprisingly versatile. 

I’d say this is the perfect liquor to sip with appetizers on a warm spring or summer evening. I’d like to try it in lemonade, iced black tea, and maybe as a flavoring in white sangria or even granita. 

For recipes and more info, check out the ZEN Green Tea Liqueur Web site.  

ZEN Green Tea Liqueur and ZEN Mojito images courtesy of ZEN Green Tea Liqueur

Tealosophy“>Tealosophy CD by Ines’ Berton provides music for a sanguine reflection perhaps on the sound of tea and its ancient streams of inspiration. Ines Berton is a painter from Argentina who founded the successful tea company called “Tealosophy” based in Buenos Aires with beautiful shops in Spain. Tealosophy’s beautiful teas will be available soon in the United States.

Tealosophy feels that “Tea is the art of ritualized hospitality” adding our eyes and ears to the classic term used by perfumers as having a nose for delicious scents. Titles of songs match her teas and paintings with names like “The Wishing Tree” or “Tibet Sun” a melodious realm which takes you tea traveling with unique world music artists. Sounds of Kyoto flutes and bells, magical sitars with a tea tango samba feel. It is like turning the golden wheel of whirling beautiful sounds which create a delightful tea meditation.

The CD is available Tealosophy” online

Those translucent to-go tubes filled with delightful honey varietals, even some infused with fruits, always seemed like a sweet idea to me, yet somehow the honey never ended up in my tea.  Instead I managed to sip on the tubes after giving up on squeezing it successfully into my cup.

Then I came across these Honibe pure honey drops. These near honey cubes are soft enough to melt before your tea gets chilly, yet solid enough to hold without getting sticky! Now we all can have a sweet hold on honey, even on the go.

One honey combed hexagonal shaped drop is equal to one level teaspoon of honey. Honibe packets come in honey with lemon or plain. Canada, home to many a sipper, know their honey bees and their tea.  These little packets are pure honey, no corn syrup has been added and that is good news for Mom’s! There is also no added sugar, colorings or additives. Just the pure essence of the honey combs.  Honibe is a company from Prince Edward Island. I might just pop one in my mouth as a treat like an urban honey bear.  They make a wonderful confection for the sweet little ones too, instead of always resorting to sugary penny candies.

You can buy them packaged online. Don’t forget to convert the Canadian dollars to USA then the price seems a bit sweeter as well.