Homemade London Fog Tea Latte

One of the new Tazo tea lattes at Starbucks is the London Fog Latte. It’s made with Earl Grey tea – hence the “London Fog” name. Earl Grey tea is a classic tea, a longtime favorite of many tea drinkers. It’s made with black tea and is flavored with bergamot, a citrus fruit with a orangy perfumy flavor. Starbucks uses vanilla syrup in their London Fog recipe to highlight the bergamot and give the tea a full, warm flavor.

The drink is easy to make at home if you have some vanilla syrup on hand, whether it’s homemade or store-bought. Earl Grey tends to get a little bitter if it is oversteeped, so be sure to use double the amount of tea to get double strength tea for your tea latte instead of simply letting the tea sit longer. Also, feel free to use more vanilla if you like your drink a little sweeter.

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What is rooibos?

Rooibos tea is an herbal tea made from a South African plant, a member of the legume family, called rooibos. The name means “red bush” in Afrikaans and comes from the fact that the stems and leaves of the plant turn a reddish color when they are dried. The color actually comes through when rooibos is used to brew tea, turning the water a reddish brown color that is lighter than your typical black tea.

Rooibos, pronounced “roy-boss,” is referred to as an herbal tea, or tisane, because it contains no actual tea  but is brewed in a similar manner. This also means that it contains no caffeine. Rooibos has a naturally sweet flavor, almost as though honey has been added to it, but contains no sugar.

Starbucks Organic Serena Blend, reviewed

Starbuck’s Organic Serena Blend is one of the mainstays of the Starbucks coffee lineup – which is to say that it isn’t a limited edition blend – and one of the few certified  organic coffees that Starbucks has on its menu. I say certified organic because there are many coffees out there that are produced organically (several from Kona, just off the top of my head) that don’t gt the certification for price reasons but still hold up the standards.

Serena is a medium roast blend of beans from Africa and Latin America. It has a very complex flavor that isn’t too dark or heavy, thanks to the fact that it is a lighter roast. The coffee has a nutty, smooth flavor and a bright, but not too acidic, finish with a few citrusy orange notes thrown in. It has a lot of flavor and is a good “everyday” sort of coffee that could be paired with just about anything, from breakfast to dessert.

Deal on Peet’s “Lighter” Drinks!

To celebrate the launch of their new “lighter” drink options, Peet’s Coffee and Tea put out a coupon that allows you to buy one “light” drink, get another drink (of your choice) for free! The coupon can be found here and is good through January 18th.

The lighter drinks are made with sugar free syrups, which are a new addition to the regular lineup of flavor options at the West Coast coffee chain. The syrups are available in Chocolate and Vanilla flavors. While I tend to prefer the full-sugar syrups when I’m having a flavored drink, it’s great that they’re offering these because I hear lots of requests for them from customers.  That being said, I’ve only had bad experiences with sugar free chocolate syrups in the past and a free coupon is perfect way to try one and see if Peet’s new drinks stand up to the rest of their strong coffee lineup.

Ritter Sport Cappuccino, reviewed

Ritter Sport is a brand of German candy bars that is great for those who like a lot of variety in their chocolate, as their bars are consistently excellent and come in all kinds of flavors.

The Ritter Sport Cappuccino, like their other chocolates, is a square milk chocolate bar made up of smaller squares., each of which has a cappuccino-flavored filling. The filling is like a very dense mousse, light on the tongue but easy to bite into. It has a great coffee flavor, very much like a real cappuccino with notes of fresh coffee and milk. The milk chocolate is very creamy and the whole thing just melts smoothly into your mouth, coming very close to the flavor of a very well-made mocha latte in the end. This is a very rich bar that is definitely satisfying on the chocolate end and the coffee side of things.