09 January 2009

Starbucks is courting me...

Starbucks rarely beckons me nowadays, but I did slow down for a moment earlier this week. The sign "Tea Time" is enough to catch my attention, especially in winter.

Just recently Starbucks has offered Tazo tea lattes. I saw about three on offer, though I hesitated earlier this week because I simply don't NEED to buy tea during working hours. Yesterday, though, I thought "why not" and dropped by the one in my work building.

I've been a bit distracted this week, and I think it showed when I tried to make the simple transaction with the barrista. I asked about the new teas, and she said, "did you want London Fog?" Am I that readable? Then while picking up the tea (with 2% milk, I wanted the real thing), this young guy fell in the line of my dizzy fire. He politely said, "sorry if I skipped you?", which he hadn't, so I said, "what?" and then it sank in that he was being polite so I tried to explain my slowness by saying, "sorry, I'm uncaffeinated at the moment" and he said "what?" and I said "what?", and he gave me the "you are weird" look and left. I don't know, crowded places just get to me. Moving on...

So I sipped London Fog back at work, and was surprisingly pleased. It's a lavender Earl Grey, with vanilla and milk. It smells and tastes slightly perfumey, but with a nice creamy touch. It's sweetened just enough to not be overwhelming. It's a contradiction in my normal tea tastes, in that normally I cringe when I see someone adding milk to Earl Grey. Pulled together, though, it was more of a treat. It didn't actually remind me of London though: maybe an English garden, not the city. I would have named it Zenobia:



I'm sure I'll try the other flavors in the near future: a lady at work gave me a coupon for them that can be used every Tuesday.

Though I love true tea, without extra flavor or sweetener, there's always room in my heart for such concoctions.

4 comments:

Marie said...

I laughed when I read about your awkward exchange with the young dude. Ha ha ha.

Pic of Zenobia is priceless. Little miss muppet-muffin head!

I love Lady Grey tea and I also add milk to it. :P

Anonymous said...

it's called sensory overload. too much auditory input as well as possible anxiety from being in a crowded place causes shut down. your poor brain can't handle all that's bombarding it. don't worry, it happens to me all the time. instead of getting dizzy, though, i usually get angry and walk out. so more power to you.

oh, looks like i'll be making a starbucks stop soon. (but not during lunch hour ;)

Anonymous said...

Those new teas look delicious! I've seen them advertised, too. I'll probably pop over to Starbucks after work to try. I'm a tea freak :)

Anonymous said...

As you know, I tried the London Fog today...tasted like a milky Lush bath bomb, not quite my cuppa. But I'd like to try the rooibos with real milk and the other two teas that they're offering w/o milk...and we don't even have to wait till Tuesday! Haahaa!
Zenobia's such a pratty hag, hello.