First entry in a multi-piece saga that I am calling the Oregon-Eateries series.  Mike and I were very fortunate in being able to fly out to Oregon for my college roommate’s wedding (congrats, Gretch!).  I feel like we did nothing but eat all weekend.  Awesome!  I’m going to go ahead and open up with the bad news, so to speak, because it’s the only bad report I have.  Might as well go ahead and get it out of the way, right?

    So here’s how it started: The wedding, which was gorgeous is done, so Mike and I decided to spend a day and a night in Portland before we had to go home.  We needed to kill some time before we could go check into our hotel there, though, so we stopped to get something to eat and drink at this little place.  I have since learned that Peet’s is a chain, so maybe that’s the problem.  Nevertheless, I regret going here.

    Mike ordered a hot chocolate and cheese danish, while I ordered a chai latte.  I was conducting tests on Oregon/Pacific chai since Gretchen always talked about how good it is.  My experiences so far had been good, so I was excited.  I also ordered a slice of chocolate pound cake.  Let me just say first that Mike did not have any issues with his selections, though I actually finished off his hot chocolate later.  I think that Peet’s did a poor job of integrating the chocolate syrup of whatever they used properly because, when I got to the bottom, it was pretty much pure chocolate syrup.  Proper integration of ingredients is the key to good hot chocolate, people!  Anyhoo, as for my choices, the chocolate pound cake was okay, but it was a little dry.  As for the chai...failure!  It was really watered down and not tasty at all.  I was forced to break my rule with it and bin almost the entire drink.  Really disappointing.

    I don’t know, maybe I just got a bad barista or a bad chai.  I’ve had my coffee--okay, tea in this case--orders screwed up before.  Nevertheless, the taste-experience was bad enough to turn me from Peet’s forever.