Every sweet-tooth guy and gal on Trinity’s campus knows how painful the following experience is:
You’re running late to your 10:50am class (which, by the way, is an incredibly weird time to have to be somewhere by), and you’re coming all the way from Vernon Street so you decide to take a shortcut through the library. As you’re speed walking past Peter B’s, you stop dead in your tracks, frozen and memorized by the sight and smell of two display cases full of sugary, buttery, delicious looking pastries. But alas, there’s a line around the corner and you’ve got about 45 seconds to get to LSC.
Let’s be real here. We all love a good treat. Peter B’s pastries are delivered every morning (mon-fri), fresh from the night before. They make the perfect pair to a morning cup of coffee or a midnight cram-session. Of course we all have our go-to pick, but do you think you know everything about these tasty treats? If not, you’ve come to the right place. From a fellow bae-rista herself (moi, of course), here’s the low-down: an inside look at the Peter B’s Pastries.
Let’s start with the basics. There are five main categories of pastries: scones, danishes, croissants, muffins, and two outliers that I like to call ‘rolls’.
- Scones: The scones come in three different flavors: chocolate chip, cinnamon, and berry. Each scone is coated with either a light sugary icing or a chocolate drizzle. Personally, I think the chocolate scones are the finest of the three.
- Danishes: Next is the danishes: they are flakey and buttery around the rim, and have a pocket of either cheese or berry compote filling on the inside. I fell in love with these my sophomore year – they’re perfect if you’re in need of an urgent sugar fix. If you’re hanging around in the library at midnight studying for a final exam, there’s a good chance that you can run downstairs and snag one of these before Peter B’s closes.
- Croissants: If you’re not ready to dive into the exotic selection of pastries Peter B’s has to offer, it’s best play it safe and get a croissant – they’re nearly impossible to screw up. Peter B’s offers three different varieties: plain, chocolate, and almond. Barista Chloe White ’18 fondly recalls her opening shift, where “the almond croissants would have a little bit of marzipan falling off the side”. If you’re craving an almond croissant (like I am right now), you better set your alarms – these ones are usually the first to go in the morning. But fear not, if you don’t make it in time, you can always grab a plain croissant – those normally stick around until late afternoon.
- Muffins: Get ready for this one. Peter B’s carries a wide selection of muffins that are sold daily: lemon poppy seed, cranberry, banana nut, chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, blueberry, morning glory, and cheesecake. It seems that the fan favorites, according to barista Sarah Talcott ’17 are “defiantly the poppy seed and banana nut”. On rare occasions, a morning order will contain 1-2 special flavors, such as a red velvet or mocha cholate chip muffin, which barista Lexi Zanger ’19 argues “is the best thing on this earth”. Though the muffins seem perfect in almost every way, barista Tom Naragon ’17 warns fellow pastry-lovers to be weary of the double chocolate chip, as it can sometimes be “a sugar overload” that has him “hitting the ground” far too often.
- ‘Rolls’: The final category is what I like to call ‘the rolls’. There are two available: pecan rolls and cinnamon rolls. The pecan roll is, in my opinion, the most underrated pastry at Peter B’s. The taste reminds me of my mom’s homemade pecan pie that she serves every year at thanksgiving. Yet, according to barista Julia Gorka ’19, the cinnamon rolls are “the literal best, no contest”.
If you’ve made it this far into the article without shutting your laptop and sprinting to the library to get your sugar fix, then I applaud you – you have incredible self control. For the freshest and widest selection, swing by Peter B’s at open (7:30am) Monday through Friday to have you choice of any of these delicious sweets!