World Market

I’m closing out the day with a mug of this white peony sweetened with a hint of agave nectar. Goodnight, folks.

Becuase I’m vegan, my mom struggles to figure out what to send me for holidays. She sends my brother candy and cookies, and for me, she settled on tea. I couldn’t be happier! I got this one for Easter, and I am pleasantly surprised that a tea from World Market is this good. Because of it’s low caffeine content, it makes a perfect cup of tea to enjoy with a good book as I am getting ready for bed.

Makes a really forgettable iced tea.

I was wandering the aisles of World Market yesterday, killing time before my evening concert, and discovered that they have pouches of loose tea. Is this new, or have I just failed to notice before?

Anyway, this is a fairly decent white tea – liquor is golden in color. It is light, sweet, and delicate in flavor, and I’m on steep 4 of the tea, and it is still rewarding me with decent tea.

So, why not a higher rating? Well, it just doesn’t really ring my chimes. I can’t say why, it just doesn’t make me as happy as a good oolong, or a genmai cha. This isn’t going to stop me from drinking it or buying more. It’s a good cupboard staple.

having never tasted pu erh tea cakes or aged pu erh, I’m just guessing my way through my first bag of this. wash it first before your brew it. I also, strangely, think it tastes good with milk (2%), until its a terra cotta color. I brew the life out of it every time, and it holds up for a different taste every time. a good stand-by, but i’m looking for further adventure in pu erh.

Sweet and yummy without adding anything.

Okay, I am logging this again because I really really am loving this one. Maybe it’s my mood today (unexpectedly inexplicably giddy), but I am loving this more and more. It was slow at work so I even got to properly time it (only three minutes) and got two steepings in before I went home, enjoying third steeping as I type. :-) It is consistently yummy every time, again woodsy and pastoral. I could also be growing too fond of it because I swear my hair stylist dyed my hair the same dark dark brown with a hint of red color. I looked in my cup and saw my hair. :-D

I steeped this for 90 seconds, they recommend 1-2 minutes, so I went half way. Dark dark, looks like coffee, but with a reddish tinge. Smell is damp grassy kind of smelling. The taste is mellow, contrasting the dark color. It’s mellow, smooth, and a little sweet, like a blend of an oolong and a pekoe. It reminds me of my mom’s old tea pot she brought with her from China almost 40 something years ago (she still has it and the basket, and uses it!), just very earthy and pastoral. So so nice, and a good pick from World Market!

I haven’t had anything lately that wasn’t something I already talked about on here, but I’ve been working my new Mickey head tea ball, a late Christmas gift from my BFF, and I love that thing! It makes it easier to bring my loose leafs to work with me! The ball has Mickey ears and it even comes with a Mickey head tray, all stainless steel, my favorite steel in the microscope! My BFF, she knows me! :-D

Anyway, this sencha is nice, roasted grass flavor, a medium hued liquor, light scent. Not outstanding, but nice quality.

Had this this morning while the kids were getting ready for school. Jasmine green tea is always calming and soothing for me. Good way to start a Monday morning. As always, yum. This one lasted through three steepings! And I always love watching the pearls unfurling. Super light color, always sweet, and a heavenly aroma.

Thin, dark and wiry leaves brew this tea to an almond golden colored liquor. The first taste on the palate is vegetal but soon fades away and is replaced by sweet, fruity/floral aspects. There isn’t much of an after taste, per se, but is more like breathing fresh springtime meadow air for the next 15 minutes.

How weird, I think this one lost almost all its flavor after the box was opened. It still smelled of chocolate, but not as strong as before and there was almost no taste except for a coffee taste. Yes, storage in a cool dry place, no light. So odd.

This one I actually decupboarded a while ago, just was trying to get through the rest of the “no original taste” of it.

The outside of the box smells like chocolate, when you open it, it smells like walking into a cigar shop, a tad sweet.
The taste is clean, no bitterness. Smells of toffee, chocolate, and that cigar shop smell. Just lovely. And it’s dark, but caffeine free. The taste changes, you can get a coffee-ish taste, then a sweet taste hits your tongue, and you get the chocolate and toffee. And you can still taste the mate, it mixes well with the other flavors.

Fewer leaves = better infusion

Used fewer leaves than normal so that I could still brew it grandpa style and yet not have it oversteep.

The cup brews a dark amber, almost a dark caramel colour. The scent is sweet and malty at the same time, but not very strong. This is one tea you have to put your nose in to be able to smell. The taste is much like the smell – not too strong, but sweet and malty. This tea might be improved by a bit of sugar, but perhaps another time…

A little better this time, brewed it with fewer leaves. Come on, Diānhóng! I need you to get me through this day!