World Market

Having owned and broken countless World Market tea thermoses over the years, I figured it’s time I finally did a review. These are 10oz glass bottles with removable strainers and beautiful painted designs – botanical and geometric motifs – on the outside. Being glass, they are lightweight and allow you to watch the leaves as they brew. Of course glass also makes them breakage prone and thus a disadvantage to my clumsy self. After shattering enough of them, I bought a foam sleeve which has helped to protect mine from minor bumps and drops. Good thing is they are fairly cheap – I’ve gotten them for as little as $7 on sale – so not a big deal to replace. Like any thermos, they do a good job of keeping brewed tea hot or cold. There’s no plastic in direct contact with the liquid.

Unfortunately, there is one major flaw that makes this product less functional: the cheap metal strainer gets hot and taints the flavor of the tea. It’s especially noticeable with delicate teas like greens and whites. This problem essentially makes it unusable for grandpa brewing which mostly defeats the purpose of having a strainer. For this reason, I had to buy another tea thermos with a better quality strainer for steeping tea on the go. Mine is now used only for holding brewed tea.

World Market has carried these tumblers for a while now. Every year they come out with attractive new designs, but alas they all have the same cheap-o metal strainer. It’s a shame because this is otherwise an excellent tea thermos.

I got some of this as an experiment of sorts. I’ve been enjoying loose leaf tea so much the past few years I haven’t really bought anything bagged for quite a while, but I needed something I could travel with that wouldn’t make a mess.

This…does not taste like sencha to me. I’m not sure what it is, it’s not the fact that it’s bagged, because I’ve had green tea from Starbucks (that I think is Teavana?) that’s tea bags and it has that umami/grassy green tea flavor. But this tastes, well, I’m not sure what it tastes like. Like hot water with some straw in it? I’m not sure, but I don’t much like it. Well, I don’t hate it exactly, and I’ll finish up the box, but.

I really like this rooibos. The rooibos itself is the most dominant feature, almost overpowering or blending the other fruit flavors together into it. I over-steeped it a little bit, but I was able to get the other fruits more.

It really deserves a 80 rating in terms of taste, but since I had to soak it longer to taste the flavors and rooibos itself is a hit or miss for me, I’m rating it 75.

Thank you for this free sample, Liquid Proust!!!!!

My first Pu-Erh, picked up on a whim while shopping for other stuff. Steeped for 4 minutes with water at a rolling boil, as per the instructions.

Nothing special. To my (admittedly uneducated) palate, this one just tastes like a really strong cup of Lipton, if you had allowed a goldfish to swim through it. I think this is one I’ll pass down to my tea-loving niece.

I wish I’d brewed this a bit stronger this morning, but it’s still a great fit for a rain/snow mix day. The cocoa notes are still coming through, which is what I was wanting today.

Random note to the weather gods: Remember Friday? Sixties? Sunny? Absolutely gorgeous? That, weather gods. Not this.

This is just what I need this morning. A nice, hearty black tea that is nice and smooth and without any maltiness. There’s a little whisper of smokiness to this mugful, but it doesn’t overwhelm the tea at all. There’s a little bit of cocoa undertone, and maybe a bit of woodiness in the flavor. I’m finding it comforting. I’m happy that it tastes like I expect it too, as well, since I think there’s something brewing in my sinuses.

A nice tea for after dinner, the taste of the green tea is almost completely overpowered by the mint. would recommend.

Great Chai for a bagged option. I look for a significant presence of a Chai spice flavor in my Chai teas so I was impressed with this one. Generally prepared with 2tsp of sugar and a splash of whole milk and it’s pretty much set. I also drink it with no milk.

Still an amazing cup of tea! Wish they still had this in the store. :( Just a great, balanced black tea. I would (and do) drink this all day.

Still fantastic. One of my favorite any-time teas.

Excellent, black tea. Although they call it a breakfast tea, I find it to be a little less “strong” than say an Irish or English breakfast tea. I would also suggest that, to me, it has much, much more flavor than other breakfast teas. One of my current favorite teas.

This is one of my favorite teas. I bought it on a whim, being a fan of rooibos and fruity flavors. Sometimes buying on a whim is a bust, sometimes it’s a win. I count this a win. The fruit flavors are pleasant, but they don’t overpower the rooibos itself. I like this when I’m craving something sweet-ish but don’t want to significantly increase my calorie intake.

I find World Market teas to be reasonably priced with usually adequate flavors. So, I grabbed the Mountain Wūlóng tea while we were browsing through the store on Saturday.

When I opened the silver bag, the clumps of dark leaves smelled very grassy. It wasn’t a freshly mowed aroma. It was closer to the odor that cut grass expels after it ferments in the compost pile for a day or two. The smell was recognizable but not necessarily unpleasant.

I steeped the thick black leaves for four minutes at 185 degrees as recommended on the package. The brewed color was a deep gold. The aroma was like slightly sweet grass (i.e., the yard variety).

The first few sips of this brew produced a strong grassy taste. However, the more I drank, the more subtle the flavor became. By the time my cup was half full (or was it half empty?), the grassy flavor was embedded in a semi-sweet honey taste which I preferred over my initial impression. I didn’t discover any astringency. The aftertaste was smooth with a slightly sweet attribute.

This was a cordial tea and not a bad way to kick off my Monday morning. It didn’t have the caffeine kick that I normally require to jump start my brain. However, this selection did seem to keep me in a calmer state of mind than I am accustomed to when I begin the work week. That’s plausibly not a bad thing!

I’m a true newbie, and this is my first pu-erh. I bought it at World Market knowing that it probably isn’t the highest quality tea, but I enjoy it. After trying this one, I am inspired to order some of the recommended puerhs.
I’m way too new to tea to be very good at describing the flavor, but some day I will compose a new tasting note here.

This green tea is absolutely amazing. The other green tea I threw away in the trash after trying Wulu’s green tea. If you see this in the local store I highly reccomend that you purchase this. 5 star review from me and I am very picky and sensitive about my teas.

A very refreshing (to me anyway) brew. I love it plain, no sugar or anything. It’s calming and clears the mind.

I’ve had many senchas in my lifetime; in Japan and in the United States and I have scarcely found one I didn’t like. I love going to World Market, I even tried to get a job there several times. Almost all the World Markets I’ve been to have great service and great products. This tea didn’t disappoint at all. Most Japanese tea comes in packaging that can be cryptic to understand for those who are just starting to get in tea, but this looks perfectly accessible. It is a great introduction to Japanese tea for anyone that is just starting out. This tea has all the trademark grassy and sweet flavors a sencha should have. Goes great with fruit or something else sweet!

I think the company’s description of this tea is correct, and it is absolutely delicious! I love black teas with notes of cacao, and this one definitely has that.

I liked it. It is very earthy and I cannot claim to know a whole lot about pu-erh teas as this was my first encounter but I am enjoying this bag. I did not notice the fishy taste some readers hinted about, it may be that the 180 degree brewing temp doesn’t pull out that flavor. All the same it does aid in digestion and that is a good thing.

Steepster will absolutely not let me log World Market’s Mountain Wulong, under either of it’s listings, I tried several times today. I tried two days ago back when I actually drank it. No luck, I get an error message everytime. I saw that Jason was consolidating duplicate teas and while both show up and I was able to add one to my cupboard no logging. Anywho!

I received Mountain Wulong and Ancient Pu-Erh from my sister for Christmas, both loose leaf. I haven’t tried the pu-erh yet, but was pleasantly surprised with this one. I wasn’t sure what kind of oolong it was going to be but based on the reviews, I was hoping for dark and wasn’t disappointed. Nice wiry brown leaves with some silver mixed in. The scent reminds me of an Oriental Beauty or Darjeeling even though I know its from China. And the taste is nice sweet stone fruit, mineral and herbaceous notes.

It reminds me of the first Oriental Beauty I tried almost a year ago that opened my eyes to a whole other world of tea and led me to Steepster. I’ve had teas more complex and unique in the last year, but this is very nice. A good everyday oolong with enough sparkling moments to make it engaging. See this is me being not snobby. Will try to move the note to its proper page once the issue is resolved. Happy 250 tasting notes to me!