World Market

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!

meh

I sip this same tea that my girlfriend gave me for Christmas. I re-steep and re-steep the tea. She’s in Haiti for the week.She’s doing missionary work. Years ago, I went to Haiti, I met her sister and father, then sort of Facebook stalked her, turned out we’re really compatible and I want to marry her. That’s the long story, shortened. Funny, why would I be shortening the story for tea drinkers? I should be shortening it for the coffee drinkers. Anyway-

She lives in Virginia, I live in Ohio, it’s a long distance relationship. One would expect that I wouldn’t mind her being in Haiti, where this whole crazy thing got started, but two problems-

1) I am used to being in contestant contact with her, and Haiti doesn’t have a lot of communication infrastructure. Some fellows might be put off by a female that texts or emails or calls at least once every two hours during waking hours. And I’m one of them. But not with her. Now I drink her tea, watch things on Netflix, and try not to transpose my own emotions with those of the fake people who do fake things in movies.

2) Haiti is hell. Haiti was Hell’s next door neighbor when I went. Then her earthquake ripped the country up. Imagine the worst bedroom you’ve ever been in… You know the kind that mom says “It looks like there was a hurricane in here,” then add a real hurricane. It’s a lot like that except with lots of human beings and their lives. The UN and the Red Cross and lots and lots of American money don’t solve the problem of evil people and educating people to stand on their own. This is what worries me. America has law and order because people are used to following law and order, and therefore generally do. Haitians are not used to following law and order, and now there is no law or no order, even if someone wanted to follow.

If she’s in Virginia and something bad happens, I can put the key in the ignition, drive there, and sort things out. Haiti’s problems that would come her way would be exponentially worse than what Virginia would bring her, and I can’t just drive over there and sort out her problems. I can’t be there to protect her. I want to go to Hell to make sure she doesn’t know she’s there.

I drink her tea, I watch Netflix, and I try my hardest not to think of her at all.

I steep and re-steep this as I watch No Country for Old Men, my favorite example of American culture’s answer to the Zen koan. I use GChat to talk to my girlfriend and try not to tell her I’ve packed a bag and I’ll be driving the few hundred miles between us, and probably loosing my job in the process.

Smooth, dark, re-steeps well.

My girlfriend, and the way things are going- future wife, gave this to me for Christmas. I made it for us a few times while she visited last week. She doesn’t know much of anything about loose leaf teas, but found, likely, the tea I’d enjoy the most from World Market. Maybe it’s one of those Connections that Karl Jung was talkin’ about.

I drank some tonight, and thought about her.

This is my first experience with jasmine pearls. With that being said, I didn’t want my first experience of pearls being stuck in a bag. I got out the scissors, snipped open the bag and poured the little pearls into my perfect tea maker. I poured six ounces of 180 temp water over them and watched them for a minute. Indrank that infusion while awaiting a second steep for 1.5 minutes. After the second infusion the pearls were fully opened and a darker brew was released. I enjoyed the second steep more as it was more floral. The first one was much too light. I think this is a tea I may grab to relax, but wouldn’t drink regularly. I am curious to try better pearls.

I’m drinking the last bag of this today. It’s definitely pleasant, nice and light and slightly fruit. Back to decent (even bagged) tea now that I’m out of the hospital. Let’s just say that I didn’t open the bags they supplied there.

I’m finally drinking this alone and hot (well with a little sweetener). This is my 6th mug of tea today trying to get rid of bronchitis. Anyway, this has a nice fruity flavor and aroma. I’ve noticed that I do really like fruity white teas and this is no exception. With my sudden love for all things loose, I’m not sure I’ll repurchase once I’m done with the last 3 bags of this but it was nice while it lasted!

I haven’t tried this on its own but I tend to mix it with other fruity teas (I prefer all my tea – aside from chai – over ice). I love slightly tart, punchy flavors (love hibiscus) and this fits right in. While the general price is low, it only comes with 15 bags so it really isn’t that cost effective.

Oh man! Ths one brewed up into a lovely golden color and I am really enjoying it! Although it is an oolong, it has a lot of black tea qualities to it. It starts out light in the front of the mouth with an almost citric quality. It darkens into a barely creamy, slightly roasty and malty flavor- reminds me slightly of chestnut stuffing. It has a light astringency which works in this tea to make it seem bright even though there are some darker tones to it. It’s very well-balanced between light and dark flavors.

Thanks Shelley_Lorraine dor the opportunity to try this tea.

Another tea from cheetah_pita and I must say that of all my mystery swaps, she did the best job of sending me unique/foreign/different-to-me teas. I thought this one, a dark oolong, would be a safe selection as I’ve liked most dark oolongs that I’ve tried.

This one is quite unique. It tastes almost like it has cinnamon in it, which is alright by me, but I also detect some smokiness. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think someone snuck a pinch of Lapsang Souchong into my cup! But strange enough, both the cinnamon and smokiness die out pretty quick as the tea cools and turn into a nutty flavor. can’t say I’m loving the nutty flavor much more than the cinnamon smoke, but it’s alright.

One box I got tasted okay (not super high quality but drinkable) and the next was soooo smokey. It was like someone had been chain-smoking while rolling the pearls. Do not recommend.

Quite a good oolong, kind of a nutty taste like almond but very light.

On my 2nd steep today. I have so much of this tea I don’t know how I’ll use it all. Haha

I’m getting sweet, earthy, soil flavors this time. Pretty nice for the evening.

The third steep of this tea is a good place for me, I’m liking it a little weaker surprisingly. The smokiness is dissipating and the earthy sweetness is coming out more. It’s much nicer and smoother.

Yum moment from this tea finally. :D

So I’ve had this Pu-erh for a while. I ran out of my Adagio samples so I’m resorting to this while I wait for my Verdant order to come in. (So excited!)

Not so bad! I rinsed my leaves this time and it made it much better.
Smoky, earthy and slightly sweet for my first steep. I’ll update for my other steeps later.
Hopefully the sweetness and malty-ness will come out in my next steeps.
I’m brewing it in a 2-cup teapot with 3-teaspoons of Pu-erh.
It’s a little weaker at the finish than I’d hoped. I want it a bit stronger.

Fairly smooth at a two minute steep time and at 165-185 F. Any longer and it seems to get bitter (to me).

If I drink green tea first in the morning, this has been my “go to” as of late (upping my rating).

Seems right at a minute thirty, 165 degrees F. It gets very bitter at higher temps over the two minute mark.

Flavor: Grassy and green, smooth at lower temp times.

To be honest, after reading some of the other reviews, I realize I probably don’t have as intense of a knowledge of how to make the tea to actually rate this tea well. ;) Haha I received it from my family after they decided it was weird/unpleasant, but I found it rather delicious with milk. It is a tea that has grown on me, and could potentially take some getting used to. After reading the reviews, I’ve decided I want to experiment a bit more with the steeping process, as well as how I drink it. Thank you, Steepster!

A family member got me this one. It was a pleasant surprise as I’ve never tried a World Market tea before.

The only other Mate I’ve ever tried was Matevana. I’m not sure if I prefer one over the other because they’re both different. This one, despite being marked as “Chocolate” is actually more toasty and less sweet than the other Mate. Because of the fewer ingredients, the taste of the actual Mate seems more prevalent here. If one goes past the (admittedly very nice) toasty Mate flavor, there is a hint of chocolate, but it’s more of a flavor reminiscent of chocolate, rather than tasting like an all out Hershey’s chocolate bar.

I agree with another user, it’s almost like coffee (closer to coffee than the Matevana), but way less bitter.

It’s not a bad thing to have on hand when there isn’t a way to steep loose tea (I love the pyramid shaped bags), but I’m not sure about having this all the time. I’ll have to try other Mates before I decide on this.

This isn’t too bad. Not my favorite but its not horrible either especially for the price. Its just a pretty basic Jasmine green tea.