World Cup of Tea

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea.

It is a very pleasant chai, strong and nicely spiced without being spicy-hot. The black tea unites almost seamlessly with the spices, creating a very smooth flavor. Quite nice.

Finishing up my last little bit of this, and decupboarding. I’m brewing it in my perfect steeper by eight cranes, and it’s lovely to watch the more highly saturated liquid pour from the top when you turn it over after steeping. It’s a thick golden yellow as it tumbles down.

Anyway, Mr. Cream Oolong – you’ve been good, but it’s time to go. Thanks for your oolong-y goodness. Sorry this wont’ work out any more; it’s not you, it’s me. I’ve changed.

The first time I tried this tea, I didn’t like it. (Although Lena did). The next time I tried it, I loved it. And now that I’ve had an opportunity to try other milk oolongs, I’m not as enamored of it, but I do still apprecaite it. For being actually dipped in cream as part of it’s creation, it’s not as milky or buttery smooth as other milk oolongs I’ve had. (Plus, it seems a little like cheating to me that way, doesn’t it?)

Smooth flavor, multiple steeps. It’s a good oolong. And it’s got some milky, creamy flavors. Good tea.

This is a green tea that is juicy tasting and pleasant to the nose and tongue. Thirst quenching and tasty.It’s not a hard-core or over the top anything type tea it’s just refreshing and comforting and easy to enjoy!

Smells great – tastes almost as good. I like this because it stands out from your average flavored Rooibos…

YAY! Another one of Gretchen’s!!!
:)
The smell of this is so complex…hard to explain…it seems to change each time I sniff it.

For the color – usual rooibos look

For the taste – I can taste the Apple paired with the Apple more than the cinnamon and clove…which is a neat change…Oddly enough…without the rooibos I don’t think I would have liked the idea in a black tea…but the Rooibos gives it the mellow/smooth yet sweetness and it seems to work. The Rooibos also it’s an overpowering Rooibos…it compliments it, I guess.

The cooler it gets I can taste more apple and more Rooibos…I think I will stay with the hot version of this.

Creative and Complex…grinning.

Thanks Gretchen!!!!
:)

This one smells splendid as a dry blend…I can smell the jasmine, orange, and green tea scents. Liquid once infused mostly just jasmine. Wet leaf scent is average floral. The taste is pleasant. Again, can taste everything in the description and it blends together nicely. I was pleasantly surprised by this one!

I think I got a chunk of something fruity in this one…but I can’t identify the chunk! LOL This is also better than I remember…perhaps my tastes are changing again! I’m upping the rating on this one too…just because I CAN! Bwah-ha-ha! EVIL GRIN!

I am having a cup of this right now…after I drastically oversteeped. I must say it’s very forgiving. Still a good cuppa!

My First experience with World Cup of Tea! Thank the tea gods for Swappin’ Buddies! :)

I smell a little orange, almost…on the dry blend

Wet smells like a cinnamon-soapy-floral smell.

It’s a reddish brown – somewhat deep – in color.

Everything blends together nicely. Nothing too strong yet the blend is flavorful.
Fairly decent.

I’m bumping my rating for this tea because I made a large batch of it for my husband to drink iced, and he seemed to really like it. So much so that I didn’t get any of it. Apparently it’s better iced. I’ll be making another batch, and hope that I get to try some!

I smelled this tea, and went straight from scent to purchase. It smells amazing. Like a sweet apple cider, with just the promise of a little something darker.

Unfortunately, I didn’t taste it prior to purchase. The taste does not live up to the scent. It’s a mild green tea flavor with a hint of apple and a smaller hint of spice after you swallow. Half a cup in, I taste the spice only when I don’t have tea in my mouth. (Which is just kinda odd to me, thankyouverymuch.)

I think that if it didn’t smell so good, I wouldn’t mind so much. Because it smells AMAZING, and it smells powerful. Then tastes like the tiniest mew of a kitten. Sigh.

I am going to keep working on this tea – maybe different steeping times or temps will help. But this is the second time I’ve tried it (I try not to write a negative review the first time I drink something, just in case I’ve messed something up) and I’m not holding out much hope.

I need a good wake-up tea this morning, and this is definitely fulfilling that need! Sweet, cinnamon-y, and warm, both in temperature and in flavor.

Yum!

I came to work hoping that the mess of last week would be over, and it would start fresh this week and be smooth sailing.

Well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I brought some of this hot cinnamon tea in today – the in-your-face flavor is helping to keep me awake and possibly keeping me from being too grumpy. This is such a good tea…

Do you like cinnamon? You will like this tea.

I almost feel like there’s one of those monster truck announcers in the back of my head screaming “ARE YOU READY FOR SOME CINN-NA-MON!!!!!!”

And the answer is, yes, yes I AM!!!

The tea is sweet (remember, I like sweetened teas, especially the blacks, and I have no urge to sweeten this at all), and very cinnamon. It smells great before and after steeping. Like cinnamon cookies or high-quality cinnamon gum.

I’ve been making my poor husband try all the teas I’ve been getting lately, and I’ve probably scarred him with some of the things we had this morning (a very vegital green steeped way too strongly, and an apple sencha that I think I messed something else up on – both of which I will rate later, because I don’t feel I’d do them justice at the moment).

But this tea I brewed up, gave him a cup and then went into another room to work on the computer. He just came in going “WOW! This one? This is a keeper!”

I wholeheartedly agree.

Wow. That was lovely.

I stopped by World Cup of Tea, and looked over their selection. Since I’d never had it before, I decided to try a cup of Silver Needle. (I got it to go because I wanted to go explore the area, and also because I forgot to bring in a book and was by myself. )

The tea was a lovely, light yellow color. I didn’t get much aroma from it, but then the cup was not the best for sniffing. But the flavor was great. Very light, very subtle, but the buttery notes they mention were definitely there.

I’m very glad I tried it, and can’t wait to go back and try more of their tea!