Joy of Tea

9/14/15 Update: Menu updated and items added.

The Joy of Tea Stand is located on the World Showcase promenade across from the rest of the China Pavilion. It’s the red kiosk on the left.

Regular Menu:

Larger: https://www.easywdw.com/reports14/joy_of_tea_epcot_china_menu.jpg

It offers mostly beverages along with a few snacks.

And the occasional “Chef’s Special.”

Tipsy Ducks in Love:

The Tipsy Ducks in Love was once a seasonal beverage, but is now available daily.

This one is not for the faint of heart. Unlike the cast members at most places that spritz a half ounce of Bacardi under your non-alcoholic frozen lemonade, the Chinese pull out chilled bottles of Jim Beam bourbon and load you up on top. This was a strong drink and you’re talking to someone that mixes a quarter of generic diet cola into a glass filled three quarters of the way with Evan Williams and ice.  If you like bourbon and coffee, you’re going to like this. But it tastes strongly of bourbon, which makes it ideal for bourbon lovers and not ideal for those who want something like the Frozen Jim Beam Lemonades or Grey Goose Slushes.

This time we have the Canto Loopy on the left – with Vodka and Cantaloupe juice and the Peach Snap! on the right – With Schanpps.

While refreshing, I didn’t taste any vodka whatsoever in the Loopy. If there was some, the cantaloupe juice masked it perfectly, but I doubt that’s the case. The Peach Snap is similar, though more syrupy and a little less refreshing because of it.

The Mango Gingerita with vodka and rum is another light, fruity drink with a serious ginger burst of flavor.

The Green Tea Slush had a strikingly different color than I was expecting. I was expecting something…green. Anyway, the drink doesn’t really taste like plum wine and it doesn’t taste like the usual green tea I think we’re all familiar with. It’s just kind of generically sweet and refreshing without packing much of an alcoholic kick. I’d order it if you’re looking for something frozen, very sweet, and not particularly alcoholic, but skip it otherwise.

$5 is a pretty hefty price to pay for about an ounce and a half of unnamed plum wine, which typically come in around 18% ABV and is available all year at the Joy of Tea stand. The flavor is otherwise sweet with a lot of alcohol at the front of each sip.

Lucky Combo:

I had my eye on the “LUCKY COMBO” for some time.  If you were to tabulate the items individually, the total cost comes to $17.32.  However, each of the items listed under “SNACKS” individually come with two of said item, whereas the “LUCKY COMBO” comes with just one.  So the actual cost of the items in the “LUCKY COMBO” is $11.08.  So we’re coming out ahead, but only by $1.10.

The items laid out. This is one of the few places at Walt Disney World that you can actually get a can of Coke.

Zoomed in.

And inside.

I hate when it lists the nutritional facts.

Everything you see was pretty terrible. The “snacks” just sit out there under a heat lamp in the 90 degree Florida heat until someone buys them. Since the location isn’t particularly popular, food can sit for a quite a while. The Pork Bun was stale. The Chicken Curry Pocket was dried out and flavorless. No kick like you might expect. The Egg Roll was “just okay.” The same ones are available at Lotus Blossom Cafe, where they should be a little fresher, but not much better overall. The Caramel Ginger Ice Cream was the best of the bunch, but the ginger chunks are somewhat off-putting and it was altogether too sweet for my fragile palette. And there are chunks of ginger in there.  I don’t see any reason to go out of your way to order something here, but someone else might have a different experience. A wrong experience, but you never know.