Oooh, I like this one. A lot. In my opinion, it’s better than Moon Waffles. I’ll have to try them closer together for a better comparison but this might replace Yunnan Sourcing’s Moonlight dragon balls as my favorite Moonlight White. I’m annoyed that I only got a couple of Nightlife balls but my bank account was already whimpering about the size of my order. Definitely going on the re-order list, but should I do more balls or a full cake? I love single-serving balls/mini cakes for their convenience (and they’re just so cute!) and I find big cakes weirdly intimidating for some reason…still, cost per gram…and I still need to try Tiltshift too. I ordered just before this year’s Tiltshift was available or I probably would have gotten a ball or two of that as well.
But anyway…Nightlife is fruity and sweet and smooth. I’m awful at picking out individual flavor notes. Maybe some white grape and a little lemon? Maybe a tiny bit of that creamy vanilla-ness I love so much in the aftertaste? I keep thinking I smell vinegar. I’m not sure if something about the tea itself makes me think vinegar or if the rubber seals of my tea bottle have absorbed some vinegar smell from the last thorough cleaning to remove Tea build-up. Or maybe it’s just my cranky sinuses being weird. Thankfully, I’m not getting any vinegary flavor. I’m using my smaller tea bottle this time. I think the section for Tea leaves is 100ml and the section for water is 200ml but I’m only filling it around 1/2-2/3 full and that seems like a good amount of water. I started the steeps at around 20sec but I didn’t use a timer and I’m horrible about getting distracted while trying to count the seconds. Going a little bit over the intended time didn’t have any negative effects that I could detect. I was distracted by the cat being cute and let one steep get cold before drinking it but it was still tasty. A lot of teas taste a bit harsh and bitter to me when they’re cold but this one was just as delicious cold as it was hot. The flavors and mouthfeel reminded me of drinking fruit juice. After swallowing my tongue feels a little dry but it’s not an extreme “tongue just shriveled up and died” astringency. Which is good! I can’t stand that feeling. I drank half a dozen or so steeps, had a nice little nap and then came back for a couple more steeps. Since caffeine tends to make me sleepy, tea-induced naptime or tea right before bed is pretty common for me.
