I decided to do a little nice thing for myself and join the Insider Tea Club at Golden Moon Tea. You get a delivery each month of a rare, not usually imported to the USA tea. It’s a surprise (fun!) and I also thought it would expand my horizons a bit — left to my own devices I tend to choose black, black, and more black tea, and the previous selections for the club were of a great variety.

This may have been the best decision I made in 2013! I am drinking the second selection today (the first is a beautiful looking Tie Guan Yin that I’m saving for slightly warmer weather) and it is astonishingly good. Pale greenish yellow. Slightly floral. Gorgeously present mouthfeel. Buttery. nutty. I’m brewing it Western style and am on the second steep — rumor has it that it is wonderful through steep 12 Western Style (through steep 20 gong fu!) so I have quite a day ahead of me! Next time I’ll try it gong fu and bring in a glass cup because the color is truly something to behold.

I also must give kudos for the packaging (screw top tin), informational postcard with brewing instructions, and just general all around attention to detail. My little $20 a month spurge is making me feel like a millionaire! An INSIDER millionaire! ;)

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 1 min, 0 sec
Tealizzy

I totally should do that. I’m like you, I love black tea! Exploring the unknown is exciting though!

Marcus

I am glad you like it!

How did you brew the tea?

JacquelineM

Marcus – very inexpertly! Western style – I tried to figure 1.5 grams without a scale with the help of a measuring cup tutorial that I saw on the internet :) 8 oz of water. I am finally going to invest in a scale now that I have this insider tea coming every month. :) I also am liking the wide mouth Gaiwan on the Golden Moon site.

What a great experience!

Kashyap

This is the scale I use for cuppings and demos and its a decent price, small portable size, and the top is good for holding leaves : http://www.staufs.com/storeproduct955.aspx

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Tealizzy

I totally should do that. I’m like you, I love black tea! Exploring the unknown is exciting though!

Marcus

I am glad you like it!

How did you brew the tea?

JacquelineM

Marcus – very inexpertly! Western style – I tried to figure 1.5 grams without a scale with the help of a measuring cup tutorial that I saw on the internet :) 8 oz of water. I am finally going to invest in a scale now that I have this insider tea coming every month. :) I also am liking the wide mouth Gaiwan on the Golden Moon site.

What a great experience!

Kashyap

This is the scale I use for cuppings and demos and its a decent price, small portable size, and the top is good for holding leaves : http://www.staufs.com/storeproduct955.aspx

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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Bio

I love to cook, bake, read, paint, knit, do needlework, and garden. I need my coffee, but I LOVE my tea. I work at an Art School, and attend a large public university doing post-bac work (my BA is in English). I’m interested in the liminal spaces between art and craft, the academic and the practical, the individual and community, and the old and the new. I’m currently exploring these ideas through the disciplines of education, literature, history, and psychology.

I enjoy writing tasting notes, but have decided not to numerically rate teas as of 9/14/10. For an explanation, see my looooong tasting note about Mountain Malt from the Simple Leaf.

My favorites:
Chinese black teas
A good “milk and sugar” English style black
Earl Grey (classic, and in all variations!)
Vanilla teas (classic, and in all variations!)
Jasmine, Rose, Violet and other froofy, flowery teas!
An Occasional Oolong
Flavored Rooibos
Herbal Tisanes

Location

Collingswood, NJ

Website

http://jackiemania.wordpress....

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