Golden Moon Tea

This is the second Nepal tea I have had, and I love it! Very rich tasting, love the mouth feel. I only drank my sample hot, but would make an excellent iced tea. I will have to put this on my shopping list. Excellent black tea, smooth as silk! It has Darjeeling like qualities, with the lovely honey smell and taste. Nom!

Backlogging.

Meh… I brought this to work with me as well. I used my Libre mug. I wasn’t very impressed with this gunpowder. It was very bitter and had a strange aftertaste to it that I can’t seem to describe. It is smoky in taste and green. I’ve had better gunpowder teas.

Smooth earl grey tea. I took this to work with me and steeped it in my libre mug. Delicious. It didn’t need any additives.

Experience buying from Golden Moon Tea < More later, but fairly positive overall >

Age of leaf: I purchased this as a sample; no information provided on the date of harvest.

Packaging: I really like the packaging for their samples: a simple long thin silver bag with a stylish looking label displaying their company logo, the name of the tea, brewing instructions and what the package actually contains (the tea and any flavoring).

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: twisted white and green buds; very light fragrance.

Brewing guidelines 1.5 tsp, 1.5 cups water. Loose in glass Bodum; Stevia added.
……….1st: 165; 2’
……….2nd: 170; 3.5’
……….3rd: 172 5’
……….4th: 180; 7’

Color and aroma of tea liquor: Very light color, very sweet smell.

Flavor of tea liquor: What I remember another Silver Needles to taste like: light, sweet, fruity or floral, and buoyant (this seems to be an awkward word to use here, but it seems to be the best word I can think of for now to describe how it lifts me up, in a way); held up flavor through the fourth steeping (mild flavor, though).

Appearance and aroma of wet leaf: very nice looking buds (only a few stems);they were hanging vertically in my glass Bodum while steeping: very cool!

Value: Way beyond my budget when buying by the ounce, but worth buying and trying once as a sample ($0.99).

Overall: I expect that this is their version of Silver Needles, as it looks, smells and tastes like one sample of Silver Needles I tried last year. I like how the buds are twisted, as I have never seen this before. This one is as good as the one I remember having had before: it is light, and mellow; yet, it is not a tea I would want to drink (or could afford to drink) every day. As I have read in many books about tea, it is good to try this tea at least once.

After reading Golden Moon’s newsletter yesterday I was inspired to try this tea today.

A very pleasant breakfast tea, well-rounded and full of flavor. It is bold but it isn’t too edgy, I am finding it quite palatable without additions. There is a briskness to it from the Ceylon, some malty tones from the Assam, and even some earthiness and spice from the Keemun. Rich and delicious.

I think licorice is an acquired taste. I know, as a kid, I thought licorice tasted totally gross. :P

But now, as an adult, the taste is growing on me—as if my palate is growing ever more “sophisticated” with age. :) I can now appreciate—and even find delicious—the flavors I used to detest—like liver, mushrooms, olives and dry red wine.

This smells strongly and sharply of licorice—of pure anise. Reminds me of the tea version of ouzo. But the flavor is more “pillowy” and soft and nicely sweet. It pairs really well with the white tea!

The tea itself tastes almost veggie-esque and “brothy”—like cauliflower and potatoes (and I mean this in a good way :) ).

Suprisingly yummy overall. It may even convert licorice-shunners. ;)

This is a delightful white tea – the melon is so sweet without being too sweet, and it is a delicate melon taste to match the gentle flavor of the white tea. My first couple of sips, I noticed a wine-ish kind of note right at the start.

I didn’t want to try this tea, but I decided to at work. It was ok… not the best sencha I’ve had. Maybe average or below average…

This is simply put, the best black tea I’ve ever tasted in my few years of drinking tea. There is a great light flavor of clover honey when you drink the tea, without there actually being any honey added to the tea. There’s a light ephemeral flavor of honey on the first steeping, but with repeated steepings, the flavor of the tea noticeably gets lighter. If you prefer a strong English Breakfast type of tea, this isn’t the tea for you. If you like Earl Greys or lightly scented teas, such as Jasmines, this may be the tea for you. If you’re a honey connoisseur, you’ll want to try this tea out just to see how much of a honey flavor can be imparted from a plant itself without anything added to it.

Simply remarkable, and now I need to figure out how to stock up on this, even though it’s way more expensive than I like for a regular tea, not strongly flavored enough for a ‘special occasion’ tea, and is merely a superior tea that lightly dangles a honey-flavored carrot in front of you, taunting you to keep reaching for a bear of clover honey only to withdraw in your mouth and leave you with a pleasant black tea experience.

Highly recommended.

Strangely I’ve had this sample for a while and forgot to log it or finish the rest of it.

I am a fan of dark oolongs although I was a bit undewhelmed by some of the things I tried from Golden Moon. I thought this was very nice. It’s smooth and nutty and seems very clean with a lingering sweetness. I don’t know if I am getting orange blossoms but there is something slighty floral. The color and flavor are reminiscent of sugary toast. :) This is pretty tasty and I would definitely consider purchasing more if I was going to place a new order with GM.

I just wanted to jot down a few words, because I have to run:

Sweet
Fresh
Mild

I think this tastes delicious and uplifting. Pretty much what I expect of a good quality Jasmine Pearl tea.

I’m really enjoying this. It is so light and fresh tasting. The ginger isn’t an overwhelming flavor, but, I like it like this. (Of course, I do like my ginger good and strong too). I like that it tastes soft enough so that I can taste the sweet, tender white tea.

Overall, a very gentle, sweet yet spiced cup. Nice.

I’ve stated before that I’m not the biggest fan of Golden Moon Tea. I want to like their teas, but they haven’t really played well with my tastebuds in the past. I know that my tastes and preferences for certain teas do change occasionally, so I’m giving this one another go. The scent of this tea after it’s steeped is of an earthy, toasty oolong with a hint of caramel or sugar. I pick up on some of the grassy, almost marine-like character of the oolong, but it seems to twist itself around the buttery caramel scent at the same time giving me the impression of a candy shop by the sea or at the zoo. The sea sounds so much more romantic, but it truly could go either way!

Sipping… this is a very smooth oolong with floral and wood notes being most prominent for me. I also taste a bit of something fruity — perhaps cantaloupe? It’s like the rind of a melon, only not so bitter. I can see why this is called caramel oolong in that the wisp of caramel sweetness comes out towards the end of the sip. I find that I have to look for it though and wish that it were stronger and sweeter.

This is a decent tea that is subtle and is best when you can fully concentrate on all of the flavors that it has to offer. Definitely bumping up my aged rating although this isn’t a favorite.

I thought that I would love this tea as I adore flavored/scented/dessert oolongs. The combination sounded just lovely so I poured myself a cup this evening. The oolong was relatively uneventful, though slightly smooth. What bothered me about this tea is the almost sickly burnt sugar flavor. It bothered me so much that I couldn’t finish the cup. I’m quite glad I didn’t order a large amount of this tea. A cup (or about 3/4 of a cup) was enough for me!

This isn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. I was hoping for something strong, robust and malty. It looked promising in the cup — dark liquor, fragrant. But then I sipped it and was … underwhelmed. I had to add a little sweetener to bring out the flavor, and the flavor was OK, but not strong and powerful. It was a mild black tea flavor with a hint of plum. Kind of nondescript. Drinkable, certainly, and pleasant, but not something I see myself going out of my way to drink again.

When it comes to Golden Moon’s black teas, Sinharaja is my favorite so far.

This is a pretty good gyokuro. It’s one of the more forgiving ones I’ve tried — I oversteeped it this morning and it did not turn bitter at all.

I’ve tried it twice now — once, steeped for only 2.5 min. and once, oversteeped (5 min. or more). It yields a cloudy, greenish-yellow liquor that is nice and brothy, vegetal and with the typical gyokuro umami. It is not terribly sweet, and it’s not as salty or seaweed-ish as some gyokuros I’ve tried. The flavors are strong, though, not weak or watery. It’s a good-tasting green tea, and it’s one I anticipate reaching for often.

I received two small sample sizes of this from Golden Moon with my iced tea set. I am a bit puzzled by it. The dry leaves smell great but when this tea brews up it definitely smells like alcohol as a few other people have mentioned. It does smell like a melon scented beer. I am not sure if I like the aroma.

The taste of it however is very nice, perfectly smooth and sweet . I am not sure what else to say, it was interesting but not something I would purchase for myself.

Flavored teas can be tricky. I’m the type of tea drinker who generally prefers unflavored, straight tea, so if I’m going to drink something flavored, I’m kind of picky. I want a flavored tea to still taste like tea. I want the flavor(s) to enhance the tea, not overpower it. I want the flavors to taste natural and not artificial. Coconut Pouchong satisfies my requirements.

The coconut flavor of this tea is lovely — as other reviewers have mentioned, it’s kind of a toasted coconut flavor. Very natural, and it smells wonderful as well. The tea itself — well, I think I would drink this tea even if it weren’t flavored, because it’s sort of in between a green and an oolong, but comes off more like an oolong. It’s sweet, only slightly vegetal, and a bit (but not too) floral. When sipping this tea, the flavor of tea mingles with the coconut flavor and the end result is a balanced, pleasing cup with no odd aftertaste.

Overall, drinking this tea is a wonderful escape. I like it iced as well as hot, and it goes perfectly with almost any type of Asian food. I find it the perfect foil to spicy Thai curries and noodle dishes, or even desserts such as mangoes and sticky rice.

This is a very pleasing, quiet contemplative cup of tea for me. Very light and floral, unlike some of the more recent oolongs I have been trying which are more on the buttery/vegetal side. I am still on the fence about whether I like floral type teas but I think this would be a nice, mellow substitute for something like a jasmine green. Pretty a-ok in my book but not totally riveting.

Another sample from Golden Moon – I quite enjoyed the unique experience of trying this tea. Very aromatic woodsy smell upon opening the bag, which opens up with the honey-ish flavor after steeping. This does remind me of a darjeeling but I like it better than darjeeling, i think due to the presence of the “woody” element which made it a bit sturdier of a flavor, if you catch my drift. When it comes to black tea I usually gravitate towards those from China, especially Pu-erhs which are among my favorite. I could see myself enjoying this Nepalese tea on a regular basis.

I got this as a sample from Golden Moon along with my iced tea set, it is not something I would have chosen for myself but here goes.

Very heavy rose aroma, like a lot of other people I get the associations of my grandmother’s soap. The rose scent is still very present in the cup after brewed. A nice ceylon tea which is very aromatic and flowery. I can’t quite make up my mind if I like it or not. It is definitely much better than I thought it would be. And it would be a nice tea for a gift, I think or at a bridal shower. Still, I have to surmise that maybe rose tea is just not my thing. I wonder if it needs some vanilla or chocolate?

Now drinking the second of this ancient sample from Golden Moon Tea.

The first time I tried it, I did not pick up too much caramel or sugar but today it seems nicer for some reason. It’s a typical formosa oolong with some subtle sweetness in the finish. I like it pretty well but it is not destined to be a favorite.

Another sample from Golden Moon – I was a little underwhelmed by this one myself. With such an enticing name as sugar caramel, I was expecting something sweeter and more dessert like. Anyhow, this is still a very nice mild green oolong, does not quite live up to the name but still very drinkable. I probably would not buy this again only because I have had better plain oolongs and much better flavored dessert oolongs – lol!