Golden Moon Tea

Smells stronger than it tastes. The dry leaf made me think it was TGY. Not as strong as I would like it. The leaves are huge once unfurled. I resteeped it 3 times, stood up nicely too all steeps. Last steep was the best…mmm. A good tea, just wished it was stronger.

Sample 13/31
I had barely opened this package, when I was hit with a very smokey odor. Smells almost like bacon without the greasy smell. The tea is very smooth and strong in flavor. Very smokey with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Not something i would drink everyday, but not a bad tea.

A very nice oolong! I like the orange sweetness. First two infusions were outstanding.
The third was a bit weak, but still pleasant.

Sample 12/31
I’ve never had Pu-erh. So when I randomly pulled this out and got a little scared. There is a lot of scary sounding descriptions (FISH! in a tea?), but I worked up the courage to try it.
Tea brews VERY dark. I’ve never seen a tea this dark before. Almost looks like hersey’s syrup. Surprisingly the tea smells like the ocean, I wouldn’t say fish more like and ocean breeze with like dirt undertones. Smells faintly of coffee too.
I hesitently took a sip. First off it doesn’t taste like Fish. At first it tasted almost like chocolate, or what i imagine a chocolate tea should taste like. There is a slight smokey finish the the chocolate. Then a dirt aftertaste, not as strong as coffee though (thankfully)
Overall not as bad as i expected, but not something i would drink all the time. Was too busy trying to figure out exactly what i was tasting to enjoy the tea personally.

Pretty strong breakfast blend. Enough to get me through the morning. Smokey and malty. Delicious with sugar and milk.

Sample 11/31
Finally able to drink tea again after a week and a half of post wisdom teeth extraction misery. Tea is a lovely amber color. Tea has a warm nutty taste, slightly floral, and kind of woody.

I rearranged what is left of my Golden Moon Tea sampler and decided to try this one. I wanted something smooth. This one was smooth. There was a hint of astringency lingering in the back of my throat, but this had a slight sweetness to it that sort of counter-acted it. I wanted to try this with sugar, and I found it more enjoyable IMO. :) A good everyday black tea.

A very light black tea. It has a lovely light and malty scent and flavor to it. There is no bitterness to it as it goes down smoothly almost like cream. Well rounded and is a great black tea.

The white tea is gentle and pleasant. The ginger was not overly dominant, just a hint of flavor, but I got this tingly sensation at the back of my throat that stayed with me for a while after I finished drinking. I’m not sure if I like that or not. I steeped a second time and got a much heavier ginger presence, both in flavor and aroma. I think I like the second cup better than the first.

I’m not very familiar with white tea, so I don’t know how this compares to other whites, but it’s good.

I’m surprised this tea has such a low rating. I like this tea enough that I’ve purchased it twice since initially sampling it over a year ago. One thing to bear in mind with this tea is that it’s not delicate or fussy about steep times and temperatures, like a gyokuro, sencha, or so on. It’s an entirely different style of green tea. The leaves themselves are larger and more robust looking. The tea has a mellow flavor, but is not too delicate. It does not have richness or depth like a gyokuro. I love gyokuros; in fact they are my favorite green tea, but sometimes I want something a little less fussy, something requiring a bit less attention. Sometimes I just want a trustworthy, serviceable green tea, one that I can brew and drink while turning my mind to other matters. This one delivers. It is smooth and pleasant. I brew this at a higher temp than I do other green teas to help bring out the flavor. It blends well with other teas, particularly oolongs.

I was eager to try this based on the description of the notes. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any lotus, honey or sweetness from this blend; it was sort of dry, astringent and a little bitter, similar to some lower quality Darjeelings I’ve tried. It’s not a bad tea, but I don’t see myself buying this. I prefer black teas that are full bodied and rich/malty. This definitely is not. If you like more delicate and dry black teas, you may want to try this.

I’m having a bit of a problem with this tea. The taste is good. Not great, but good.
However, in my brain, the potent rose smell is not associated with things edible. It’s a great smell to have on my clothes, or in my room, but it’s off-putting to have that coming out of my teacup. I sort of feel like I’m drinking air freshener. Maybe if the aroma was a little less dominant, I could concentrate of the actual flavor of the tea, which is, I admit, not bad at all.

Rich and malty it certainly is. I think I have just found my new breakfast tea.

Tastes just like melon, and its pretty strong too. Yummy!

I am over halfway through my sample kit. It’s a fun voyage! I started with the teas I was most excited to try first, now I am onto the ones I wasn’t sure. This tea seems woodsy, has some twigs in the mix. Roasted flavor is medium strength. It’s a bit earthy. I didn’t resteep since I am not crazy for it. Still made a nice cup.

I adjusted my rating… After the 3rd steep, I developed a headache.

I’ve never tried a rose tea until now. The scent is heady and strong. I am into perfumes as well, so this one struck a soft note for me. It reminds me of when I was younger and I was trying on my mom’s perfume, which was a rose perfume. :) Great tea. There was an initial hint of sugar on my tongue. I had this one plain. No additives needed. The rose scent was strong and nice. It tastes like sweetness and hot water that has been taken from a pool of roses. Not always appetizing but I love this.

After I’m done with all these samples, I know I’ll be making a large Golden Moon Tea purchase!!

I was excited when I grabbed this little sampler, and rather enjoyed it for the first couple sips. But after two days… I’m realizing it doesn’t taste like much of anything. I tried increasing the steep time, and messing with water temperature, but results remain the same.

Disappointing, really. The leaves had that familiar vegetal scent that I’ve come to appreciate, so I had high hopes that this would land on my “favorites” list. But alas. There’s really not much to it, and (as another reviewer stated) it kind of just tastes like hot water.

I’ll have to try a different sencha somewhere down the line.

This week has been busy for me but this is a backlog. I love this light tasting tea. So fruity and refreshing with no astringency.

This is PERFECT.

It is 60 degrees out. It is finally warm out, and tonight is my last night of night shift (perhaps EVER!!!). I am so excited to go to work and get this night done. My husband came back from visiting his family yesterday, so I was and still am so happy that he is back. I missed him so much. So, a lot of good things going on so far.

I brewed this up, and my husband left a package for me on the table. It was the Traveling Tea Box B!!! So excited! I took pictures right away, so I should have them posted up very soon.

Anyhow, this tea is perfect for today. I love coconut and I love oolong. This stuff is real. The bottom of my mug was a little bitter, but the beginning was delicious. I will try to brew this cold next time.