Golden Moon Tea

This is some bright green dry leaf. This sencha was great with the sushi I was eating. Lightly grassy, no astringency. It has a nice aftertaste.

This tea nicely resteeps 2-3 times. I can’t remember how many times I did it. I loved the 2nd resteep. I am fairly satisfied with this tea. I wouldn’t buy it, but it’s a likable sencha.

I’ve had this across two tiny teapots, with one resteep each. It’s a decent oolong, but not as good as I was hoping for. I think maybe the name was fun enough to up my expectations, whereas if it were just “oolong” I’d probably have liked it just fine. So far, my fav from Golden Moon is the caramel one… I know I’m ordering tin of that!

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/orchidtempleoolong/

Backlogging from a while ago. I just found written notes. Must not have been around the computer that day!!

I got a bitter bite with more jasmine than vanilla. I hoped for more of a jasmine tea, but the vanilla was still a bit much for my tastes.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/vanillajasmine/

I had a cup of this tonight and it was like candy! Perhaps that’s because of the sugar I added. Really, it smelled just like anise to me, and tasted like licorice tea. It also was really pretty while steeping. I recommend this, while listening to Jump, Little Children.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/whitelicorice/

So I finally dug back into my Golden Moon samples. I’ve had the family stomach bug that 15/17 of us got and wanted some ginger something to sip on. And now, halfway through the cup, I’m seconding everyone else’s comments. I don’t get a lot of ginger here. It’s a decent cup, not something I’d avoid, but it’s also not something that I’d choose if looking for ginger in the future.

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/whiteginger/

I followed the recipe that was floating about on the reviews. I really love that, and will ue it for some other chai tea I have around! For those who been there before, map out an experience for the rest of us. I appreciate that! It really brings out the best of the tea.

Now with the tea, I am very picky about chai tea. I like them STRONG. And this tea did stand up. I even prefer MORE spice and bite, maybe some more ginger. But still nice, and perfect on a California dreaming on such a winter’s day.

Looks like a white, smells like a white, tastes like a white. The tea I got looks different from laurenpressley’s pictures. They are longer leaves twisted and no fuzz.

I do get a little minty feel at the end of a sip, more of the sensation of mint than flavor. Interesting. It’s a very light tea.

My review would of leaned towards why this tea wasn’t for me, but then when it cooled down, it opened up. I really need to stop judging so quick! I don’t think I would buy, but it’s a likable tea. Very shy in flavor, just be patient for she’ll be flirting with your taste buds in no time!

wooo this stuff is strong!

I’ll be fair, though. We know I’m not in love with black tea, so my rating may seem a bit harsh. The first time I tried it, it was steeped at [the minimum of] two minutes. This time I accidentally let it go a little longer (four minutes) and I actually like it better. This can’t be right.

I don’t really find it bitter, and once it cools a bit it doesn’t taste as strong and potent. So yeah, it tastes like a standard black tea to me. But it’s one I can actually drink and not wince at the taste.

I was preparing some games for my best friend’s bridal shower when I realized I needed a basket…. I looked around and saw Golden Moon Tea’s pretty container. The top cover is perfect! I decided to take a break to read some steepster reviews and was totally inspired by laurenpressley’s Golden Moon Tea post with photos. I haven’t touched my digital SLR in over a year and had been content with point and shoot.

I went back into my pantry, picked Snow Sprout and was finally exposed to Golden Moon Tea. I set things up and started shooting again :) and tea tasting of course! The dry leaf… I didn’t realize that the tea was barely enough for one sample with multiple steeps. The leaves were curled long and light green. The scent was faintly floral. Pretty! I’ll post the photos up on my flickr at another time!

After steeping, the liquid was a light pink brown tinge. It is so light and I almost thought that this was a white instead of green tea. There is a hint of florals and greens and sweetness to it. Very nice and delicate.

I got an early Christmas gift to myself, and bought the sampler. This tea I was looking forward to, and boy, it isn’t a letdown! I see where you the others taste cream soda, that’s a perfect item to compare it to.

It’s smartly blended, vanilla and jasmine are in right strengths. Drank it iced, it was perfection. I think this is the best jasmine tea I’ve had yet. I love real vanilla, and this is it! Very nice and delightful! This is definitely on my shopping list.

As I’m trying to work through this sampler pack, I decided to have a cup of this with breakfast. And you know what? It’s really good! You can completely pick up on darjeeling, assam, and ceylon, with bit of keemun in there. In fact, the keemun might be the ingredient that sets this apart. I think if I didn’t already love Brattle Street as my go to breakfast cup, I’d put this in the running. As it is, I might one day have to order a tin. Right now I have more breakfast blend than I know what to do with. I’m glad for this pleasant surprise.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/englishbreakfasttea/

From It’s all About the Leaf – http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1429/tea-review-golden-moon-tea-imperial-formosa-oolong/

I know I tend to repeat myself on this point, but I really adore that first whiff of a new tea. The myriad of preparation techniques and additives means that each new tea is an olfactory adventure. Or, more succinctly – dang, they can smell great! And this one – wow. Aromas of dark sweet fruit, like raisins or dates combined with malty, yeasty overtones. It reminded me of whole wheat raisin bread in the first few sniffs.

So I eagerly dumped the packet into the gravity teapot I use at work so I could try this tea. This is where I ran into my first problem. The sample size was pretty small. So I scaled back the size of cup I was planning to make and added my 190 degree-ish water and commenced steeping.

The resulting brew was a beautiful deep brown. But the flavor was a little light. Tones of nuttiness, raisins and a light floral overtone which may have been orange blossom, but nothing outstanding. It was a pleasant cup, but not an outstanding one. I did play around with the steeping parameters to try and improve it, and wasn’t able to get it to sing. I would like to get a larger sample someday and try playing with this tea again.

Ahhh…deliciously smooth, a light hint of ripe pear with a bit of a floral pear blossom note with a sweet honey undertone. The main taste is of a quality black tea…maybe a ceylon or darjeeling? I wish it were more specific as the type of leaf.

These leaves steeped the lightest colored brew I’ve ever drank, at least for a green tea. I love the lightness of this tea. The flavor is light and sweet and the lightest hint of sweetness to it. I hope to try others of this type down the road. Quite the enjoyable cup.

Another sample De-cupboarded this morning:) Finally went back to some of my Golden Moon samples from the sampler I purchased 8 months ago. Have 8 or 10 different samples to knock off my list.

I really like this Earl. It is a lightly sweet Earl, with a upstanding Bergamot flavor. The flavoring isn’t perfumey, it’s nice and citrusy floraly sweet. Not as sweet as the vanilla and cream earls, but lightly sweet, not bitter or tannic. This may be my favorite Earl as of today. I’m so happy I tried this tea today!

Leaves look promising. Large chunks, a flower, very diverse white ingredients. Smells nice. Colour’s yellow as it should be. I think I might like this one.
Mhm white tea FTW. At first it’s slightly sour. But then white tea kicks in with that full nutty taste. I love it and I missed drinking plain white unscented tea. It’s not quite ‘Silver needle – awesome’ but its quite delicious.

Good job with this one Golden Moon.

I’ve apparently been slacking off in my tea reviews. But with the cooler weather upon us, anticipate seeing me pop up more often than usual.

Anyway! This sampler was open and I apparently forgot to log it last time. Since I love both white tea and melon, it’s kind of obvious I would love this, too. A little honeydew-like (or maybe that’s because honeydew is my favorite and I want it to be there. heh). It’s really light, which makes me a happy little tea drinker, and the flavor is subtle. Another win from Golden Moon!

First pu-erh I’ve tried that was in loose leaves shape. It’s deffinitelly better than those I’ve ordered from China on eBay. Way more drinkable. The pu-erh note is the same but this one is less bitter and well just way more drinkable. I actually like it. First pu-erh I would drink just for the sake of drinking it (not tasting it). I’ll rate it well simply because I didn’t try better yet…
It’s earty, kinda sweetish but not too sweet. Dark colored like it’s supossed to be. Nice one…

Good Golly Miss Molly! I have been laid up with an injury and HAVING tea, and some wonderful ones, but just not up to writing here, but I’ve really missed it here and then last night I had a sample of this tea I got with my last Golden Moon order. I am grieving today because I only had a sample and am going to order more tonight. WOWSA. I don’t know when I’ve fallen head over heels in love with a tea like this, I have a lot of good ones, but this just sent me over the moon. I actually steeped it for 7 minutes because the sample was really too small for the infuser but it came out perfect. And there was just enough left to have a small glass of iced tea today and it was superb. This is a tea you WON’T want to miss!

Made a bland tea. When I examined the steeped “leaves”, I noticed that this tea was full of stalks and twigs. Hardly any leaf at all. Bad batch?

Mmmm quite yummy. It has a bit of that nutty taste to it (how I call it lol). Really nice aftertaste too. Delicate and tasty. Milder than most green teas.

So it’s a like from me…

Hmmm refreshing but not the best mint tea I’ve tried. Bit bittery. Should steep it on lower temperatures. Really refreshing tho. Can’t say it doesn’t suite me this morning.

Its quite bright coloured – orangy.
Smells nice. Like it should…
It leaves a full taste in my mouth. That I love. It has the slight bitternes which goes well with black teas. This tea is quite yummy…

EDIT It’s refreshing and good cold…

I didn’t drink white tea in ages. Was never in the mood for it somehow. Or was I lazy to wait for the water to cool down? :)
Anyways now i remember. I like this one. It has that smoothness that white teas sometimes have. Ginger is quite present but in a very delicate way. It’s not as peppery as I’d expect. Can bearly feel that side of ginger.
But all together this is quite an enjoyable white tea…