Golden Moon Tea

another black tea. If this becomes a routine I may actually end up buying some loose black tea for the mornings! I’ll have to see how early i wake up when classes /really/ start though.

Anyway, i take my earl grey with skim milk & equal.

Well, the tea smells like a typical earl grey! First sip—not much of a kick to it. Maybe I should have steeped it a little longer. Not bad though. Theres some spicy-ness to it that leaves sort of an aftertaste in your mouth. It must be from the citrus, I guess. The package says there is lavender, but I really don’t taste it.

Though, in a way this tastes no better than the earl gray I drank from bags. Tasty for sure, but I’ve had better earl grey tea from bags ;)

Just bought a cheap stove kettle, but no thermometer so I figured going with a black tea would be safe — picked this out of my sampler box.

The smell is overwhelmingly vanilla, before and after steeping. But there is still an obvious generic black tea smell to it. I’m debating adding milk and sugar, but i’ll try it first without. I’m not used to flavored black teas.

First sip. hmmm. i dunno. not really tasting much, and what i’m tasting i’m not liking. I guess skim milk + sugar is the way to go. Ah there we go, thats the typical black tea taste i love so much. The vanilla flavor still tastes a bit weird to me, but the tea isn’t /that/ bad. I’m not a huge fan of vanilla flavored things. Not much else to say, because I just don’t really know what to say about it.

Tasty and sweet because of the vanilla, but i’d like more of a black tea kick to it.

I’m basing this review more on what I expected than the actual taste. The taste itself is pretty standard. It’s black tea, with a subtle sweetness to it. Not too bitter, which I like.

However, where’s the actual honey pear? I guess it tastes pear-like, but that’s only because what it claimed to be. If you blindfolded me and had me guess what it was, I would have no idea. I was expecting something sweet (come on, it’s both honey and pears), but it was a little bland in that department.

Stuck some in the fridge for later; maybe it’ll be redeemed in the cold version.

Once more, a black tea sample from Golden Moon tea. Taken with skim milk & a packet of equal.

Smell, well it smells pretty typical to me. It smells pretty strong, maybe its the sandalwood.

Taste is a lot lighter than the other two i drank from golden moon. Probably since it’s an ‘afternoon tea’. There is a bit of an aftertaste though, i’m thinking from the sandalwood It tastes good aside from that aftertaste. I’m not really feeling this tea that much though. It has good flavor to me from the honey and lotus but the sandalwood is throwing me off. The tea itself also doesn’t have that much of body to it like the english and irish breakfast did.

A nice tasty cup of tea but the breakfast blends were much better i think.

Just catching things up…reviewed in full now at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1239/tea-review-golden-moon-sugar-caramel-oolong-2/.

It was goooood!

Here’s the first part of a more scholarly (?) studied (?) dissertation at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1099/tea-review-golden-moon-sugar-caramel-oolong/

The name of this tea is somewhat misleading—it represents the ingredients accurately, but doesn’t convey its character well at all. With sugar and caramel as the leading adjectives, I expected a heavy, sweet tea with the flavor of Sugar Daddies that would be fine alongside a doughnut or work well as a dessert tea.

If that’s what you’re looking for, best move on.

But…

This was a sample provided by Golden Moon. Beautiful long leaves and essence of coconut. While I like coconut, I was pretty sure it did not belong in tea. Approaching this tea with caution, I was more than pleasantly surprised. The liquor is very light, almost clear, in the cup and the aroma is wonderful. The coconut taste was very smooth and creamy with a natural sweetness. The leaves really expand when steeped. I got a total of 9 infusions out of the sample packet before a co-worker made me throw it away. Patting the leaves dry to use again the next day was too much for him. I just couldn’t bring myself to part with this tea as it is very addictive. Each cup tasted as good as the first. The closest I have to a negative comment is the flavors blend so perfectly it was a little difficult to separate out the taste of the tea.

This is a sample I received from Golden Moon. My first rose tea. I finished the cup but did not desire a second. It is probably good. I just don’t care. My wife on the other hand enjoyed this tea a lot.

Meh. I find this tea to be bland and uninteresting.

I’ve been very busy lately at the hospital and haven’t had time to write about teas or even have much more then a tea bag on the go. Anyway. I’m post call today and got off pretty early in the am so I had a chance to have some tea. I’m coming to the end of my samples and here is this one.

I was wary of this tea. I like chai but my prior taste of a pu-erh was not so pleasant. This looks just like the pu-erh but smells like a combo of the fishy pu-erh and chai. Overall, the chai taste is dominante. There may be a slight earthy taste under it. As it cools, the pu-erh seems to come out more. Overall, it is a pleasant tea. I doubt I’d have it often but every now and then it would be nice.

After having such a great cuppa tea yesterday I figured I’d go with another classic black tea from my golden moon sampler. made with a splash of skim milk and a packet of equal.

Smells like english breakfast, tastes like english breakfast. Definitely more flavorful than the bagged versions I was drinking almost every day a few years ago.

The flavor has a lot of body, and I definitely taste some floral notes but overall it’s not that special. Still a delicious tea but if I was going to drink something every day, it would not be this. I’m enjoying this cup a lot.

Not my favorite gunpowder, my “Scoop up what looks good in the Asian Market” Camel brand is still my favorite, but I like it. I like the tiny whiff of smoke and the slight bitterness and it doesn’t taste fishy or seaweedy. There’s also the barest hint of asparagus in the taste.

It’s cold right now, and early enough for me to have black tea, so I figured this sample sounded tasty enough. Taken with skim milk & a packet of equal – because I know i don’t like black tea black. :P

The smell before steeping was very lovely, though my nose is a little stuffy so it’s hard to explain exactly why.

First sip, wow. After drinking bagged irish breakfast this is a huge difference. It’s not very bitter or harsh, and its just a very comfortable flavor. It’s very malty, like the packaging says…though i think the added milk helps. This is definitely something that i could easily see drinking every morning, instead of coffee especially. It has that same sort of feeling where you get full just drinking it. I do taste some of the sweet flavors the package mentions, but they’re very subtle — just enough to make this tea different, and awesome.

I’m really tempted to buy more of this, but considering I hardly ever drink black teas, especially loose black teas…probably won’t happen.

This is a truly delicious Autumn Darjeeling and much more satisfying than many first or second flush fusspots out there. I find that a 2 minute steep produces the best results: A smooth, nutty tea without bitterness. Yum.

Remarkably nutty Darjeeling. Fresh, vibrant. Lingering, almost savory aftertaste on the palate. I can see this becoming my “go-to” Darjeeling: Great on its own, but I’d also imagine that it would be quite wonderful with food.

Recommended.

Random GM Sampler pick of the day. I was a bit skeptical about this tea, as I generally do not care for mint teas. I was pleasantly surprised. As far as teas go, it is a very mild green with a zinger of mint. The flavor was clean? Not antiseptic or tannic tasting, but more importantly, not earthy, woodsy, or musty. It was exactly what the ingredients would lead you to think…good quality green tea with mint. Situationally, I found it very relaxing after a tense day at work. Not something I’m likely to keep on hand, but I did enjoy the sample.

This tea is confusing, and complex. When I first opened the packet I did a double take – bubble gum! But I was opening tea, not gum…? On a second sniff I could identify the vanilla and in the background found a subtle hidden jasmine note. But overall – bubble gum.

My first sip tasted odd… the flavors were complex and hard to pin down. My tongue was confused. I got some creaminess from the vanilla, but couldn’t really taste the jasmine. But I did get a cooling aftertaste in my mouth after the liquid had passed which I think may have been the jasmine. There was a fleeting overtone of “artificiality” in the brew. When I added a little sweetener, I tasted some of the “cream soda” flavor other tasters have reported. But it wasn’t a strong resemblance.

I then tried it cooled, and enjoyed it much more. The melded vanilla and jasmine each stand out as separate yet complimentary flavors.

As an iced tea, this was wonderful. I can very much see myself sitting outside on a warm night, drinking this tea, and being very content. As a warm tea, it wasn’t my favorite, however I know of many others who appreciate it very much. This is one of those teas you’ll have to try for yourself. But, if you do – make sure to try it iced.

Also reviewed at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1064/tea-review-golden-moon-vanilla-jasmine/

As I sit at my desk for a few minutes pondering the next part of my day, Pandora Radio – which always plays what I want to hear – blasts “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” by CCR – why yes, I have, as it is pouring now, as it was for my entire commute and will probably continue to do so all day…good thing I had some of this tea to keep me going.

There were surprisingly few leaves in my sample, you do not need a lot of tea when making Jasmine tea, but I tend to over do it for some reason. As I said, the sample had fewer than I would normally use, so I infused longer. Hot, 6 minutes, no additives. The aroma is faint, slightly sweet, jasmine in lukewarm weather, it smells fabulous. The flavor is so light and delicate it is perfect. As I said, I usually aim for stronger and more Jasmine flavor when brewing my Jasmine tea, but this really hit the spot and brightened my otherwise drab day.

Smells nice and there is a gentle ginger taste with an underlying sweet tea. I am not a white tea fan, I don’t have the palate for it. Even so, it was good in a very understated way.

A lovely smelling tea with a very average taste. Where have all the flowers gone?

I think this is the second worst Lapsang Souchong I have had. It tasted like bad charcoal