Golden Moon Tea

Hi, I’m supposed to be doing something else…

I thought a while ago that I had finished off the generous gift Doulton sent me a little while ago, but then I found this one in my basket. So forgotten and overlooked, the poor little thing.

The label says something about a caramelised finish, molasses character and ripe berry notes. That certainly sounds interesting. I’m a little concerned about the molasses there, as it sounds like something that might get a little overpowering.

It smells nice though. Berries. Check. Molasses. Check. Especially the latter.

It’s certainly very smooth and not as sweet as I had initially thought it would be. The molasses is sort of hovering at the top of the flavour near the palate, making the mouth feel sort of nice and round, if you know what I mean.

On the sides, branching out into the cheeks I get the berry notes. As with the aroma I can’t really tell what berries they are, but they are definitely berry-y.

Finish? Not really very caramel-y, I think. Not obvious caramelisation, I’d say, much more subtle-like. It comes out if I take bigger sips though.

Perhaps it can be brought out more. GM suggests adding a touch of sugar (and cream, but I’m violently opposed to cream in tea. Milk. Always milk. Cream is for coffee), so I tried that. I don’t really count that as much of a success. The caramel-y molasses-y notes are too obvious now. I liked it better before.

I’m not completely blown away by this, but it’s indeed one that ranks pretty high for me. If GM was a company available to me, I would consider a purchase. It isn’t, though, and on the other hand it’s not one that I feel I so desperately need to own that I find it necessary to involve anybody in helping me. Maybe if in the future I found another of their offerings that I also really wanted, I might do that, but not for the sake of just one tea that I could substitute with Kusmi’s Caramel which is also quite lovely.

Yay, back home and back to sampling real teas!

I pulled this one out to start with something that has the potential to show how a gentle white tea can be married up with a flavor that could easily overpower it. I opened up the packet and got a strong whiff of licorice/anise, which though I’m not crazy about it, I do like it enough to find appealing. Also a little worried though, because I know how strong licorice can get (for some reason I got addicted to the really salty licorice they have in Sweden on a trip there last year, and kept popping the little lozenges all day).

I think they’ve done a good job of balancing the flavors here. I taste the white tea, and I taste the licorice, and they are amicably shaking hands. Neither is shoving the other out of the way to grab the spotlight. The licorice does a better job of leaving an aftertaste, but it’s not overpowering at all, just a light and lingering sweetness. Nice one.

Mmm, I liked this one. G liked it better iced. I couldn’t tell much about the green tea base, but the mint tasted like a blend of peppermint and spearmint. I would’ve preferred straight spearmint – what I remember from visiting Morocco – but this is good. I added sugar, so it was sweet and refreshing.

4.5g, 16 oz, 2nd steep at 4 minutes just as good

Licorice…hmmmm not my favorite by any means, but I figured I would give it a try. When I smelled this tea it reminded me of medicine of some sort, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I took my first sip and it was smooth and sweet and licorice! lol, but after a couple of more sips I realized what this reminded me of….a cough drop! Like a Ricola cough drop to be exact. Hmmm so if you would like to drink that this would probably be one awesome tea for you, but for me this just reminds me of Ricola cough drops and I feel like I should be really sick to be drinking this.

Starting my day with Earl Grey this morning.

Having previously reviewed this tea on SororiTEA Sisters:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2010/06/13/tippy-earl-grey-from-golden-moon-tea/
There is not really a lot more for me to say about it… I really like it.

Delicious and a delightful way to get going!

Starting my day with Earl Grey! It’s lovely.

So nice. The lavender and bergamot really work so well together. Smooth, sweet, delicious.

I’ve missed starting my day with Earl Grey yesterday, so I grabbed this as my first tea of the day. (I slept in even longer than usual today!)

Robust and pleasantly floral. I think that what I like best about this particular blend is the subtle use of lavender essence. I like how lavender and bergamot play together. It seems to instill a sense of calm which is just what I need for the start of the day!

My first cup of the day. Getting a somewhat later start, because I got to sleep in a bit.

Yum ~ I do love Earl Grey…

Time for Earl Grey!

Crisp and clean. I’ve spoken about this Earl Grey so much that I think you’ve probably heard enough. I like it! It brings a smile to my face and helps me shake off my sleepy feeling. Nice!

Today is the last day to enter the contest and win some of this fantastic tea!

http://sororitea.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/contest-announcement/

I thought I’d start my day with this Earl Grey again. I’m doing things just a little differently though – I’ve actually added a splash of milk to my cup! I very rarely (read: practically never!) add milk to my Earl Grey teas, because I think that most of them are quite excellent without the milk. But the real truth of it is that I fell in love with the first Earl Grey I tried, and I tried it without the addition, so I’ve never really contemplated adding milk to it. If it’s not broken, why fix it… know what I mean?

But, feeling adventurous today, I thought, why not?

And I really like it with milk too. It does soften the cup quite a bit, but I like it. For the first cup of the day, however, I think that I would be better off drinking it straight because I want the vigor in the cup to help shake off the remains of sleepiness.

Anyways – rambling!

A very yummy cup. If I wasn’t one of the sororiTEA Sisters and running the contest, I’d enter it because this is really good Earl Grey tea!

As there are only 2 days left (today and tomorrow) to enter to win your very own tin of this at: http://sororitea.wordpress.com I felt it would be very appropriate to begin the day with this tea.

My daughter is getting more and more proficient at measuring the tea… I’ll have her a seasoned tea lady in no time!

Brisk! Fruity! Delicious! I love Earl Grey and this is certainly an excellent variety. Crisp and bold – nice to wake up to.

I love Earl Grey in the morning – it really invigorates! The aroma, the flavor – it really gets me going!

I really like this blend a lot. The lavender is nice. Smooth and very delicious.

By the way – we (the SororiTEA Sisters) will be giving away a tin of this next week! Details coming soon!

http://sororitea.wordpress.com

This is a really good Earl Grey! The black tea is brisk enough to work as a “first of the morning-get up and go” kind of tea, and the bergamot is very lively. The lavender softens the bergamot a bit which I really like. It’s not like a distinct lavender flavor, but I can taste it. It plays very well with the bergamot’s floral tendencies.

I’m loving this cuppa!

I… expected to like this more than I did. It’s ok, but I’m pretty sure I’ve had Irish Breakfast teas I liked better. It’s too fruity for me, I think, and too light for an IB. The 2nd steep was still drinkable, but noticeably lighter in color and flavor (orange rather than red).

3.5g, 12oz water, milk and sugar; 2nd steep 6 minutes

A simple jasmine tea that is light, sweet and refreshing.

This is actually a pretty good basic black tea. Now I am not very big on black teas, but this one is pleasent and bold which I like! I didn’t really taste any of the notes mentioned in the description though, just tasted like a good black tea.

Let me start off by saying I am not a fan of gunpowder green tea so I was expecting to not like this one, but I getting sick and my throat was hurting so since this was mint tea I decided I needed it! To my surprise this wasn’t bad, the mint complimented the taste of the gunpowder green tea… not bad, not bad and my throat was better the next day!

What a pleasant surprise. I truly enjoyed drinking this one. It was smokey but it didn’t hurt my throat. It was as Goldielocks (Sp?) put it, just right. My 3 year old daughter had a few sips and enjoyed it. Although, she loves all tea. Well, that I know of at least. She hasn’t had as manny as I have. LOL :o)

I like Darjeeling teas – the natural sweetness, the dried fruit notes. However ever since I heard the word “muscatel” applied to the flavor of these teas, it’s hard for me not to think of dried currants and raisins whenever I smell or drink this tea. That’s not a bad thing, because I like those, but it does feel a little like I may be limiting my ability to tease out other flavors.

In any case, the smell when I opened the packet was the typical Darjeeling, so no surprises there. A handsome looking tea too, light and curly twists of leaves, darker and lighter brown. Four minutes at just under boiling – I often have my Darjeelings spend five minutes in the bath, but we’ll be easy on this newcomer to see how it stands up.

It’s a tasty and typical tea of this variety. The notes are in all the right places, including the aforementioned muscatel. No standout, exceptional surprises here; I’d drink it again but wouldn’t seek it out above others. With cream and sugar it’s also very drinkable.

A very nice, very complex tea with a sweetness, a richness, a smoothness, a slight smokiness, and all the other “nesses” a delicious tea I will enjoy again.

I like this tea. I am going to start with the…
Cons: A bit watery and not as earthy and rich as I would like.
Pros: Still has a great earthy flavor, a mellow sweetness, fabulous lingering taste after swallowing.

I am pretty sure I will buy this one and next time steep it longer. I know they said 2-3 mins but I think 3:30 will work for me.

Overall: Great tea and worth a try!

Ah, a nice strong black tea to start the week. The dry leaves smell surprisingly fresh and fruity, almost like a rich plum jam with hints of spice. I’ll steep it for five minutes as I’m in the mood for strong flavors right now.

Great aroma! Bready, fruity, jammy, and spicy. Wow! Lots going on there. The taste is strong – good stuff – but not overpowered by any one note. The tannins are there, but they wrap themselves easily around the other flavors. I’m getting the flavor of cinnamon rolls with this…wish I had one right now to go with it.

I’ll try the second half of my serving with cream and sugar. Whew, still a strong cuppa, but I like it. This could definitely serve as a great Monday morning wake-up tea for me.

What a great tea…it is a perfect start to the day. It is rich in flavors, it tasted medium to bold. I tasted the malt in this tea but I will say before it cooled off It tasted a little sour almost tangy. It threw me off a bit but after drinking it some more I really enjoyed it and will drink it again.