Golden Moon Tea

Not Unlike Ricky (in his review of this tea) I was feeling a little experimental today. First I must say I was born and raised here in Texas. Home of the best BBQ in the whole WORLD (okay I know that’s debatable) but this is my review so WE DO HAVE THE BEST BBQ IN THE WHOLE WORLD!

Anyway more important than BBQ on to the tea, I opened the package and was hit in the nose by smoke STRONG smoke (again I know smoke) and I thought Wow Angie, this is either going to go really good or really bad and I hoping for really good.

I finally take a sip and before My mouth hits the cup I smell strong smoke again. I was surprised the taste isn’t bad. I would compare it to liquid smoke but not in a bad way because if someone told me this tea is good it tastes like liquid smoke I’d go okay I’ll think I’ll have some oolong instead please. :) It is more liquid smokeseque not true hard core, intense liquid smoke but just a hint.

It’s a nice tea I wish I would have tried this in the winter when I probably would have enjoyed it more but hey I can always place an order in winter. It’s not a bad tea not an everyday thing but it’s actually kinda good.

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #3
Grabbed the first black (because, hello? morning!) tea that came to hand from the sampler box and it happened to be this. As usual, because I am a giant flake, I completely forgot that I was steeping this and ended up leaving it for so long that I find it too embarrassing to specify.
It totally smelled oversteeped so I was definitely expecting the worst, but apparently this tea is super forgiving (yay!) because the taste came out just fine. I agree with the other reviews that it is very smooth, almost neutral in taste, and I DO like my teas to be a little more full of character, but the ability to take a lot of abuse is a huge factor in its favor. I may have to get more of this.

Brews up bright copper colored. Smells like a salted caramel. Taste is creamy and smooth. A little roasty with some strawberry in the finish. Caramel returns for the aftertaste. Very little astringency. Overall, a very pleasant and smooth tea.

Mmmm…flowers. ::drools a la Homer Simpson::

This was my 2nd GM sample and I was super-excited about trying this one. I’ve only had Stash’s White Rose and I wanted something to compare it to. So when I say things like “a lot more than WR” that’s the tea I’m using for comparison.

So, I popped open the packet and the smell was a nice bouquet of roses. It was a lot less cloying than WR (but it’s also a tiny sample packet, so perhaps a larger qty. would affect the smell’s impact).

First sip: yummers! I think that black tea is so much more well-suited to being “rose-afied.” The rose smell and taste couldn’t violate this tea as much as the poor WR. Yes, it’s rose-heavy, but what can I say? I likes me a cup of frou-frou. Really no complaints on this cup and will most likely get myself some to keep on hand for my ultra-girlie days. I still feel like I have yet to find my dream rose tea.

Second Steep: I sorta forgot to set the timer, so I’m unsure of how long this steeped. When I realized my error I guessed that it had been about 2 minutes, so I set the timer for two minutes. The first couple of sips I really noticed the tea more so than the entire first cup. But as it it cooled ::Ethel Merman impersonation:: Everything’s Comin’ Up Roooooses! NE

Oh, Golden Moon…I had my mouth all set for some sencha this morning and I get…this. I dunno, this tea was a bust. I have a pack of sencha from my travels to Japan, and I gotta say, this Golden Moon sencha looked very pretty. Nice vibrantly deep green needle leaves with little tea dust. But after a 3 minute brew, it was like I was just drinking a cup of hot water. I didn’t get the slightest bit of buttery sweetness that usually comes with a sencha brew. I added a little sugar, and it was like drinking hot, sweet water!

Meh.

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #2
So, given how small the golden moon samples are, I’ve decided to try and use them up in one go. There’s a little too much in each pouch for my ingenuitea though, so I’ve dusted off my teapot specially for this occasion. Of course, upon doing so, I was confronted with the problem of lid. Or rather, lack thereof. I can’t even find the pieces left after it broke during the move! Did I throw them away (like an idiot)? Ah well, for the moment I have used my MacGyver-like ingenuity to come up with a temporary fix. (It’s a pickle jar lid. Not optimal what with being made of metal and getting kinda hot, but needs must!)

I had a hankering for some Jasmine tea, so I decided to go straight for that rather than letting fate decide this time. The pearls themselves are of course lovely, and watching them unfurl is a treat. The taste is everything I expect from a Jasmine tea, floral with a slight undertaste that reminds me of (and this may sound weird) rice. This is quite delicate though, even after using all of it in my pot, it requires no dilution. Drinking this reminded me of how much I like Jasmine tea, but I’ll have to form a larger basis for comparison before I decide whether or not to buy.

The aroma of this tea was so strongly vegetal it made me gag. Thankfully I brewed it to go in a travelers mug and the lid kept that smell from further hitting my nostrils.

The taste is a light airy green with a slight sweetness and no acidity. I drank about half the mug hot, and enjoyed how refreshing it was, it really quenched my thirst, in a way more astringent teas do not. I got a bit of sweetness out of this hot, but found the sweetness deepened when the tea had cooled off. I’m not tasting candied pineapple, but I do enjoy the lightness of this tea.

Figured I need to get some sleep tonight, so brewed this golden moon sample.

This tea is great. There isn’t really a very distinct smell to it and the taste is obviously white, but at the same time the ginger definitely cancels out the usual odd taste of white tea, making this a very subtle and calming tea. The flavor is not too strong, which is a major plus for white tea in my opinion.

It also seemed to be pretty tolerant of the water temperature, since I didn’t wait too long for the water to cool down from boiling before putting it in, it still steeped to a very nice yellow color and there is no bitterness I can taste. This may very well be a golden moon tea I’ll purchase more of, I can never have enough white teas for light night drinking !

Finished off this sample last night.
I’m glad I decided to only use half of the packet the first time around because I think I’ve come around a bit more to this tea. Not to the point where I want more, but I definitely find it a pleasant tea to drink. In addition, the Oolong was a bit more oolongy this time around so that was good, although I was still having some cognitive dissonance with the whole combination.

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #1:
Wewt! Got my Golden Moon sampler today, and just had to start trying stuff. I have to say this caught my eye as I was looking through all of the samples, but not in a good way. In fact I was highly skeptical of this combination, while also being worried that the result would be too sweet.
Naturally, when I closed my eyes and grabbed a sample (the only way to choose when faced with 31 different teas), the gods of fate decreed that this would be it. Really, I should have known. The tea itself looks very nice, giant curled up tea leaves and the smell is quite potent. I brewed it up and it’s not the disaster that I thought it would be. The caramel creates the illusion of sweetness without actually being sweet and the base oolong is noticeable in the undertone, although to me it seemed like the caramel rendered the oolong characterless, causing it to devolve into Standard Green Tea Taste™.

I’m on the second steeping now, and the oolong and caramel appear to have switched places with the oolong taking center stage and the caramel creeping in at the end. I will freely admit that much of my oolong experience comes from drinking it iced while living in Japan, so perhaps it is my own expectations that are skewed with regards to this, but I still find the base tea to be somewhat lacking in character.

Still, it’s pleasant enough to drink, although I doubt I’ll be getting more.

So I finished off this sample and have a few more thoughts on it: I’m not going to change my rating, but if there was a way to indicate a fluctuation of feeling about a tea, then this tea would float between the uncertain face and the smiley face.

I think I finally nailed the scent-association for me after I stuck my nose into the empty sample bag: green jolly ranchers. The taste itself was if Jolly Ranchers had a sugar-free version of pear (and then watered that taste down). I think that there will be an ideal black/fruit tea for me out there, but that this isn’t it.

I must confess that I was becoming jealous of all the posts today that mentioned their GM sampler had arrived. Then I went out on an errand and came home and saw the package in my entryway. I let out an earth-shattering “squee” that sent my cat tearing across the room for cover. But I digress and would like to post my tasting note and then re-digress so anyone who wants the review can read it up front and then ignore the rest of my rambling.

This was the first tea I chose out of the 31 even though so many called out to me. I have never tried a black/fruit tea combo (oops – just realized that I’ve had decaf apricot ::facepalm::) and this one just sounded happy. I’m also hoping to expand my understanding of black teas. I’m generally not a fan of many of the black teas I’ve had – I’m turned off by their astringent bite. I popped open the bag and holy schnikees! It was pear. It was uber-pear. It was pear that shouted “I will suck your soul!” Underneath that there was a bit of musky-polleny smell.

I steeped that sucker and held off eating (I was really hungry) just to try this without distraction. I found it utterly yummy. I’m not a fan of pear and I’m not a fan of honey. Who knew that this blend would do a dance of happiness in my mouth? I drank the whole cup without eating since I was enjoying it so much. Afterward I did get a dryness to my mouth, but that doesn’t bother my noob palate – not yet. I’ll try more teas, but so far this is on my shortlist for my next GM order. And I’m dying to try this one iced. TG

Okay – so now I wanna have a moment to express my utter joy with tea. I’m a HUGE lover of books, but I can’t recall squeeling over a new book’s release. In the short time I’ve been discovering tea (with loose leaf being a mind-blowing new experience), I have fallen in love with the drink/experience. I love tea. I love the process. I am a tea-aholic and that brings me joy. I’ll find myself running my hands over the tea pots as the tea steeps and that makes me happy. I wish I had better words to express how much tea has rocked my world and I’m so very grateful that there’s Steepster. I’ve gained so much insight and pleasure from reading others’ thoughts. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

That is all :)

Edit: Okay, so not quite all. After my second steep I think I was coming down from my first ever “tea high” – like a runner’s high only yummier. There was something odd about this tea that I couldn’t put my finger on, so I read through more tasting notes and takgoti nailed it: “strawberry runts and banana boat suntan lotion.” And after reading others I thought that there must be a better fruit tea out there – so I bumped down my rating a bit. I still like this tea, but I’m more uncertain about reordering. The TG stays for now since at that time I definitely was euphoric, but not due to this tea alone. I shall try this one more time in a saner frame of mind and possibly readjust the rating one more time.

I really really really love this tea.

After skiing all morning, I need something with some caffeine. So, I pulled out this sample. I’ve been quite frankly a little scared of it. I wasn’t sure I’d like coconut in tea and I generally stay away from green tea as it gives me migraines (well, see if I’ll be punished for this tea later).

When I opened the package and smelled it, it smelled just like those square coconut cookies with ridges on the top. I can’t remember what they are called or whether they even make them anymore. I just remember them from when I was a kid.

Brewed, I get alternating tastes of a light green tea with floral notes (I think I smell some jasmine in there) and the coconut cookie taste. Yum!!

Update – Second steeping still tasting good. My husband took the second steeping of this sample and then told me to put it on the shopping list and he doesn’t normally like green tea (or much flavored tea for that matter).

Rather than a fake coconut flavor, this is soaked in coconut milk. It creates a lovely smooth cup of tea! I feel like I’m in the tropics when I drink this tea! And it can be brewed several times!

I have never been a huge fan of Earl Grey – but I love this one! The background tea is a wonderful black tea base that is not overwhelmed with Bergamont. And the addition of lavender is perfect! The only Earl Grey I will drink now!

This is the best Ceylon I have ever had. It’s creamy, strong, smooth and I can brew it directly in the pot and it doesn’t get bitter even over a half hour!!! Amazing! I LOVE this tea!

I’ve never had a unflavored white tea before and for some reason I was in the mood for my H & S white peach tea today. So I thought well I think I should be experimental and tried this white tea instead. Wow it’s a much fuller flavor than I would have expected and the nose to it isn’t very interesting kinda pollen smelling, which could be due to the chrysanthemums.

It’s a decent tea. Not something I think I’d crave but a nice cuppa. While I am not getting a ton of flavor I personally taste mostly buttery notes. It’s nice but it’s not going to be replacing my H&S white peach. :)

I must thank Auggy, the wonderful “swapstress” for this generous sample. At first I was enthralled by the strong, true coconut aroma. I really don’t think I had had a flavored pouchong before so I carefully followed the instructions.

As others have written, this has a delightful buttery and biscuit-y quality. The coconut mingles delightfully with the pouchong like two sophisticates bantering intellectually at a cocktail party. Or tea party, I should say.

Sampler Packet #10, selected at random.

I previously have written a tasting note for this tea which AUGGY had generously given me and was happy to select it today. It is a very good Lapsang Souchong and the second try with this tea was not a disappointment. I am down-grading this just a tad, however, for no good reason except that I’ve discovered that excellent in Lapsang Souchongs is not that difficult to achieve. I am lucky in that the tea I’ve fallen for big time is one of the less costly teas out there.

I’ve tasted quite a few and liked them all. The only one that I have a particular craving for—the only one that I really am particular about—is Upton’s Black Dragon. This one is great. I would never say “no” to it and would never mark it down, but it just does not have what it takes to win me away from Black Dragon.

Thanks to Auggy who sent me the most gorgeously packaged teas ever, I am now sipping this tea. What a magnificent Lapsang! This tea exemplifies all the reasons I love the Lapsang Souchong in particular and smoky teas in general. I am not surprised by the wide range of ratings.

Certainly the aroma is absolutely indicative of a smoky tea. The aroma and the taste got me to thinking of Russian literature. I know that this is not labelled a caravan—but I thought of Boris Pasternak. One of the first literary controversies I was aware of was his Nobel Prize, gratefully accepted and then rejected, probably because of pressure from the Soviets. So I started reading his poetry and then I read his sweeping epic, “Dr. Zhivago” (the book is better than the film, which I haven’t seen for 40 something years).

This tea tastes like Yuri and Lara huddled up in a small cottage with the fire aflame. As Yuri Zhivago ventriloquizes Boris Pasternak, he reflects on winter:

“It snowed and snowed ,the whole world over,
Snow swept the world from end to end.
A candle burned on the table;
A candle burned.”

This tea reminds me of the insistent beat and flame and flare and flicker of the candle burning on the table as the fire roars in the fireplace and the Samovar boils away.

Golden Moon has at this point my vote for Best. Lapsang. Souchong. Ever. I know I’ll drink more—for me the land o’ Lapsang is largely an undiscovered and yet to be mapped country—but I’m placing an order.

I know that this review is more evocative than specific but for what do we live but to be evoked into sensations, emotions, nostalgias, memories and tea, like poetry and music, is a wonderful vehicle. This Golden Moon Lapsang Souchong (spasibo, Auggy), has taken me back to late 19th and early 20th century Russia.

Instead of brewing coffee, I decided to use another golden moon sample and go for a black tea.

Oh so delicious! But I feel it’s a tad watery. Maybe the sample wasn’t enough leaves for how much I steeped. It has a very cozy warm feeling when you drink it, I don’t even need to add any milk to it and it tastes perfect. Very drinkable and sweet without using so much sweetening.

Either way, I think i diluted the taste a little too much which is pretty disappointing. I love the flavor that the tea has.