Golden Moon Tea

I just got my shipment of this tea today and am so excited. I love it just as much as I loved the sample :)

Pre steeping this smells just like a set of bath salts I remember from childhood. It smells so wonderful. While steeping, the black tea scent becomes stronger although I still smell the rose. The petals are so pretty floating above the leaf.

It is definitely a black tea, and definitely floral. I actually really like this tea. It makes me feel pretty. I think it would be a great option to have at a woman’s book club or tea time.

This is a tea I’m going to want to buy. It won’t be a daily drink but something for a day off relaxing. Now, if I could find those bath salts again, or better yet move somewhere where I can plant roses, life would be great!

After a cup, I wanted more, so I steeped again and still loved it (4 min). I thought I’d try my luck for a 3rd steep too. It started getting a bit lighter at this point. It’s not as good but I’m still enjoying it. There is a soft/sweet rose quality that is more apparent. The scent is still wonderful!

So I’ve been wanting to try the GM Sampler for a while now. However, yesterday I opened up the mailbox and SURPRISE! Ricky had sent me some tea! The package included the two Golden Moon teas that I wanted to try the most – and this was one of them. So this tasting note is dedicated to Ricky and his awesome generosity and his ability to make my day!

I was so excited about this that I forgot to smell the dry leaves. I made this with a tiny pinch of sugar and a little bit of 2% milk. Let me tell you guys, I love black tea and this one smells delicious! I can tell I’m going to like it and I haven’t even tasted it yet.

Wow… this one ranks pretty high on the Nom Scale. I know for sure I’ll be ordering more of this once I get the cash (although I’ve vowed not to order any tea during the month of April. I got my credit card bill yesterday and oh boy). Yes, it’s delicious all right. It’s very smooth and full-bodied, with notes of honey and possibly some nectar. Underneath everything is a very nice Ceylon. The aftertaste is sweet and it leaves me itching to take another sip.

So congrats, Ricky! You’ve made my day twice in a row! Thank you!

We are having another dreary, rainy day, so I had to pull out something jasmine from my stash; it has a magical property which puts me in a good mood!

Beautiful rolled leaves striped with jasmine flowers. A real treat to look at.

First infusion: Sweet, light, and delightful! I had it in my mind that I preferred jasmine oolongs, but I see that I once again put myself into an incorrect box! I love this tea!

Second infusion (4 min): Slightly darker in color. A slightly more green taste and slightly less jasmine taste make it a very harmonious, delicious cup. Totally in a better mood!

Third infusion (5 min): This tea has had it – I am sipping slightly jasmine tasting warm water. I will finish it because I’m freezing!!! but if I had more of this tea I would only make two infusions.

To me, the second infusion is the better of the two, but both are very enjoyable.

I would call “TIN!” but I have a tin of A+D Jasmine Green in my stash, plus I really, really want to try Samovar’s Jasmine Pearl Green Tea first. It looks exquisite!

Jasmine tea is my happy tea!!!

Going for another sampler after a long day of first classes for the term. Having an evening class is awful, only now did I get a chance to brew myself some tea! I almost wish I had some sort of tumbler so I could steep tea and bring it to my two hour class…

Anyway, the smell of the tea before steeping was quite typical for a green, but I could definitely smell the pineapple! Even after steeping the pineapple smell lingers, I’m just so excited for it to get a tiny bit colder so I can drink it and see if the pineapple taste is noticeable.

First sip. Ah nice, typical green taste. Slightly bitter, which means I probably put in water that was a tad too hot. I love the subtle sweetness this tea has, and it’s not an overpowering green tea taste.

Wow, already halfway done with the cup. I really like the taste of this. The taste of pineapple doesn’t really quite stand out, but it definitely adds sweetness to the tea, making this a pleasant green tea. Not a strong flavor at all though, which makes me unsure if it’s really worth purchasing in the future.

I smell cream soda upon opening the package—lovely scent! The tea starts out pleasantly enough, but there is an unappealing aftertaste. The 2nd infusion was better, but I don’t think that I really jasmine tea girl, as I’ve yet to find one I like.

So, I just got my sample order from Golden Moon. I love the box and seeing all the tea varieties made me so excited. Here is my first. Brewed at below boiling (unsure of temp- how do you all tell the temp?) and for about 3 minutes.
Ok, I love anise but the sent of it mixing with the sweetish component of the white tea reminds me too much of my herbal tea for sore throat which then reminds me of being sick…
Ok, the taste is much better then I expected. It doesn’t have that sickening sweet taste the herbal one had. It’s actually quite soothing. I actually never had white tea before but I imagine what I’m tasting is the white tea with the smallest hint of anise (although if I hadn’t known what it was I wouldn’t have been able to tell it was anise). It’s a really gentle tea. I’m surprised. I kind of like it. I’m not sure if I like it enough to order it. The scent bothers me too. I would drink it if I ordered another sample or if it was offered but I think I can find a gentle relaxing tea that I like better.
Interesting though, when I picked out this sample to try today, I was expecting something more filling/energizing- more anise. Not bad though.
Second steep: Sent still bothers me. This one is more of a licorice flavor and while I love eating anise/licorice, this really reminds me too much of being sick. I’m ending here.

Another golden moon sample. Now that I’m back at my dorm room, I’m back to boiling/heating my tea in a microwave. The smell , not so much different from any other black tea.

First sip, I like it. It’s got a definite black taste to it, but at the same timea special little kick that I really do like the taste of. I’ve never had a darjeeling tea before, so I don’t really know how to compare it.

Overall it has a very good black tea taste, and I could easily see myself drinking this every day. But it just doesn’t taste like something very special. It seems like a generic black tea with a different flavor to it. But is there really much more to darjeeling tea? I have no idea.

I really tried to find the ginger in this tea—it just tastes like an average white tea to me. Maybe a bit of a gingery aftertaste in this, my 2nd infusion, if I focus. I like ginger alot, and I was looking forward to trying this sample. Oh, well—

The fragrance of the dry leaves is wonderful!! A very creamy, rich jasmine tempered with the sweetest of vanillas. Once steeped, the scent deepens into a steamy, candied, hothouse orchid.

The taste is a pale version of the delicious scent. There is a sweetness with just a wisp of jasmine. The vanilla is apparent in the aftertaste—a syrupy tropical vanilla.

For me, this rates high because I’m in love with the aroma! It’s intoxicating. The tea itself is good—just remember to breath in deep with each sip—then it becomes extraordinary.

Hmm, the brewed scent is almost like sugared celery. I’ve never actually had celery with sugar—but it’s a fresh, stalky, sweet green aroma I’m sensing (strange for a black tea, I know). The sweetness deepens a little and gets toastier, upon cooldown. The vanilla has a soft and baked quality, but the flavor is faint. The black tea base is very mild and only slightly tannic.

This tea is fine. Nothing too extraordinary. An acceptable vanilla black tea.

A good choice for the conservative black tea drinker thinking to venture out unto flavored territory.

Here we go, third sample from Golden Moon. After having sushi for dinner, I felt it was only appropriate to have a Green tea afterward. This will be my first time having a Gunpowder tea though.

It steeped to an almost amber/brown color, which seems a bit odd since the sampling packet calls it a “golden green” . The smell, well, honestly I can’t smell much of anything from it. My sense of smell is very bad though.

First sip. woah, did I steep this right? It tastes quite bitter, or maybe that’s the “smokey” taste. It’s almost hard to tell. Aside from that instant taste of bitter/smokey it seems to be almost flavorless. It’s got quite a bitter aftertaste as well. All I think I can chalk it up to is steeping incorrectly, because if this is the right flavor, I don’t know…

Meh. I was expecting more, but tasted less. Dry leaves are very small, bright green slivers, like cut grass, with a mild vegetal aroma. Infusion tasted a bit like cooked asparagus, but really not much flavor. Did not hold up well with subsequent infusions.

Appearance: Deep orange amber liquor. The leaves are long, dark and whole, when they’ve unfurled. A few are still attached to their twigs!

Scent: Nuts and brown maple leaves. Roasted chestnuts? A slight sprinkling of sugar.

Taste: Yum!! Definitely like roasted chestnuts! Simultaneously woodsy, leafy and sweet—like steamed sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves. A scattering of golden raisins?

Last Thoughts: I love it! I really enjoy the roasted, toasted quality intermingling with the sweet leafy-ness. I’m intrigued by the oolongs I’ve tried so far. I want to try more!
I just realized that I’m picking up nearly the same tastes as the Sugar Caramel Oolong! But this seems more “brown” than “green”—more cooked than fresh. They are both different yet similar. It’s an oolong thing, I guess. :)

Second sampler from Golden Moon. Used some rock sugar when steeping, like always.
Ever since I started drinking loose teas, i have never bought a black tea. So making a black tea from loose leaves just felt very odd. I am also usually not a fan of flower teas, even though they always smell so fantastic (just like this one did before I steeped it)

So here goes, first sip. Weird. I definitely taste the black tea and it tastes so good, but then the rose flavor comes out, and all I can think of is how absolutely flowery it tastes. I’m trying to resist the urge to put a splash of milk in, since I’ve become accustomed to black teas with milk. That might make the rose flavor taste worse.

It’s definitely not a bad tea. The more sips I taste the more I seem to like it, but it just still doesn’t grab me, it’s still a little hot though so my tongue is probably not catching all the flavors.

Ah yes, as it cools down the flavor definitely is more potent, and I like the tea quite a bit. The flavor of the rose petal is quite odd though making this a tea I most likely would never drink or purchase in the future.

I will admit that I was a little nervous to try this tea—the sample smelled interesting, very smokey but in a good way, I think. The infusion still was smokey, but my first sip was sweet! Subsequent sips were “meaty” but as the tea cooled, the smokiness started to really take over in an unpleasant way. I steeped a second cup just to be sure, but I don’t think this tea is for me.

So I went and got the Golden Moon sampler, and this is the first tea I’m trying from it!

The flavor is very subtle, but the taste itself is sort of odd. It doesn’t scream oolong to me, but I don’t really know exactly what it does taste like. It’s very soothing to my stomach though, making it a great choice after dinner, but the aftertaste is a little odd. Like others have mentioned, it has sort of a buttery mouth watering taste, but I’m not really liking that too much

Well, as it slowly gets a more warm temperature I’m tasting more flavors. I think I really do have a cat’s tounge! Still, it just seems like it’s lacking something.

Edit. Second & third steeps were much better. Definitely increasing the score. It’s not something I’d purchase a whole lot of… but man my body feels so much better after drinking this tea. Yay for the power of oolong!

Finished up the last of this tea yesterday. With a 3.5 minute infusion, the honey notes really showed up. Smooth, absolutely no harsh bitterness. This is the tea I turn to when I don’t want to add milk. I just want a tea all by itself, no additions. Plus if I get busy at school and forget to drink my tea, it is still good cold.

Since I ran out of Sinharaja, this tea has been my go to tea for the mornings. This is a mild, tea with no bite. It does not take milk well…so I was thrilled when my hubby gave me a $25 gift certificate to purchase tea!!! This is the BEST gift…I ordered Sinharaja and the two teas from Harney that were on my shopping list:) Florence and Vanilla Comoro

I have drank this tea most mornings since it arrived in my mailbox.
I like to drink this plain. Very, very smooth. Tastes like a great cup of tea to me. Black of course, is there another kind better for mornings? I think not. Not a great caffeine kick, but enough to help me face my 8th graders. Overall, I think this tea will have a permanent place on my tea shelf. Speaking of my tea shelf, I reorganized my teas this morning, put them all in one place. I really need to drink more tea, I have a lot of tea for one person to consume before the tea leaves start to wane….as I wait patiently for the TTB to arrive in Texas(sigh).

Got my new tea yesterday. This is a great black tea that sounds alone very easily. Smooth, no bitterness at all with a taste of honey. ….added note: you can REALLY taste the honey note when it cools down.

This one has a natual coconut flavor that does not overwhelm the pouchong tea base. Not suprised that this is an award winner. This is one that I will definitely re-order!

Backlogging from my trip. This one was another winner in the iced tea category for me. The coconut flavor is pronounced, sharp, and not artifical tasting at all; this tea’s flavor is reminiscent of those unsweetended coconut water drinks sold at Whole Foods. I would have to say this is my favorite Golden Moon tea by far.