Golden Moon Tea

The tiny rolled leaves and the bright gold tea are beautiful—but it ends there. The aroma is smokey as I expected, but the tea tastes like cigarettes smell. ARRGGHH—not for me!

This one time, in a magical far away place I had one of those incredibly expensive, smooth, beautiful, sweet sencha teas. Then I woke up and remembered that I actually did have this one from Golden Moon.

I brewed it the first time, hot, 3 minutes, no additives. The dull leaves, covered in a light green powder, brew into something gatorade yellow/green with the familiar sencha aroma. For those who never had sencha, it is vegetal, it is green, it is bright and strong green in flavor, the final note, the aftertaste is slightly sweet. This brew is pretty spot-on. Not absolutely perfect, but a good Sencha.

The second infusion, hot, 2.5 minutes, no additives, is slightly brighter, a little more vegatal, and the sweet note starts a little earlier and lasts a little longer.

Overall, another good one by Golden Moon.

My first pu-erh. Strange aroma—earthy but with something else I can’t quite identify. Full-bodied with a hint of sweetness. “Grainy” aftertaste, almost coffee-esque. Okay, but I’ll keep exploring.

This was my second Pu-erh I’ve tried, so I am still new to drinking Pu-erh. My first infusion was steeped around 3 minutes and had a strong taste mostly of cigars and smokiness. I also got the taste of wood chips and dirt. Totally different kind of tea that I am used to but not turned off from trying more.

The second and third infusions I steeped for 5:00 minutes. Less smokiness and more mellow, which I enjoyed more. Interested in trying other pu-erh.

Yay, my samples from Golden Moon are here! Woo!

I thought I’d start off with this one because I need some caffeine and the honeyed description sounded delicious. I used about half the leaves in the packet in 8 ounces of water. There is a sweet, honey like flavor, but it’s the kind that I’ve found in a lot of black teas. I think that good black teas tend to have a delicious honey/black tea/sweet aftertaste, if you know what I mean, and this tea has lots of that delicious aftertaste.

The flavor of the tea just seems like “default black tea” flavor, with very nicely executed “good black tea honeyed aftertaste” flavor. It’s just a little tannic, but I didn’t have any trouble sipping my cup without sugar or milk. That kind of smoothness without milk or sweetener is pretty rare for breakfast bends.

Personally, since I drown my tea in milk and honey and sugar, I would rather have cheaper, lower quality, ground up Twinings English Breakfast. It’s not nearly as smooth or honeyed as this tea is, but I don’t mind, since I’m going to smother it in milk and honey anyway. However, I think this tea would be perfect for those times you just want a nice, clean cup of delicious black tea. I might just keep this one in stock for those times, since I’ve tasted very few plain black teas as good as this one without additives. Yum.

Still chipping away at the Golden Moon Sampler…This tea smelled fantastic, like a rich black tea with a slightly sweet scent. The taste was plain, brewed hot for four minutes with no additives. As it cooled, I noticed an unpleasant astringency, a slight bitter note commonly associated with oversteeped tea. So I added a pinch of German rock sugar and a touch of milk, this made the tea sweeter and smoother.

On the second infusion, fearing the same result as the first, I brewed for 2.5 minutes and added the pinch of sugar up front and milk to taste in my mug.

Overall pretty decent black tea.

Since this was featured on Steepster Select yesterday, I figured today was the day to give it a try. You can see pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/sinharaja/show/

It’s an amazing tea for a ceylon… which seems to be the consensus. I’ve been less and less interested in ceylons lately (probably because a decaf ceylon is the base of most of the tea I’ve been drinking, and all of that is less than inspiring). However, this might bring me back. It was a bit sweeter than I would have expected, and I got almost a floral note. That floral quality could have come from the raisins I had just before hand, though. :)

So, a solid tea. Not one of the Golden Moons going on my shopping list, but one I’m going to keep in mind in case I want to stock up on some ceylon!

Although the tea is a very pretty pale gold, the flavor was just not there for me. Some hint of sweetness in the finish, but I really had to concentrate to find it.

Some Irish Breakfast teas are so brawny, it’s almost a dare to like them. This tea has plenty of heft but is more mellow and refined. The color is ale-brown with a golden cast and a malty aroma. I didn’t pick up the fruit flavors as described, but there are definite sweet notes slipping through every once in a while. A delicious cup with or without the additions of milk or sugar.

An assertive English Breakfast tea. A parade of flavors—one sip tastes more smokey, the next more fruity—different notes in the blend make themselves known throughout the cup. Not wimpy, a real palate cleanser. Takes milk and sugar well, if that’s your pleasure.

I had to cobble together a half teaspoon of Golden Moon’s English Breakfast with their French Breakfast for my morning tea, and it made me realize just what a masterful blend the English Breakfast is! My cup was serviceable if a bit bland, and there was no distinguishing the different types of teas like when I had just the English Breakfast. Golden Moon – whatever your proportions are for your English Breakfast? Never change!!! It’s PERFECTLY DELICIOUS!!!

Taken with a teaspoon of sugar and half and half.

Oh BOY I think this is the best English Breakfast Blend I’ve ever had the pleasure to sip! Complex and nuanced – I feel like I can taste the slightly fruity darjeeling-ness, a bit of smoky chewy Keemun-ness, and a robust malty Assam-ness and the Ceylon is smoothing things nicely – it is an invisible binder in a way – I don’t taste it but I feel it’s doing its job. I think what is making this a standout to me is the fruitysmoky. Very unique. Very enjoyable! Very much a whole tin kinda tea!!! I’d like to take it to 5 minutes and see what I get – there was absolutely no bitterness at 4 minutes and you know I like em bold :)

I’m not sure what to think of this yet. The smell of it is so strong that my clothes even smelled like it after the car ride home. It was quite pleasant at first, but then it just got stuck in my nose to the point that it’s sickening.

The tea itself isn’t bad at all, really. It’s very sweet, and the pear and honey flavors are very prominent, even in the resteep. I think it will end up being one of those teas I pull out when I need something interesting.

This tea is very complex: the dried leaves smell fantastic, the brewed tea does not, however, the flavor is great.

The dried leaves smell rough and natural, like they were not processed or pruned, but they are raw from where they were grown. There is also a spicy, sweetness to the scent. You can smell cardamom and cinnamon.

The brewed tea is very dark, almost unexpectedly dark. The aroma of the tea is more of the rough, natural, earthy smell. The initial part of this bouquet is a little too earthy for me, however, it mellows out into the sweeter and better smell. As the tea cools, the aroma levels out, and becomes more and more of the earthy pu-erh and less of the sweetness.

The flavor is complex: pu-erh, then citrus, then cardamom, then chai, then cinnamon, then ends with more pu-erh. It is complex, it is earthy, it is rich and it is spiced. Very good.

The rating suffers a little because although I enjoy the tea, the earthy aroma I do not like. For me, tea is always all about a complete experience, bouquet and flavor. Here the flavor is good, but the bouquet is off-putting.

Okay, trying more Gunpowder… kind of. I used the whole sample even though I could have probably split it up between two cups. But I’m on a mission to go through some small tea amounts so really, I couldn’t have split this up. At all.

Smells sweet and wintergreen-y. I know it says to use boiling water, but no. Brewing at 175° I can smell the mint whoosh around so I’m just going to do the steep time on the longer end of the suggested range.

Okay, I’m trying to think of something to say about this and… I’ve got very little. It’s mint. With a little wet ash. And the more it cools, the less pleasant this experience is becoming. The mint tingle is nice but I think steeping the Gunpowder for 4 minutes in this kills it for me. Ick.
4.5g/8oz

Rich copper brew, grapey aroma, with surprising sweet notes. Some astringency at finish, but not harsh or as bitter as I expected. Tasty with toast and 3-fruit marmalade.

So different from the Irish, subtler, sweeter, but excellent.

Best Irish Breakfast I’ve had. Full of fruit and no tannin. Strong, but not overwhelming.

Well, I guess I get to be the poop again. I thought this was wonderful Jasmine and the second infusion better than the first.

Now I see where the Earl goes when he’s not at home in other teas! Too Much bergamot, unable to be tamed by either milk or sugar. You need to go back to your other homes!

Really smells of honey with faint pear notes. Tea has a honey sweetness that could be cloying but for the brisk finish; the pear takes a back seat to the honey but slips through every once in a while. A nice afternoon cup—

A very respectable cup of tea. Not as bold as I like, not as distinctive as I like, but nothing to complain about. No bitterness, astringency, etc. Just a bit dull!

The jasmine fragrance explodes upon opening the packet. Golden infusion starts out very smooth with some sweet notes; a brisk end. Some bitterness develops as tea cools. Subsequent infusions remain fragrant but more bitter overall. Jasmine tea is generally not one of my favorites, and this one did not change my mind.

Finishing up my sample today :( My poor husband is home with some kind of virus (at least I think it’s a virus because he feels so feverish and is queasy and his head is killing him) and I am feeling like I am not too far behind in the queasy department. My new friend mint to the rescue! (the running joke in my house is that next I’m going to start liking sushi! The three things I hated were coconut, mint and sushi, and here I am CRAZY about coconut and now mint!!!). ANYWAY!

This tea is really hitting the spot today. I can’t even think about the idea of milk without my stomach churning, and this combination of green and black teas with a touch of comforting vanilla and tum soothing mint? Absolutely ideal and very, very delicious. I am so sad that I don’t have any more leaves left, but will definitely be making another steep for medicinal purposes. whimper!!