Golden Moon Tea

I am so, so, so, so, SO not a fan of mint -

BUT!

this is a great tea!!! I am enjoying my cup even as a person who does not like mint! I wonder if it’s the vanilla softening it a touch? Maybe I like the gunpowder green tea? (I’ve never had it before! Must try the plain gunpowder to compare!). Maybe it’s because they used spearmint as well as peppermint and it’s not that overwhelming minty minty MINT mint? I am actually shocked that I’m enjoying this so much. I was really afraid that it would taste like toothpaste, but it does not at all.

I decided to resteep (5 min) and I was surprised on how dark, flavorful and delicious the resteep was! A touch of mint, and even some vanilla sweetness remains.

P.S. I placed my first round of Golden Moon ordering yesterday! Out of what I’ve tried in the last month, 6 teas made the must have tin purchase (and one – Kashmiri Chai – earned a half pound bag purchase!!!)! This tea is delicious and unique enough to make my cut for the second round of ordering! I have over a dozen more samples to taste for the first time, and I will admit to being a HUGE baby and putting the Pu-erh, Pu-erh Chai, and Lapsang Souchong into the Traveling Tea Box, so they are not part of the tastings (!!!!)

Yum!! I was looking forward to something interesting this afternoon, and when flipping through the samples, this one caught my eye.

The dry leaves smell just like maple cotton candy. It was one of those smells that you know won’t exist in the actual tea, but is really nice out of the container. As the tea steeped, I realized the leaves were Really Big. (Seriously, check them out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/sugarcarameloolong/show/) I pulled out a few for the photos, but will resteep the rest a few times to see how this holds up.

The tea itself is definitely sweet, but doesn’t taste sweetened (if that makes sense). There is a clear sugar and caramel flavor, though I’m picking up floral notes as well. It still smells of sugar, but has the grassy taste you’d expect from an oolong.

So, this one is a winner for me! I might just have to get a canister… looking forward to seeing how the resteeps go!

I decided to go for another Golden Moon sample this morning, and the description of this one sounded good to me.

The leaves smell earthy, maaaaybe with a floral hint in there. But pretty much just your basic earthy smell.

Brewed, I smell maybe a nutty hint.

The taste is really nice! It’s smooth, which I always like. It’s definitely got some depth. Unfortunately, my tastes aren’t educated to the point where I could tell you what I’m tasting. All I can tell you is that I like it!

I am getting a tiny hint of bakeyness to it, to the point of it reminding me of Thomas Sampson, even though that’s an Assam, and this is a Ceylon. Hmm. Maybe I just don’t know what I’m talking about. :P

Now that it’s cooled a bit, though, I am getting that tiny hint of ripe berries that the description speaks of.

All in all, this really is a very tasty tea! :)

Warning: I ramble for the first paragraph, if you do not care, skip right to the rating (second paragraph). Yesterday and today the northeast was hit with it’s third (and hopefully final) snowstorm of the year. So once again, I was snowed in and cabin fever is definitely setting in. In the past week or so, since the last blizzard, I have decided to “spring clean” up the house, and by house, I most nearly mean drink my tea that is almost complete but not quite there. You see, I have a nasty habit of opening dozens, hundreds, I-don’t-know-how-many, samples and packs and tins and boxes of tea and then trying it once, twice if I like it, then three times to write a rating and then never touching it again. This is a terrible habit, and every once in a while I step back and assess the mess I have made out of my kitchen and now into my living room. As I began, I have been finishing off teas so as to deplete the mess and with today’s being stuck at home, I got rid of a few teas. They were already rated, no fear, I did nothing special to them, but I am feeling accomplished as I have removed some of them.

Rating: So, now that I have finished open tea, I can go onto new samples. Yay! First up was Kashmiri Chai. The leaves are pretty, dark, and small, they are mixed with large spices; they smell slightly spicy.

First Infusion: 5 minutes, hot, no additives. This chai is very nice, gentle green and black tea blend with subtle hints of spice. I pick up cardamom and cinnamon mostly, maybe a hint of clove, overall it is very good. As with all of my chai, I must drink this hot, because as it cools the flavor of the tea is lost and the spices become overwhelming to me. This was the same for this tea, only the spices were not as overwhelming as other chai teas I have had. When I read “Kashmiri” I knew it meant the geographical region, but when I tasted it, I thought describing it like a cashmere scarf was not bad either, it is smooth and velvety, rich and intoxicating.

Second Infusion: 3 minutes, hot, no additives. I found that I did not want to oversteep for the second infusion, 3 minutes brought about an equivalent pot of tea. Slightly spiced, gentle tea, very aromatic and delicious.

Third Infusion: By this time I was looking for another way to do this, according to Golden Moon website, the tea can be enjoyed with cream and honey for a sweet treat. I did not have cream and due to the Snowpocalipse, I was not going to get any, but a splash of milk and a tiny touch of honey, made this tea extraordinary! The tea, brewed hot for 3 minutes, still had the spiced flavors and gentle tea blend, but now it had creamy sweetness added.

Highly recommended any of the three ways, this was a fantastic chai tea. I feel it was so good because it is not as strong as many other chais, it is well blended and gentle, so it is a good tea for people just starting to explore chai or people not so crazy about the amount of spice normally found in chai.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 heaping scoops (i didn’t want to use all 3 in case i messed it up)
Additives: none
Water: filtered boiling 1 teapot, set to cool a few moments until it was around 195
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet baking coconut
Steeped Tea Smell: baking coconut (not like fresh coconut milk), grassy, vegetal (like some kind of buttered stewed leaves), maybe even a little nutty
Flavor: watery vegetal, again like buttered stewed leaves, very silky smooth mouth feel though
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: coconut, sweet
Liquor: nearly clear, yellow-brown

This was a gift from SoccorMom!

I have never had a Pouchong before. Pouchong – Wikipedia suggested following the directions for Oolong tea.

The tea was very natural tasting, not like two distinct flavors (tea, coconut) being put together, but one flavor that was both tea and coconut.

The vegetal that I dislike in greens was not a negative thing, it was more a nice cooked side dish of greens doused in butter and silky smooth.

The steeped leaves unfurled into beautiful green full leaves! I could swear they were just picked.

I am glad I got to try this as it was good and different, but not a favorite that I would stock up on, but I certainly wouldn’t mind having it again.

I never even knew there was such thing as Pouchong before, and I think I preferr this to green now that I know it exists!

Post-Steep Additives: none

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/02/golden-moon-tea-loose-leaf-pouchong-tea.html

Finally some good tea today!

I’m actually completely snowed in today. I tried walking around outside and nearly fell on my face. Several times. There was no way I was going to make it to the bus stop in those conditions. Not to mention the severe delays.

So I figured I’d steep up some very happy-making tea, to ward off the cold. And to have something delicious to drink! We’re winding down to the end of the Golden Moon sampler here… just Honey Pear and Coconut Pouchong left.

Anyway, when I cut open the package, there was an awesome rush of a sugar and caramel and delicious smell. Man. It’s leaning more towards the sugary side of things, smell-wise, but this is pretty intoxicating. I kept sticking my nose in the packet and breathing in deep. Ahhhhh. I’m not getting a lot of an oolong smell from it, which is perfectly fine.

So I steeped up a teaspoon of this bad boy, and watched the leaves unfurl. Rolled oolongs. So. Much. Fun. The resulting infusion was a light goldenrod color, and the smell coming off of it? Delicious. Absolute chewy, buttery oolong goodness, which I was surprised about. I thought it’d be more of a sugar/caramel smell, but nope. There’s a heady floral component to it. Almost like a wildflower honey smell (which is delicious, by the way).

Hot, I’m just getting a sort of light, buttery-oolong style note. But as the cup cooled down, I began to taste a delicious trace of sugar, and hints of caramel after every sip. The taste is pleasingly light. I don’t know why I thought this would be darker and more syrupy, but it really isn’t. This is so pleasantly sippable that I’m holding my mug in two hands and sticking my face in it, a little smile on my face.

I’ve been so deprived of good tea.

Anyway, as the tea cools even more, there’s this little magical period where the sugary taste really comes to the forefront. The cup even smells more like the dry leaves. It’s absolutely delicious. The oolong here is very light and supporting. It’s funny. It’s like all the components here are in an ensemble cast. I can’t really pick out a dominant flavor, which I like.

The second steep for me (3:00, 190 degrees) wasn’t as good as the first. It was definitely drinkable, but it had that sort of spent-leaf taste that I don’t really enjoy. It’s almost a heavier flavor, an overcooked vegetable flavor. There was still a little bit of a sugary taste to it, but everything was much more muted.

But yes. Yum.

I decided to give this one a try since it was featured on Steepster Select yesterday. I loved that you can visually make out the cardamom, cloves, and pieces of cinnamon along side the green and black tea. The tea, itself, was good, but kind of what I expected… After trying the plain tea, I added agave nectar and almond milk (based on advice from my yoga teacher). As I drank it, I liked the tea more and more. And at the end of the cup I found myself wishing I had another sample. In that cup, I’d boil the tea and use less water so that with the milk it’d be stronger.

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/kashmirichai/show/

A very different Ceylon tea – deep dark and mysterious with hints of dark chocolate, dark molasses and a hint of floral. Milk makes it more mellow – delicious!

After receiving this sample from TeaEqualsBliss, I was super excited about trying this one. I mean really…look at those ratings! Nice! Now the down side. Last night I received bad news about a friend of the family’s sudden failing health and I needed something comforting this morning. I’m out of Almond Cookie. Boo. :( Anyway, on to the tea.

I honestly wasn’t too impressed with my 1st cup. The dry leaves and spice mix looked very appealing to begin with so I was kind of confused. Of course I added milk and sugar as I tend to do with most of my chais. After the 1st steep, the leaves were fully expanded and that’s mostly what I tasted…black tea. The spices were fairly bland and very much in the background. As much as I like spicy foods, I don’t particularly care for super spicy chais. I mean “spicy” as in “heat”…NOT the cardamom, cinnamon, peppercorns, etc. This one did not have a “spicy” feel to it, but it was still kind of lacking. Regardless, I finished my cup and decided to steep again.

Take two. Now this is better! The liquor is much MUCH lighter, so I skipped the milk and sugar. NOW I taste the spices. Mostly cardamom…but that’s cool. At least this tastes more like chai! I’m not sure if my traditional chai preparation method would improve this blend or not. In my opinion, chais need that rolling boil to crack open all of those pods and make the spices come to life. I think the black tea was either too strong for the spices or that the company used too much leaf in relation to the ratio of spices. Or maybe I just like my chais WAY to freakin’ strong. Oh well, it’s not bad by any means. Just mild.

Sorry about the rambling post. My mind is kind of scattered at the moment.

…and this lovely, finished!

Made a giant, hearty milk and sugared mug for homework doings. Stout but a little mellowed by time. Just tasting a hint of raisiny stone fruit flavors. I think this tea is at least two years old – it’s held up remarkably well! I enjoyed every pot — this was the first Irish Breakfast I tasted with complexities, and I would be pleased to find it in my cupboard at a future date.

Enjoying pulling out all of the black teas that I take with milk & sugar during my break! On this freezing cold day, this stout but sweet and fruity? jammy? tea is really hitting the spot. Bold but nicely complex. Love that it’s strong yet nuanced. That jammy note, a malty note…ahhhh! It’s also gorgeous – the leaves are so long and have so much golden tipping!

I had a very delicious cup of this over the weekend. Deep dried fruit and malt. Classic but special. So yummy that I temporarily lost control of my hands and half of it spilled on me! OW! I popped up, changed my shirt, and drank the other half of my cup because it was so good! I don’t drink this that often, but when I do, I adore it. Perfect milk and sugar tea.

A classic. Malty, with an underlying sweetness/fruitiness. Despite the breakfast in the name, I love this one on a weekend afternoon when there is Much To Do and Not Much Energy to Do It!

Having an afternoon cuppa to ward off hunger until Big Sunday Dinner. I chose this one for its malty, raisiny character. Almost like eating food! So good on a blustery day like today. I’m so glad I rediscovered this tea on my Winter Break. I can see myself reaching for this tin again and again during these next two cold months. Delicious.

I haven’t had this one in so long – I’ve forgotten how good it is! Malty and raisiny/plummy. The dried fruit flavor is what is standing out the most to me today, and I am really enjoying that aspect of this tea. Delicious with milk and sugar. It is bold enough for breakfast, but I’m having it as an afternoon pick me up after a long morning/afternoon of chores. It is completely reviving!

I was this close to breaking my lockdown because I was seriously missing my Teas etc Golden Monkey. Then, as I was doing my homework assignments for school, and learning about AIDS in Africa and poverty in India, I checked myself. I have over 70 teas in my cupboard. Surely something could serve as an enjoyable substitute until I have a real need to order tea (I also added you spoiled jerk! but you didn’t need to hear that part!).

So, I packed my tin of this tea along with my lunch. I remember it being really honeyed and sweet, but I had only enjoyed it with milk and sugar, and I take my teas plain at work. This will be an adventure!

I decided to brew it a little under boiling, and steep for three minutes.

My initial thought upon tasting was, “I wish I had some sugar!” and a few sips later, “oooh my tummy! I wish I had a drop of milk!”

I am not a fan of this one plain. It has a roughness that makes my tongue dry and my stomach boil. It is sublime with milk and sugar though! An utterly classic tea! But it does absolutely nothing for me sans additions. Back in my lunch bag it goes, for happy milk and sugar moments at home.

So, no substitute found. But I’m hoping that it will make me all the more ecstatic when I finally get my cupboard into a manageable state, and can get some more Golden Monkey with a clean(ish!) conscience!

I’ve managed to wake up with a fever and cold this morning – yuk! I wanted something that would remind me of the plain cups of tea made for me when I was sick when I was little, only a thousand times better :) This one is perfect – quintessentially TEA like, flavorful, comforting.

Out at a funeral today. Despite all of my practice, I just don’t seem to get better at dealing with death. Each one wounds, then seems to pick off the scabs of all the ones that went before it. This is my version of coming home and having a good, stiff drink.

I needed something to pick me up after clearing the raised beds in the garden and planting onions and peas, and before tackling the dreaded shirt ironing. This seemed like a great candidate! Definitely strong, but so honeyed and delicious. Utterly classic. I love it for the afternoon when you have a ton to do and don’t want to get all sugary and dreamy with a flavored afternoon tea, and you don’t have time for a multiple steep tea.

I’ve had SUCH a crazy busy week. I know it’s Saturday night, but all I could think about all day was that I wanted to take a looooooong soak in the tub, make myself a cup of this tea, then crawl into bed with the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens!

Well, I just got out of the most relaxing warm bath, and I am happily sipping my tea. It’s so wonderfully TEA- ish. Smooth and flavorful. So nice with a little half and half and sugar. It is also worth noting how beautiful, golden tipped, and long the leaves are. Ahhh – just one of my favorites.

OK – I’m ready to join the Pickwickians upstairs! Goodnight!

My poor husband is home sick today (and I have off for spring break) so I wanted to make something special this afternoon. This tea fits the bill :) Full flavored and malty yet not strong. Sweet and perfect. The Goldilocks of tea!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_Principle

This is one delicious cup of tea!!!! fcmonroe said in her tasting note that when the aliens come down and ask about tea, this would be a good one to give them – and I think that is exactly the right thing to say about this tea!!!!

It doesn’t scream Irish Breakfast to me – this is more how I thought a really special Ceylon would taste, actually, or some of the super golden tippy Assams I’ve enjoyed. It’s smooth, quintessentially TEA-y, slightly sweet…just a lovely cup of tea. I took it all the way to five minutes since I was adding milk and sugar, and I’m not finding any bitterness and just a bare touch of astringency – taking 30 seconds off the brewing time should take care of that.

This is definitely getting the tin treatment! This is the perfect tea to serve to guests and to prepare for yourself when you are looking for the Platonic Ideal of tea-ness :)

I’m getting almost more of a chamomile taste rather than anise or licorice? More herbaceous? I dunno. This is definitely not one of my faves. Oddly enough, my husband really likes it! I don’t even like it enough to do another steep…

I thought this would be another good season spanner – and I haven’t had it in ages!!!!

I really like the mixture of vanilla and jasmine in this, but I had a bit of brain forgetfulness and blanked out that this has some green tea in it. I made it at 200 degrees and had a little bitterness. I also would have preferred it with a little sugar.

On my second steep, I added some Rosy Earl Grey which also has jasmine, and brewed it at 195 and was much happier :) More natural sweetness, and less bitterness. As a matter of fact, I think this might be a great way to change Rosy up a little! A pinch of Rosy and a pinch of Vanilla Jasmine will be a nice change of pace now and again!

P.S. I haven’t made a jasmine tea in so long. I hope not to repeat that mistake. I love jasmine tea and have MISSED it!!!! I have that swoony OMG THIS IS SO GOOD feeling when I taste it!! :)