Golden Moon Tea

Recent Tasting Notes

45
drank Orchid Temple by Golden Moon Tea
187 tasting notes

First Infusion (2:30, boiling)

So today is Oolong Day! Why? Because I said so. I’ve picked out an oolong and I’m pretty much going to be drinking it all day. This is my first non-flavored oolong in loose leaf, so I’m pretty excited.

So I opened up the little packet for orchid temple, and the smell that comes out of the dry leaf is … toasty. In a black tea sort of way. The leaves here are rolled, in a very schizophrenic, oolong sort of way. Not quite little pellets, very asymmetrical… but a pretty green. When I poured the water over them, there was a bit of a frenzy, and a verifiable forest grew in my pot. I can see why people want to brew oolongs in glass, because the leaves are quite beautiful, and they expand very nicely.

The wet leaves smelled a bit vegetal, but the medium-gold infusion… oh. my. gah. Seriously. It smells delicious. Buttery and warm and a bit bake-y, like shortbread. Or butter cookies. With a bit of a floral undertone. Very, very mouthwatering, indeed.

My first sip, as a result, was very disappointing. This oolong, on first steep, tastes absolutely nothing like it smells. The taste is actually pretty toasty, and vegetal. A similar profile to a Chinese green. There is barely the vaguest hint of the smell (but I’m probably imagining it, because I want it so badly!), and a fair bit of astringency. My mouth feels pretty dry. Even as it cools down, there’s really nothing to write home about. The flavors are very bland and unpronounced. Sad panda face.

But I know that oolongs tend to get better on their second and third infusions, so I’m giving this one the benefit of the doubt. I’ll be drinking lots of it the entire day, and recording the results, right here!

Second Infusion (3:00, boiling)

So I steeped this again, and the infusion was a bit darker this time. The smell from the wet leaves was completely veggie-like, and it had creeped into the smell of the juice this time. There was still a buttery component, but it was balanced by a very cooked green smell.

So the taste has evolved a little bit, but nowhere that I wanted it to go. The aftertaste is now really sweet (the flavor hasn’t left my tongue since I stopped drinking it 10 minutes ago), but the taste on the forefront of the sip is pretty vegetal and slightly bitter. The astringency has definitely smoothed out, but it certainly doesn’t taste like it smells, which is extremely disappointing. Even when I slurp the tea, and run it along the different parts of my tongue for taste sensations, there’s no fireworks. Funnily enough, I swallowed the wrong way and ended up coughing a lot. Only then did I taste buttery goodness. Bah. We’ll keep going, though…

At this point I’m feeling that boiling water might not have been the best idea for this tea. Golden Moon specifically states boiling, but this oolong is definitely on the greener end of the scale. Most of the flavor profile is kind of like a weedy Chinese green. Not the most pleasant taste in the world at all, but we’ll see what happens.

Third Infusion (3:30, boiling)

Here we go again… I’m seriously starting to get more and more disappointed. This steep was around the same color as the other two. The smell, however, was almost completely green. And there was a metallic tang of an undertone that made me wrinkle my nose.

The taste… the taste is bizarre. I think I might be getting a bit more of a creamy taste now, but it’s mixed with a very oceanic, briny taste. Like it’s been steeped in water where crustaceans have been frolicking. So strange. As it cooled, the marine component became more pronounced. The sweetness is still there in the aftertaste, but it’s a bit muted, and the astringency is back. I threw out around 3/4 of the cup. Now I’m just curious to see what subsequent steeps will taste like. If this is oolong in general, then I don’t think I’m a fan, and I’m starting to get discouraged. :(

Fourth Infusion (4:00, boiling)

Last steep for me. Just dumped the leaves, because I’m really sick of this, and it’s not getting any better. At all. I want to give a shout out to the leaves here, because they’re beautiful and complete once unfurled. If only the taste matched it!

So on this last steep, the leaves actually smelled buttery again! And when the tea was piping hot, it too shared that buttery quality! I was pretty surprised, so I was excited to try it. Annnnd… the taste is really strong bitter. I thought I might have tasted that butter for a second, but it was completely gone once the tea cooled. Not good. So these leaves are being dumped.

Overall, I’m really disappointed with this, and I’m sad that my first oolong had to go this badly. Hopefully my next one will be better!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec
Show 12 previous comments...
Auggy 15 years ago

Poor teaplz. That sounds traumatic. But good job you for going so far with it. I admit, I poured out my second steep. It… wasn’t good. I think my first steep was probably closer to the yummy smell than yours, but I find that I cannot physically put boiling water on a green oolong, no matter how many times I am told to. Sometimes, I’ll do them at 175, too. It brings out more floral typically and I like that. Anyway, I admire your fortitude for making it through 4 steeps!

Carolyn 15 years ago

I’ve found that boiling water (no matter what the company says) is a terrible thing to do to an oolong. I didn’t like a single oolong until I learned to use water at about 175.

Jillian 15 years ago

I’d definitely suggest NOT boiling water the next time around.

Auggy 15 years ago

I’ve found a few that really seem to sparkle at 195 but 175 is really a better temp as a general rule. So much prettier tasting. Though I doubt it could have saved this puppy. Poor puppy.

teaplz 15 years ago

I just followed the package instructions… sorry for my ignorance, guys! I’ll definitely try what I have left at 175. Maybe the rating will go up, then! Because that first steep smelled delicious but tasted… not delicious.

Auggy 15 years ago

Nah, I don’t think that’s ignorance. Just a lack of accidentally boiling your leaves and then trying to prevent it. :)

Ricky 15 years ago

Aww, sad panda indeed. Hopefully some delicious Samovar Oolong comes your way and makes the experience all better. Strike two for this tea, sounds scary! It sounds like the Organic Green Tea.

Ricky 15 years ago

Your not alone teaplz, I almost always use boiling water for my oolong. Woaps, I always thought it was more black than green so it was okay to use boiling. Silly me.

Carolyn 15 years ago

@teaplz And this is one of the frustrating things about tea company’s brewing instructions. Very few companies bother to really explore the individual tea and give a recommendation based on that. Quite a number of companies seem to search the Internet (that well-known compendium of all that is good and true) for standardized rules for tea preparation. Some of these rules are insane. And when we try what they recommend? The tea tastes awful and we think that all those people maundering on about “delightful fruity, honey, floral” tastes are out of their minds. All we taste is something like boiled spinach water with greater bitterness. Gaaah!

Carolyn 15 years ago

Not that I have a strong opinion on this topic or anything.

takgoti 15 years ago

Blerg. The way this smells sounds like what a good oolong tastes like to me, so hold onto that thought!

I’ll cop to having a tendency to put boiling on my oolongs because I boil the water, but by the time I get it into the cup or the teapot or whatnot [I get distracted] it’s probably closer to 195. I’m also face-palming right now because I completely forgot that the greener oolongs often sing at a lower temperatures, which is perhaps a testament to blindly internalizing vendor instructions from time to time. I’ve actually seen Samovar say that x temperature gets you this while y temperature gets you that, too.

One last thing, I’ve found that oolongs often benefit from a quick rinse of the leaves to open them up a bit.

And everything that everyone else said, too.

teaplz 15 years ago

Thanks for all of the support, everyone! I’m glad to know I’m not alone in making a mistake like this… the GM package actually says “freshly boiled water.” So… yeah. It just stunk even more because I was all pumped for my first oolong, and then I was wrinkling my nose through almost all of it.

Angrboda 15 years ago

OMGosh, I think you just set a new post-length record! O.o Shame it didn’t live up to your hopes of it though. :(

teaplz 15 years ago

Angrboda, I was so excited about this. I was like, YAY, multiple infusions! I’m going to go crazy!

… And then it went downhill. :(

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39
drank Orchid Temple by Golden Moon Tea
911 tasting notes

In my attempt to be productive today, I put on a load of laundry… and made more tea. That counts as productivity, right? Especially since that removed one more sample from my pantry.

Let me preface this by saying: I’m picky about my green oolongs. Because I love them. A lot. And have had some really awesome ones. Because of that, I honestly wasn’t expecting that much from this one It’s not a cheap tea at $20 for a 4.5oz tin, but I’m in love with some that cost four times that so I really don’t think this will be a fair comparison. But it’s a green oolong so I can’t not compare.

The good news is, I wasn’t really disappointed by this one. I mean, I didn’t expect great things and I didn’t really get them. That’s not to say that is it a bad tea. It’s not. It was pretty good for what it is, actually. Has a nice light, floral scent to it – sweetly vegetal with a hint of creamy. The taste could be a little thicker – I used 3.5g/6oz so I know it isn’t my brewing that made the taste thing (or it shouldn’t have been) – but overall it’s pleasant. The aftertaste is somewhat heavy – not a light floral aftertaste or thick, chewy green flavor that I’ve had and loved in different oolongs, but rather somewhere in the awkward middle.

By far the best thing about this tea is the scent as it smells really wonderful. But for me the taste is just… lacking. I want fresher, richer and more vibrant tastes. I think if I had had this tea a year or so ago, I would rate it a lot higher but now I just want more out of my oolongs than this one can give me.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Show 2 previous comments...
teaplz 15 years ago

Ah! I’m drinking this one now… just finished the third steep, and I’m really not liking it. I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that I boiled the water… but yeah. This is not gelling with me at all.

First steep smells fantastic, though!

Auggy 15 years ago

Yep, the smell of the first steep is awesome. Actually, the first steep seems to be where the action is on this. The second steep wasn’t all that hot – no floral or creamy, just kind of dull. Meh. Must drop rating.

Ricky 15 years ago

Now I’m scared. Will I like it? Will I hate it? I’ve never had green oolong. I think I’ll like it though. Seeing as I’m perfectly happy with tea that’s a bit bland.

Auggy 15 years ago

Hey, if you want stale and flat teas, more power to you. More good ones for me!

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68

Well, I forgot I tried this one a while back. Some additional notes…this is extremely dark post infusion! Extremely! I think the Citrus and Cinnamon actually help it out a little bit. It’s a mellower tasting pu-erh, thank the tea-gods! I think I am going to keep it at my original rating, tho.

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68

This is a weird smell…almost like something turning funky in the frig…but the more it cools you can smell a hint of cinnamon. The coloring is neat…a reddish brown on the verge of black. It’s bold but even in taste. It’s growing on me…

Show 1 previous comments...
PeteG 15 years ago

growing like pennicilin? Your scaring me!!!!

TeaEqualsBliss 15 years ago

Yeah…maybe that funky frig smell did something to me…lol…

PeteG 15 years ago

Is there a Dr. in the house?

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71

I had a cup of this earlier. This is a good light to mid strength black tea.

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71

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71

This is a ceylon black tea. And you can see the black tea and smell it. I steeped this up for a a little while. And this tastes like a good black tea with some sort of sweetness. This is pretty good and not bitter. Perhaps I need to steep this abit longer to get the full flavor?

Carolyn 15 years ago

Maybe. I typically do 4 minutes at boiling temp. It may be that I use more leaves than you do also. I have a heavy hand with tea leaves.

silvermage2000 15 years ago

Thanks perhaps I should try 4 minutes then.

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60
drank Jasmine Pearls by Golden Moon Tea
187 tasting notes

This is one of those teas that falls into the “eh” category. A take it or leave it kind of tea.

But frankly, right now, I’m pretty happy to be drinking tea. I really haven’t had ANY since January 1st.

I actually have three different kinds of Jasmine Pearls in the house, thanks to takgoti! I figured I’d try the Golden Moon one first, before I try some high-quality takgoti versions.

The look of this tea is gorgeous! Pretty little pearls, a beautiful blue-green with yellow strings interspersed. So soft and silky to the touch. The pearls smell like a juicy, floral jasmine. They’re extremely fragrant. Each pearl has jasmine seeped right into it. I couldn’t wait to see what these leaves would do in the water!

They unfurl beautifully once the hot water touches them. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t unfurl more than I thought they would. Most of them were still somewhat rolled by the time my timer rang.

So I poured, and the wet leaves smell like a milder version of the dry. And the infusion smelled delicious, with a rich, heady jasmine scent. A sweet green smell underlying it as well. And such a pretty light yellow! Similar more to a white tea than a green, actually.

The light color should have tipped me off to the taste of this tea. Because it’s very light, especially when hot. The jasmine doesn’t really come through until the aftertaste, and the forefront of the flavor is definitely a Chinese green taste: a bit bitter and vegetal, maybe a bit mineral-like.

The problem is just that the tea is just too flavorless and unexciting. It’s not that it’s a bad tea, perse. It’s just I wanted a fuller tea taste, and more body. Not necessarily bold and brisk and strong, like a black. Just more rounded and interesting, especially on the jasmine front.

In short, the tea is weakness. Maybe a good introduction to jasmine, but I don’t see it winning any awards. I’m sure that there are better jasmine pearl teas out there.

Second Steep

So I decided to steep this a second time, at 3:30 minutes, and the same water temperature. The leaves opened up a little bit more, but still didn’t completely unfurl. Odd. The juice was around the same color as the first time, except with a bit more of a honey tone. The tea had a bit of a thicker mouthfeel, and much more sweetness. The sweetness became a bit overbearing after a while, though, with the jasmine only appearing as an aftertaste. After the tea cooled, it seriously began to taste like Juicy Fruit gum. I don’t know why, or how. But it was bizarre. More of like an aftertaste of Juicy Fruit. Like you’ve chewed it for too long and you spit it out, and then your whole mouth feels like it.

Really odd.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Show 2 previous comments...
Auggy 15 years ago

That’s too bad. It might really step up in the second steep if you feel daring, though. I think I’ve run into a few that are like that.

takgoti 15 years ago

Too bad indeed. I’ve also found that jasmines open up a lot more as they cool down. Did you find that with this one? Anyhow, I hope the ones I sent meet you well. For its ubiquity, jasmine tea seems to be difficult to get right.

teaplz 15 years ago

I think I might steep it again, just to try it… and yes, it definitely got better as it cooled. I thought I mentioned that… but I guess that didn’t make it into my review. :(

takgoti 15 years ago

Apparently [after a re-read] you eluded to it, but I was just too dense to pick up on it. My bad.

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98

the scent of the dry leaves is VERY inviting, its sweet and floral with a hint of malty-ness. the tea smells less floral that the dry leaves. the tea is am amazing amber color. the flavor is nice, and peppery. i really like that peppery taste! the end flavor is a malty honey taste that rounds this tea out nicely. i added 1/2 of my normal sugar toit because the pepperyness is prefect for me. this is very good with a bit of cadbury milk chocolate :)

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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95

this one is very sweet and candy like. you can taste the burnt sugar flavor in it mixed with the flavor of the tea. so far most of my GM samples have not disappointed me in the least! (besides that jasmine pearls) i don know if i will be getting a larger package of this but i will miss it when im looking for that burnt sugar flavor i love.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Ricky 15 years ago

Argh, this is the one sampler I no longer have and I never tasted. Some relatives came over during the holidays and I prepared this tea for them and they took the whole pot. And they complained that it smelled great, but lacked flavor. I’ll have to reorder this one day.

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

its a good one, deff a good sample. if ur a hardcore caramel fan than this one isnt going to satisfy but it has a very nice flavor to it.

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55
drank Honey Pear by Golden Moon Tea
2 tasting notes

Nice black tea with a sweet smell and a delicate taste, but nothing superbly interesting. Kind of a one-dimensional flavor.

Ricky 15 years ago

Boohoo! Drink Lapsang and tell me how it is.

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20
drank White Tea by Golden Moon Tea
911 tasting notes

I just finished watching a Modern Marvels show on tea ( http://bit.ly/11xMMn ). The History Channel is so cool. Anyway, it made me want something more on the green end of the tea spectrum so I rooted around in my samples and pulled out this one.

Okay, this bag? Has like the most minuscule amount of tea ever. One gram. One. For the way I make tea, this isn’t even half a cup. Even using Western style brewing, this isn’t even half a cup. Shame on you, Golden Moon. That’s pathetic.

I went ahead a brewed up a full cup of this but I’m honestly not expecting much. The resulting tea is less pale than I expected but the taste… Initially all I could taste was hot water and Splenda. I did not, however, add Splenda to this. It just tasted like I did (and while they say it doesn’t, Splenda totally has a taste). As it cooled, the Splenda taste became a bit like… well, something a little more flavored than Splenda but I can’t get enough of the taste to figure it out. Maybe honeyed soybean water. Which is probably the chrysanthemum (the honey taste) and the white tea (soybean water). The chrysanthemum dominates but the white tea pokes out more if I slurp but slurping also brings out a weird vegetal bitterness.

The more this cools, the more actual taste I get but I’m underwhelmed. The aftertaste I’m left with once my cup is done is that of Splenda-ed soybean water. So perhaps it is a good thing that I had such a tiny amount of leaf in my sample packet. Because I don’t think I’d like this taste at all if it were more intense. At the same time, maybe if there were more leaf, I’d get more depth to the flavors and not be left with a Splenda-like aftertaste.

I did a second steep of this one (@3mins) to see if I could find anything like what others have found (or anything at all redeeming) and all I got was soybean water with a little Splenda. I decided I didn’t need to experience another whole cup of that and poured it out. My rating is based on the first steep.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Show 13 previous comments...
Cofftea 15 years ago

AWESOME!!!

Cofftea 15 years ago

^ in reference to the show, not the measly amount of tea.

Angrboda 15 years ago

What is this splenda business anyway? Some sort of artificial sweetener or an herb or some such? I’ve heard (or seen rather) people talk about something called stevia, which I’ve gathered must be some sort of herb.

Auggy 15 years ago

@Cofftea, it really is an awesome show. Even if a lot of it is about Lipton and CTC teas, not orthodox.
@Angrboda, Splenda is an artificial sweetner made from sugar so it is supposed to taste like sugar. It sorta does – closer than other fake sweeteners out there. But I’m not a big fan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splenda

Angrboda 15 years ago

Okay, thanks. I’ve been wondering about this for a while, having seen both and getting them mixed up a lot. I’m not familiar with either. No clue what artificial sweetener is like over here, except you get them in little tablets. I expect it’s probably more or less the same. I prefer real sugar myself.

Auggy 15 years ago

Sugar rules! :)

Angrboda 15 years ago

Indeed. :) If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Unless you’ve got diabetes. In which case it’s broken.

…or something.

chana 15 years ago

I can buy stevia leaves in the market here, at spice and herb shops. Putting a couple of leaves in a cup sweetens the tea, it’s not a sugar taste, I can’t really think how to describe it. The local organic market also sells stevia in a liquid form – that has more of an aftertaste though.

teaplz 15 years ago

Awww that you didn’t like this, and that’s SO WEIRD. My sample packet had around a teaspoon and a half, and I dumped the entire bag in. My version was buttery and floral and naturally sweet-tasting. I can’t stand artificial sugar… wow. Totally different! Oh well, there are many white teas under the sun! Did takgoti give you any of Samovar’s Bai Mu Dan? Cause that tastes really delicious.

Auggy 15 years ago

Yep, I have some of that one – I’m looking forward to it!

Ricky 15 years ago

Haha, you should try Harney & Son’s Bai Mei. I thought this one was decent, Bai Mei was way worse than this. I have about half the packet left, want it? :D

I don’t recall how much I had in this sampler, but it definitely wasn’t enough to ration it into two servings.

Auggy 15 years ago

You make it sound so tempting! :P

Ricky 15 years ago

Comes with ♥, ★, rainbows and a complimentary red balloon as well! =D

takgoti 15 years ago

@Angrboda Yer funneh.

@Ricky They’re magically delicious!

Angrboda 15 years ago

Tak, thank you, one does one’s best. :p

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84

Delightful oolong with a nice honeyed flavor and notes of apricot.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Little Yellow Teapot 15 years ago

My humans agree. This tea satisfied their longing for Oolong: http://lyt-tea-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-golden-moons-imperial-formosa.html

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70
drank Tippy Earl Grey by Golden Moon Tea
911 tasting notes

My first tea of 2010. Go me. No specific reason for having this one. Just because I can.

This smells nice. Fresh, citrus-y, lavender-y and a little… sweetly spicy (probably the lavender again?). The taste doesn’t quite come across to me as rich as the smell. The lavender is more pronounced and the citrus not quite as juicy as I’d like. There is a little tingle left on the tip of my tongue that matches up to the sweet spicy smell. I do enjoy that.

The overall taste is smooth and a little sweet but a nice, warming finish. I might have enjoyed this brewed longer for a more robust taste, though. But I think the lavender will always hold it back just a little for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like lavender EGs, but I think they do best to gentle a not-so-good EG. Have a bad EG? It’s gross. Have a bad EG with lavender? Suddenly it is much better.

I think I would have liked to see what Golden Moon could have done with a straight EG. But at the same time, the few sips of EG I had at the London Tea Room (stolen from the husband) were really what I wanted in an EG. Strong bergamot with a juicy, fresh taste. And this one just seems a little pale in comparison to the memory of that one. That being said, this is a pretty good EG. If I had a tin of this, I don’t think I’d have any problems drinking it up. But it’s not the fresh-squeezed-EG taste that I’m really wanting.

I did have enough for the husband to have his own cup. He is a fan, he says. He also compared it to the EG he had at the London Tea Room (which was Rishi) but says this one is sweeter and has a hint less citrus. That’s probably because of the softening factor of the lavender. Anyway, I think he’d be happy if we had a tin of this laying around.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Show 6 previous comments...
Cofftea 15 years ago

I would have definitely drank this had it been in my cupboard. Get tippy w/o getting tippy:)

Micah 15 years ago

I’m really excited to try this when the GM sampler shows up. I think I’ll like it.

Auggy 15 years ago

It really is an awesome sampler. They’ve got some really great teas. They miss the mark on a couple (sencha and the organic green come to mind) but I’ve got at least four teas that I want full tins of and I still have about 12 more teas to try! I really wish other vendors did a full catalog sampler too because it’s really awesome.

Ricky 15 years ago

I wouldn’t mind having a tin of this either. I actually like it because of it’s lighter bergamot flavor. Agreed, it’s more fun with a full catalog. Sammmmoooovarrrr!

takgoti 15 years ago

I want to try some other teas before I start on GM because I’m afraid that this is going to be one of those things I want to see all the way through without stopping. Looks like I’ve got some serious tea drinking to do over the next couple of days. I’m fine with that.

@Ricky Hah. I sincerely doubt that’s going to happen, but feel free to keep dreaming!

Micah 15 years ago

@takgoti You are ridiculous. I’m not sure why but that idea makes me laugh really hard.

Cofftea 15 years ago

@takgoti- I agree! I get on “kicks” very easily. I’m going to have to force myself to drink my Den’s and O-cha matcha between my mandarin matcha or it’ll be gone before I know it.

takgoti 15 years ago

@Micah Hahaha! Well, I mean, not like all in one day. Now you’ve got me laughing too.

@Cofftea The biggest danger with me is that I overload myself with something and then I get sick of it. Luckily with GM I don’t see that being a problem since it’s 31 different teas, not 31 of the same tea. I think it’s more my completionist side kicking in than anything else.

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83
drank Snow Sprout by Golden Moon Tea
911 tasting notes

I had a nap earlier, which means my brain is pretty worthless right now. Decided to have some of my GM samples in the ever popular endeavor of cleaning out my tea pantry so I can order some tea.

This smells pretty. Sweet. Nectar-y maybe? Not floral, but sweet and not really fruity but maybe not… thick enough to be nectar. Faint honey? Something. Eh. It smells good.

Brewing, it smells a little musty, dry and sweet. Not bad. Not concerning. Seems nice. It’s very light in my cup and I can’t really get much smell from it. But sipping it is quite nice. Sweet with a little of the musty taste that I smelled when in the pot. As it cools, the sweet musty taste turns mostly just sweet with maybe a hint of hay or something… . No briny taste, no real vegetal taste. Just delicate sweetness and flavor. This makes me think of a sweeter version of Rishi’s Snow Buds. But softer and less like a green (which is ironic because this is considered a green and Snow Buds is considered a white but there you go).

Anyway, good stuff. Like it a lot. Sweet, delicate, gentle but flavorful. I’m a fan.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Show 2 previous comments...
Micah 15 years ago

Sounds delicious! I was really confused by their website with this one. It was listed as a green tea but they kept referring to it as silver needle in the description.

Do you think it tastes more like a green or a white tea?

Auggy 15 years ago

To me, it tastes more like it is a white tea when cool (but I can see more typical green tea tastes when it is hotter but Snow Buds still seems more green to me than this one). But I’ve not had many white teas so I could be way off base.

Auggy 15 years ago

(By the way, love Shipwrecks! I read it ages ago but had forgotten about it. I might have to bring it out for a reread now that your profile has reminded me of it!)

Micah 15 years ago

Yes! Shipwrecks is such a great book. I’ve read it probably three times and it doesn’t get old. I’d have to say that my favorite part is the last few sentences and how they capture the emotion of the entire novel. It’s so powerful.

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81

holy honey! its has that distinct honey flavor with the back note the pear taste. the tongue feel reminds me of a juicy pear as well. it smells so much like hot honey. im very happy with this sampler.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Show 5 previous comments...
Ricky 15 years ago

Ain’t it delicious? :D Glad you liked it. I have to order a huge tin of this.

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

im slightly obsessed with honey so the fact that it tastes like real good honey is awesome. were out of honey so this is holding me over for right now lol. i may need to get more :D

Ricky 15 years ago

Right? It did taste like real honey! I just wish the ripen pear smell wasn’t as strong.

teaplz 15 years ago

You are drinking a lot of teas that I have or have drunk lately! YAY!

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

@Ricky yeah the dry leaves were gross smelling lol and it was a strong pear scent but it tasted too good :D

@teaplz some of your reviews did help me pick out samples :D

takgoti 15 years ago

I’m really excited to try this. Gonna have to break into the GM sampler soon.

Cinoi 15 years ago

i was reading through the reviews for this one yesterday and was disappointed, i am glad you like it as i am planning on trying it with my GM sampler :)

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10

ok ive been wanting to try a jasmine tea for a while now and the sample was 0.99$ how could i go wrong? the leaves/balls smell nice they are not strong at all like i had expected them to be and there cute little pebbles :) they looked really cool opening up in the hot water. the smell of the wetl eaves and tea….they remind me of those foam tub toy blocks i had as a child that stick to the wall when their wet. i tasted it unsweetened and it had almost no flavor so i added my normal amount of sugar and well…it tastes like it smells…i dont think i like jasmine tea….i will try others because i dont want to compleatly close that door. the tea itself is yellow which i didnt expect either but it is very pretty.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Show 10 previous comments...
Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

the future hubz LOVES this. he said it reminds him of his childhood when he used to eat the honeysuckle flowers at his home in VA.

takgoti 15 years ago

Hrm. I’ve had pretty good experiences with a few jasmine pearl teas. I got my sampler pack of this in so I’ll give it a whirl soon and let you know how I think it stacks up? I’m not sure if the other GM sampler monkeys [teaplz, Ricky, and Auggy] have tried this yet.

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

:) i still wanna try a few more jasmine teas i just dont think this particular one is for me. im excited to see what you think :)

Ricky 15 years ago

Now now, Auggy’s the real monkey :D * points at the pink monkey avatar *.

I haven’t tried any of the Jasmine samplers. I think Auggy needs to try this though, maybe this will be the 100/100 Jasmine :D

This one might cuddle with her at night instead of stabbing her with a spoon :D

I’ve only really had Adagio’s Jasmine Pearl, and that one’s a bit light if I recall, if you want some let me know. Though that might push you even further away from Jasmine Pearl =(

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

:) sure im willing to try any tea once (kitch3ntools@gmail.com is my email). the F.H. wont stop raving about this one he keeps going “mmm” after every sip lol

LENA 15 years ago

@ Kitch3ntools – if you and the future hubby like honeysuckle, you should try the Ancient Yellow Buds that I tried out this morning. Very honeysuckle-y.

teaplz 15 years ago

I haven’t tried this one, but I did try the straight Jasmine, and I really liked it a lot. Very strong, sweet, juicy, and floral!

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

@LENA ill have to take a look at that! thnx :D

denisend 15 years ago

I think the only GM Jasmine I’ve tried is the vanilla and I didn’t like it, but normally I LOVE jasmine. I have a couple I could send you if you want to try (Teavana’s Jasmine Oolong, Lupicia’s Jasmin Mandarin, Harney’s Dragon Pearls).

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

ok this is the 3rd time im posting this lol these comments keep getting screwy

denisend id love to try those :) (kitch3ntoolsgmail.com is my email)

takgoti 15 years ago

Hah, either you need an < / a > in there [hope this posts correctly] or something weird happened and the auto-formatting didn’t work. I wasn’t aware that this took html.

Excuse my deleting. I was testing. Anyhow, HTML failed. Apparently it doesn’t.

takgoti 15 years ago

And yet it totally absorbed the < /poop > I tacked on the end of that. Hmm.

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93

I found a little bit of this hiding somewhere and there was only enough for 1 large cup. I had half of it hot and half cold. I must say I thought I would enjoy it iced but I prefer it hot in this case. It was still good and I would get it again. Sorry to see it go…backlogging…

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93

This is very yummy! True melon! Straight, fresh cut, from a salad bar! Almost WIne-Like and sugary – naturally! YAY!

Show 5 previous comments...
LENA 15 years ago

wow…this sounds like a winner!

TeaEqualsBliss 15 years ago

I think I oversteeped but it was really, really good!

Micah 15 years ago

Based on the reviews it’s definitely a winner. Shopping cart-ed!

TeaEqualsBliss 15 years ago

I think we should start a STEEPSTER Dictionary! LOL – Us Nerds are creating a whole lingo of our own :)

LENA 15 years ago

“needs more cowbell” MUST be included.

TeaEqualsBliss 15 years ago

Indeed!

Ricky 15 years ago

Ahhh, this tea is missing two points! Haha, descriptions are right on point.

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20
drank Sencha by Golden Moon Tea
187 tasting notes

Color me unimpressed. :(

I read Auggy’s review of this, so I went into this with a bit of trepidation. My first sencha, and it’s very disappointing!

Anyway, the leaves look pretty! Very needle-like. I haven’t seen anything like this yet (no Japanese greens for me so far). It… doesn’t really smell like anything. If I breathe hot air onto it, I get somewhat of a buttery note, but other than that… nothing.

So I steeped this one up, and I was really surprised at how light the infusion was! It’s such a ridiculously pale yellow that I did a double-take. Lighter than a lot of the white tea I’ve tried.

And the taste… well, it’s a bit non-existent. It’s like hot water, with some bitterness at the end, as well as some astringency. The smell is a bit buttery and grassy, but I’m not getting anything remotely like that in the taste. At all. There’s the faintest taste of sweet, but I’m really having to search for it like crazy. It just tastes like really odd, hot water. I don’t even really feel like I’m drinking tea, which sort of makes me upset.

I didn’t have tea all day, as I was out, traipsing about in the mall. And I went to Teavana for the first time! The store was packed out, and no one bothered me… but I tried their sample tea and nearly gagged. It was Jasmine Pearl mixed with Rooibos Tropical. Not only did the tea taste awful, but it was so ridiculously over-sweetened that it was a nightmare. DISGUSTING.

A disappointing tea day! Let’s hope tomorrow will be better!

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Show 25 previous comments...
Auggy 15 years ago

Yes, they put lovely things together to make them nasty and dump honey in it. Not good.

Sorry this was your first sencha. :( But on the plus side, things can only get better, right?

takgoti 15 years ago

Ew. Ditto on the condolences as to this being your first sencha. They can be awesome, so hopefully you’ll drink one soon!

I happen to own that particular tea from Teavana, and it’s never been flavorful for me. Never tried it with sugar, but I’d just be drinking sugar water, I’m pretty sure. I’m throwing out the stuff I have from them, actually. Good riddance.

Micah 15 years ago

That sucks! I’m sorry that that was your introduction to Japanese greens because they are an incredible group of teas.

And Teavana can be a scary place sometimes. They have some great teas there – although you can usually get the same thing for a better price somewhere else – but, based on my personal experience, the blends they come up with just aren’t executed well.

Ricky 15 years ago

I was going to say, haven’t you realized GM’s plain tea are generally pretty bland….then I realized I actually liked this Sencha. The first time I drank Sencha (Adagios), I hated it. You should try Den’s tea sampler for $3, they give you a variety of Sencha. It’ll be a new tea year soon! Yay!

Carolyn 15 years ago

@Ricky I totally agree. I’m getting to the point that if something is available at Den’s Tea and somewhere else, I buy at Den’s. Their quality and customer service are just that good.

Auggy 15 years ago

@Micah I would have said that their blends are insane and disturbing but you said it much nicer. Thumbs up!

Micah 15 years ago

@Auggy Haha! Well, I can’t say that they AREN’T insane and disturbing. I guess I’m just skilled in diplomacy…. or something. =P

teaplz 15 years ago

I definitely have hope for the Japanese greens! I could taste somewhere, under the complete blandness of it, that there could be something potentially good from sencha. And the cup smelled really good if I sniffed at it hard enough! Interestingly enough, when this hit room temperature, it started tasting sweeter. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.

Ricky and Carolyn, I’ll definitely have to try that in the future, but right now I have too much tea to play around with!

And yeah, Teavana… so much honey/sugar/something else. UGH. There was also an Amanzi Tea in the mall as well (http://amanzitea.com/) and they had a Rooibos Cream Caramel. It was overly sugared as well, to the point of the texture changing and becoming syrupy. EW.

Micah 15 years ago

I think I added this to the Golden Moon order I just put in… yep. I probably wouldn’t have if I had remember that this review was of a sencha from GM but I didn’t realize that. Oh well!

There will probably be a review of this by me sometime next week and, judging from yours and Auggy’s review, I won’t be impressed. =/

Ricky 15 years ago

Aww, you should have just bought the whole sampler :D teareviewblog promo code for free shipping. I checked and it was still working a few days ago.

Micah 15 years ago

Consarn it!!

I’m going to go rush off and see it I can edit the order.

Micah 15 years ago

… I can’t. Oh well, life goes on.

Ricky 15 years ago

Try calling?

teaplz 15 years ago

Micah, oh POO. I hope you can still call them or something, because the sampler box is the bees knees.

Carolyn 15 years ago

@Micah Seriously if they haven’t shipped it already try writing them or calling. Golden Moon has some of the best customer service I’ve dealt with. They’ve helped me out in the past.

Micah 15 years ago

I did call them and they were wonderful! The tea sampler ships on Monday and I’m super excited!

Carolyn 15 years ago

Great! I’m glad. They are really one of my favorite companies to buy from.

teaplz 15 years ago

YAY! Awesome! Oh my, I’m seriously super-excited for you! Welcome to the GM sampler set club, hehe! It’s been fun and awesome being able to share and drink a lot of the tea everyone else is having!

takgoti 15 years ago

WHEEEEE! That made me ridiculously happy, actually. I love good customer service stories.

And had it not been for you, Carolyn, I never would have heard of Golden Moon. I have a tin of Sinharaja sitting on my desk that’s there solely due to you!

They’re based pretty close to where I live, so I seriously want to crash their office.

Auggy 15 years ago

Hahahahaha! I feel like we are a cult that just got a new member! Welcome Micah! :)

Micah 15 years ago

Aww! Well, even if this is a crazy, creepy cult, I’m glad to be here. This website/group of tea fanatics has totally reinvigorated my love for tea. I had kind of slumped into just keeping a few favorites on hand and not even drinking tea everyday. Now I’m discovering new teas and companies and it’s wonderful! So thanks everyone! Glad to be here!

Auggy 15 years ago

Aw, yay! That’s so awesome! I wasn’t in a slump but the folks on here have introduced me to lots of great teas and vendors it makes tea exciting again!

takgoti 15 years ago

Goat sacrifices on alternate Wednesdays. Don’t forget to contact Auggy about picking up your complimentary Snuggie.

Auggy 15 years ago

STOP IT, you dork!

Micah 15 years ago

Goat sacrifice, eh? I’ll bring the pu-erh knife!

Ricky 15 years ago

I’ve got the pu-erh cake. =( I actually do! Well what’s left of it anyways. Welcome to Steepster, where friends help to run your wallet dry. Oh the irony!

teaplz 15 years ago

We also have a complimentary matcha mill where you can grind up an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a tea!

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76

I’m addicted to this stuff. Luckily my boyfriend was thoughtful and bought me a tin for my birthday :)

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Auggy 15 years ago

I have to admit, I’m a little bit jealous of your tin. Such good stuff! And what a good boyfriend!

Wiseman Tea Co. 15 years ago

I’m so impressed, its rare to find people who have a passion for lapsang. Its a fantastic tea, one of my favorites no doubt.

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98

the only reason this didnt get a 100 is because i wanted more watermelon flavor but its amazing! The dry leaves didnt smell too good and reminded me of adagios white pear so i was a bit confused. as soon as i poured water over the leaves it was all melon! <3 the scent of the tea is honeydew and watermelon rind where the taste is cantaloupe with the tea flavor. i LOVE melons all kinds so this is like a nice winter treat! i will more than likely buy a bigger container of this but i have 1 cup left in my sample so we will see (and i plan to resteep the leaves i used for this cup) every time i sip i find more things i like about this!! :D

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Show 1 previous comments...
Cofftea 15 years ago

This is a watermelon flavored tea? YAY! Most melon teas I find are musk or honeydew melon.

teaplz 15 years ago

It’s not watermelon-flavored. At all. Definitely more honeydew/cantaloupe, with a white tea flavor. There is a watermelon scent though, which is what Kitch3ntools meant.

Glad you liked this one though! :) It’s definitely delicious if you love melon.

Kitch3ntools 15 years ago

i resteeped this last night…it was more white tea less flavoring. it was good, i just wanted that melon flavor again :) sadly i didnt get to finish the cup because i spilled it on my cellphone >.< i was being EXTRA clumsy all day yesterday so im really not surprised.

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78

http://youtu.be/68LKEm2iuj4
Well, it’s not WHITE Licorice but I found a Licorice Song
Leave it to Grand Funk Railroad! I seriously haven’t heard this in YEARS! WOW!

I sort of went diving in the stash bin for this one…randomly chosen…finished it up. Not my fave but serves a purpose I suppose.

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78

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