Golden Moon Tea
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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
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
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.
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.
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…
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?
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
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. :(
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
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
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.
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
Delightful oolong with a nice honeyed flavor and notes of apricot.
Preparation
My humans agree. This tea satisfied their longing for Oolong: http://lyt-tea-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-golden-moons-imperial-formosa.html
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
@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.
@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.
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
(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!)
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
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
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.
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…
This is very yummy! True melon! Straight, fresh cut, from a salad bar! Almost WIne-Like and sugary – naturally! YAY!
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
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!
I’m addicted to this stuff. Luckily my boyfriend was thoughtful and bought me a tin for my birthday :)
Preparation
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
I’d definitely suggest NOT boiling water the next time around.
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.
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.
Nah, I don’t think that’s ignorance. Just a lack of accidentally boiling your leaves and then trying to prevent it. :)
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.
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.
@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!
Not that I have a strong opinion on this topic or anything.
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.
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.
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. :(
Angrboda, I was so excited about this. I was like, YAY, multiple infusions! I’m going to go crazy!
… And then it went downhill. :(