Vanilla Mint

I was looking for something to perk me up in the late afternoon and something minty was perfect. I’d say this tea is more mint than vanilla but it does give the tea a creamy, sweet undertone. The mixed black/green base is an interesting one and it gives the tea more body than what you’d get a from a straight gunpowder green. Nice and refreshing it hit the spot.

Purchased this from kimquat in her stash sale. I’ve been rather curious about Golden Moon for a while, so I figured I’d pick this one up while I had the chance. Dry, it smells extremely minty! There’s a little vanilla sweetness in the background too. I did a 3 minute steep because mint teas tend to get too minty for me if steeped longer.

Yum, the aroma is much mellower in its mintiness, and there’s a lovely creamy vanilla in the background. This is quite delicious! The front of the sip is mostly mint, but the vanilla quickly develops around it and is especially strong at the end, where it obtains an almost custard-like quality. This tea makes me think of white chocolate with spearmint leaves, if there is such a thing. If not, there should be! :) A lovely, mellow mint tea.

GCTTB Rd 3:

Thank you Christina for the chance to try this tea but I find myself slightly disappointed as it is like a less vanilla version of Della Terra’s Anti V-Day Treat. Since I like my vanilla, I find this lacking but it was still fun to try. And honestly, it is still a pleasant enough cup.

Well, I have pulled a muscle in my shoulder, apparently I am not enough of an amazon to move furniture around by myself, but that is really no surprise. I did, however, get my craft area and tea lair redone meaning I have a little more room. I still need to find a small table to place my computer on, giving my desk an L shape, I need more room for folding paper!

Today’s tea is Vanilla Mint from Golden Moon Teas. A blend of Gunpowder Green Tea, Mint Leaves, Black Tea, Mint Oil, Vanilla Extract, and Vanilla Bean Pod Slices. I was quite intrigued by this tea, the ingredients reminded me of Moroccan Mint tea but with a vanilla twist, and I do really enjoy those flavors together. The aroma is predominantly minty with a strong presence of sweet vanilla. Underneath these two dominating smells we have a gentle vegetal note, a subtle smokiness, and a tiny hint of malt.

The now quite soggy leaves are still very minty, but now they have more vegetal notes. There is an underlying sweetness and a faint smokiness. The liquid is all about the creamy vanilla, it is sweet and a little decadent. There is also a minty presence but it is more of a background coolness (it is even wearing shades and a popped collar) and a hint of smokiness. It is like a creamy mint milkshake with a hint of campfire, actually that sounds like a good camping idea.

Oh man, this tea has the best cooling effect, I love how mint teas warm you up and cool you down in the same sip. Combine that with sweet vanilla, slightly oak wood black tea, and a nice vegetal zing, and you have for a really interesting tea. The mint does not overpower, which is great, I notice that a lot of tea blends with mint make the mistake of having it be too minty…it kinda bullies the other flavors and you don’t notice them. My favorite part of this tea is the smoky finish, it adds a richness to an otherwise light tea. I decided to chill this tea and found that chilling it makes it a lot mintier, I think I prefer this tea hot, but I honesty do with most teas.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/golden-moon-teas-vanilla-mint-tea-review.html

Today’s the day I start my new freelance gig!

I decided to drink this because I really need to stop hoarding teas that I have a decent amount of, like this one.

The first time I tried it, I thought the blend of vanilla and mint was quite smooth. This time, I’m getting less vanilla and more mint, probably because I oversteeped it. As a result, I’m tasting that harsh, chemical taste I often associate with peppermint. So, a word to the wise: don’t oversteep this (4 minutes is enough). It could probably also use some sweetener to mellow things out.

This one came to me from LiberTEAS. I always seem to reach for mint teas when I’m a little under the weather, so maybe I don’t dislike them as much as I think. I’m just picky about when I drink them.

Sadly the flavor of this one doesn’t wow me. The vanilla and mint are both subtle enough that neither of them is really distinct. It blends into one flavor, but it’s not one that I like all that much. Just an okay cup.

I received a sample of this from bluebelle! Thank you so much for sharing.

I was really excited about this tea. I just ordered something very similar from Zen Tea. Vanilla and mint two of my favorite tea ingredients together as one. unfortunately I think I followed instructions on a package when I shouldn’t have. The package seemed much larger than one tsp, but I dumped the entire thing into my steeper and away I went. The resulting cup was really really bitter. I am going to leave this unrated and hopefully we will cross paths again some day.

I can’t wait to try this cold brewed.

Sample. Good! I always like to have a mint tea on hand. Not sure if I would choose this over my usual Upton’s Moroccan Mint though.

This was mellow and surprisingly more minty than I expected, but still tasted of black tea. The vanilla was definitely in the background. It was very good for sipping.