Sinharaja

So I’ve been wanting to try the GM Sampler for a while now. However, yesterday I opened up the mailbox and SURPRISE! Ricky had sent me some tea! The package included the two Golden Moon teas that I wanted to try the most – and this was one of them. So this tasting note is dedicated to Ricky and his awesome generosity and his ability to make my day!

I was so excited about this that I forgot to smell the dry leaves. I made this with a tiny pinch of sugar and a little bit of 2% milk. Let me tell you guys, I love black tea and this one smells delicious! I can tell I’m going to like it and I haven’t even tasted it yet.

Wow… this one ranks pretty high on the Nom Scale. I know for sure I’ll be ordering more of this once I get the cash (although I’ve vowed not to order any tea during the month of April. I got my credit card bill yesterday and oh boy). Yes, it’s delicious all right. It’s very smooth and full-bodied, with notes of honey and possibly some nectar. Underneath everything is a very nice Ceylon. The aftertaste is sweet and it leaves me itching to take another sip.

So congrats, Ricky! You’ve made my day twice in a row! Thank you!

Golden Moon sample No. 31 of 31. I just looked back at the note for sample No. 1 and I started this journey 28 days ago. So almost a month here, too, Ewa. This seems like a really nice tea to end on, as it has a lot of love here on Steepster. It’s one of the ones I’ve been most looking forward to trying.

It’s probably not the best idea for me to be drinking this at 9:30 p.m., but at least it should keep me awake to finish my workout, which was interrupted earlier today at about the 1/3 mark.

I love the look of Ceylon leaves, that twiggy, delicate, dark brown bird nesty thing they have going on. The only other pure Ceylon I’ve had is the Samovar, and like that one, the dry leaves of this one smell a little tobaccoey and a little fruity. But I’m getting an interesting mocha-java note too.

Wow, what a beautiful color! It’s not that different from a black “tea colored” liquor really, but it has a rosey hue to it, like someone dropped a few drops of cranberry juice into it. I want a sweater this color!

The aroma is totally nommy. I get the molasses in a big way, but underneath the sugary sweetness is something else. Something that smells like that red color in the liquor, but that I can’t give a name. I think it is what the company describes as berry. The more I inhale it, the more I realize: it’s raspberry, and I don’t have to throw my mind out of focus to find it as I did with the Samovar.

Taste: I like. Lots. This seems to be among the fuller bodied Golden Moon black teas, the opposite of my experience with the Samovar Ceylon, which I found to be less deep and rich than the other Samovar black teas I’d tried. It’s smooth, and it has a character that reminds me of a lighter red wine. I get the toastiness, and some sweetness, but not too, too much. Despite its depth, it still manages to have a freshness to it without being astringent.

It was indeed a special way to conclude my voyage under the Golden Moon. Now, I must go place my order, the one I grandfathered into my lockdown by virtue of starting this trip almost a month ago.

It’s not goodbye, Golden Moon. It’s hello, again.

Finally back to tea! My mom came to visit this weekend and she loved the iced Rainbow Sherbet tea so that was pretty much all we drank when at my apartment! I have so many samples and things I need to try, and it should finally cool off for a little bit. I’ve got my patio door open right now and it’s so nice. I’m hoping it’ll rain soon. I just planted some flowers and herbs out there and I’m really excited about them.

I got my mom to order Golden Moon’s black tea sampler and split it with me…hoping maybe if I leave her with enough tea she will drink it on her own. I took this and the French Breakfast hoping she might like Darjeeling as much as me. I’ve always wanted to try this tea so I’m so happy to finally have it.

In the bag, it smells like molasses, but steeped it takes on more of a honey scent. I let it steep about a minute longer than intended but no harm done. Tastes sweet, and I even get notes that remind me of Darjeeling but in a richer black tea. In fact it just tastes really sweet, I can’t even imagine adding sugar on top of it. It tastes perfect as it is!

The aftertaste reminds me of my orange blossom honey. I am really getting citrus from this rather than berry.

Since I have some milk, I added it and it really cut all the flavors out, so I had to add the sugar. Now it is definitely reminiscent of caramel and I do get a bit of berry. I definitely prefer it without the additions though.

Very nice for a Ceylon (but I have to say I did like Andrews and Dunham’s Ceylon better – it had more pizzaz despite it being a Ceylon. I keep wanting to type Cylon – but I won’t go there!!). This could be because I like milk and sugar in my black tea, and this tea just didn’t stand up to it in the way I like. I guess that’s why I am an Assam and Panyang Congu type of gal!

Oh! and this is tasting note number 100 for me :) Neat!

Received this is a swap with Alphakitty last month. I’ve been saving this for when I can taste things fully again since my last allergy appointment. It’d seem wasteful to have a cup if I couldn’t get the full experience…

Brewed up a heaping 1.5 tsp in 8 ounces of water.

This turned out to be pretty tasty as a basic black tea. I liked that it wasn’t weak – there was a nice robustness to it. Didn’t get any fruitiness, at least from what I could tell. It did taste nice and round, if that makes any sense… No bitterness even with a 5 minute steep.

It wasn’t any better with the addition of rock sugar and I wasn’t about to put any creamer into it. I’m not sure if it would have tasted any better cooled, which is sayin’ something – I drank it pretty quick hot! :)

I’d definitely drink this again should the opportunity present itself.

The aroma is pretty basic black tea, to me. The flavour is pretty similar, although it tastes a little extra toasted, which is kind of nice. No astringency, which is great, but it seems that black teas require cocoa notes in order for me to enjoy them straight, and I’m not getting those here. Or barely (I can imagine them being present; it fits with the extra roasty flavour profile). Thank you for passing along a sample so I could satisfy my curiousity, Alphakitty!

Hi, I’m supposed to be doing something else…

I thought a while ago that I had finished off the generous gift Doulton sent me a little while ago, but then I found this one in my basket. So forgotten and overlooked, the poor little thing.

The label says something about a caramelised finish, molasses character and ripe berry notes. That certainly sounds interesting. I’m a little concerned about the molasses there, as it sounds like something that might get a little overpowering.

It smells nice though. Berries. Check. Molasses. Check. Especially the latter.

It’s certainly very smooth and not as sweet as I had initially thought it would be. The molasses is sort of hovering at the top of the flavour near the palate, making the mouth feel sort of nice and round, if you know what I mean.

On the sides, branching out into the cheeks I get the berry notes. As with the aroma I can’t really tell what berries they are, but they are definitely berry-y.

Finish? Not really very caramel-y, I think. Not obvious caramelisation, I’d say, much more subtle-like. It comes out if I take bigger sips though.

Perhaps it can be brought out more. GM suggests adding a touch of sugar (and cream, but I’m violently opposed to cream in tea. Milk. Always milk. Cream is for coffee), so I tried that. I don’t really count that as much of a success. The caramel-y molasses-y notes are too obvious now. I liked it better before.

I’m not completely blown away by this, but it’s indeed one that ranks pretty high for me. If GM was a company available to me, I would consider a purchase. It isn’t, though, and on the other hand it’s not one that I feel I so desperately need to own that I find it necessary to involve anybody in helping me. Maybe if in the future I found another of their offerings that I also really wanted, I might do that, but not for the sake of just one tea that I could substitute with Kusmi’s Caramel which is also quite lovely.

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

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

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

This is the tea we started off with this morning.

I find it malty and almost creamy. I almost feel like someone dropped a pinch of Bailin gong fu in my pot while it was steeping. I definitely get a grainy taste in here. While the tea fairies were dropping other teas in here, I’m pretty sure that they dropped some grapes in here as well. White grapes. There is a sweet flavor that reminds me of white grape juice. It’s not a tangy sweet, more like sugar. Not a bad way to start my Sunday morning.

So it’s probably too late to be drinking black tea, but oh well! I don’t get to bed until painfully late anyway and I just got this in the mail and was dying to crack it open. I’ve had it before (in that damned free sampler they suck you in with) and knew I’d definitely have to make a purchase in the near future.

Ceylon definitely isn’t my favorite variety of black. It’s good as a base for flavored blends, but overall it doesn’t really have a strong enough taste to make me crave it on its own. Well, obviously this one is different—it’s very complex with notes of molasses, honey, caramel and chocolate. Yup, a lot of dessert-like undertones, which I love! I sometimes find dessert teas overpowering, with the flavors a bit heavy-handed, so this is like a very very light version of a dessert blend for me. I don’t really get the berry notes they claim it to have but I don’t like fruity teas a whole lot so I am certainly not going to complain! It’s also got a nice astringency and is very smooth and strong—not strong enough to really wake you up in the morning, but it’s a perfect “curled up in bed reading a book all afternoon” tea.

This is a very smooth, sweet black tea offering from Golden Moon. What strikes me most about this tea is the color of the brew. It is a vibrant, VIBRANT ruby red color. The thing shines.

The tea itself is very smooth and malty, with a very honey-like finish. Like it literally tastes as though there is honey in this tea. Obviously, this makes it a little sweeter than most straight black teas. The aftertaste of this one is a little sharp, though. It’s definitely better on the tongue than it is on the memory.

I could definitely see keeping this around for company, it’s just visually striking, and the flavor has a familiarity to it that lends itself well to gatherings. I may keep a tin of this around just for that. I wish I had enough of this sample to try it iced, I bet it is splendid.

Clearing out my cupboard and came upon this forgotten GM sample. This is my first Ceylon and the Steepster consensus is this is a great one and I tend to agree. It is full, smooth, naturally sweet, malty. A solid tea for first thing in the morning: strong, nothing fancy, but delivers caffeine w/o needing sugar or milk to make it palatable. When I put in my next GM order, I will add this one to the list.

Thanks momo, for the amazing package of teas! This one is a delicious black tea! The dry leaves have a sweet smell. It’s malty and as it cools it does taste like molasses (not like I’m sure what that tastes like, but it seems accurate!) I don’t get a berry flavor at all, like the description says. It’s not a weak or a super strong blend… a nice medium. This one is tough to describe but really good!

So I’ve read so much on here about this tea and couldn’t wait to try it. I haven’t really been craving black teas since it’s starting to warm up here in TX but this morning is dreary and yucky after last nights rain. So I decided to pull the trigger and go for Sinharaja this morning.

The smell in the dry leaf was just tea smelling to me. Steeped it and took a taste while it was still hot and you probably are going to think I’m crazy but when I went to take my first sip I smelled tomatoes and tasted tomatoes and now I can’t stop thinking tomatoes as I sip this cuppa. I also get slight maltiness which I love and I find no astringency which is also a good thing.

It’s a smooth tasting ceylon I do enjoy this cup and if I find some other GM’s that I like as much as this one in my sampler I will order this one along with the others. Oh and BTW I’m not picking up on any of the berry flavors that is mentioned on the package but I am also not using milk or sugar just drinking it plain as I always do!

My GM sampler came in the mail. I confess to having mixed feelings about this event. I’m excited, but I’m also simultaneously overwhelmed, intimidated, and concerned for my health. Overwhelmed because there are SO MANY TEAS to choose from, intimidated because the sample size is enough to permit me one infusion at full strength and if I screw it up I’m in big trouble, and concerned for my health because I am not sure I have the personal reserves of strength not to brew cup after cup after cup of tea, and I may very well wind up consuming so much caffeine so quickly that the top of my skull actually comes flying off, which is the sort of thing that really puts a damper on a girl’s day.

I don’t doubt I’m going to be rating a bunch of teas in the immediate future, so I’m going to try to be more concise than usual (ha, ha, ha). This one is sweet. Before I took a sip, before I even sniffed my cup of brewed tea, I took a sniff of the wet leaves and knew I was going to like this. They were sweet and honeyed and still maintained that hay-like quality I love in black tea, though the hay clippings in this cup would be fresh, not quite cured. The scent is there — in the leaves — but there isn’t much of it in the flavor. I find it every now and then, a little background note of uncommonly bright malt, and I suppose this is the reason that I expected this tea to be an assam rather than ceylon (though to be perfectly fair, I haven’t spent a lot of time sipping on different kinds of ceylon tea intentionally, so what do I know? I’ve always thought of it as being the ubiquitous, universal, and understandably unexciting baseline flavor of black tea). After I take a sip and let myself sit a moment, I get a sudden flash of unexpected sweetness. I’m getting it more now that the cup isn’t blazing hot, but I anticipate that I might lose it again once the cup stopped being hot at all.

Curious about this second steep. I’ll update in a bit.

Edit: The second steep just earned this tea a big bump in rating. The first one is good, don’t get me wrong; brisk and tasty. It’s not so strong that it needs milk, but it probably would manage well enough with a drop or two (too much would probably be overkill). The second one, though, has a liquid-sugar quality that I can see myself finding incredibly addictive. De-lish.

The leaves are so pretty. Dark and almost velvety looking. And they smell like cocoa? Of course, I just ate some clementines so my hands smell like them and that could be throwing things off.

The tea itself smells like it has been sweetened with honey. It smells light and fruity and sweet. And wow. The taste is… like maple or cane syrup. The end tastes just like raw sugar. This is really sweet and almost rich. I was so surprised that I called the husband in to make him taste. After one sip he gave me a shocked look and grabbed the cup back to have another sip. He said that it tasted like there was cream in it. After another sip, I’d have to agree. The smoothness gives it the feeling that it has been spiked with a little milk.

This is really good. All sorts of sweet, natural tastes combining into one yummy tea. This is probably going on my ‘to order’ list!

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #18:
I actually grabbed this this morning for my morning cup, but apparently I hadn’t washed out my mug quite thoroughly enough after “enjoying” Twinings Blackcurrant, Vanilla and Ginseng tea (one that I was too lazy to tealog, especially since I’d have to add it to the database first. For the curious, it was actually quite pleasant but I let it steep too long and the nice currant taste turned into a weird vegetal blargness) for lunch yesterday. So what I actually got was mostly black currant with a tinge of “generic black tea” underneath. Now the combination was actually quite tasty and has given me a pretty awesome idea for iced tea, but it was hardly fair to the Sinharaja.

Naturally, I made a second cup this afternoon (taking care to clean out my mug thoroughly this time), and I have to say that I’m glad I took the trouble, because this is some pretty great tea. Now, I’m not always able to differentiate between just straight black teas unless they are pretty aggressively different, but for some reason I don’t have that problem here. This has character but it doesn’t overwhelm, it’s…quietly confident, to anthropomorphize a bit. It has a noticeable but not overpowering malty note as well as a separate underlying sweetness, and a surprisingly rich overriding tea taste.

I may need to get more of this.

This week has been killing me not-so-softly so I haven’t had time to get on here and do…anything. BUT, I just got a package from Carolyn today packed with tea and OF COURSE I had to make some straight away.

I let this sit for 4 minutes on the first steep, and even though it definitely didn’t make it strong enough for me, I know that I’m going to love this tea. Firstly, the coloring on this tea is absolutely gorgeous, but that’s definitely not all it has going for it. It smelled distinctly of honey, and what surprised me more was that it TASTED of honey. And beyond that I got caramel and a natural kind of sweetness. There’s a complexity to this tea, and it’s rich and smooth and positively, like the name implies, sinful. I drank this first cup pretty slowly, and I can say with some certainty that I like this a lot better on the hot/warm end of the spectrum than on the cooler side, but that’s par for the course for me with black teas.

I’ve got a resteep that I let go for 5 minutes that I’m waiting not-so-patiently to cool. I’m tremendously excited to continue playing around with this tea, and to see what else Carolyn decided to pack away for me. If this is any indication of what she decided to send, it’s probably not just my imagination that hears my bank account whimpering.

I have to get back to this pile of crap I have to finish, but either things are going to calm down soon and I can start catching up with reviews, or I am going to asplode. FUN! In the meantime, I’ve got some likely awesome teas to peruse. [Thanks Carolyn!!!] ACTUAL FUN!

It turned out to be an unintentionally Ceylon-ariffic day. I usually wouldn’t do a second black tea in the late afternoon, but I was having a mini-meltdown. I have my final paper due at midnight tomorrow for one of my Library Science classes and I thought that I’d misunderstood the basis of my 8 page paper. The entire basis. After a minute of shock I immediately thought “I need some tea with some oomph – the next 24 hours could be really long.” So I picked this out of the sample basket. As it steeped I took some deep breaths and thought things through. Long story short: from what I understand my basis is sound. I don’t need to get to my library early tomorrow and analyze 50 different books and then write like a fiend. Hallelujah! But I should probably get off the web and stop procrastinating ;)

But now to the tea! I was pleasantly surprised by this :) On the first steep it reminded me of Adagio’s Golden Monkey – not my favorite tea, but it’s got a kick that works for me. I really didn’t taste any sweetness. Then, oh second steep-o-joy! The sweetness came through and made it so yummy! It’s like the French Breakfast tea that I had this morning but more complex. Ah, ’tis all good.

I did try a third steep just for the heck of it. Yeah, not so much. This moves up the shortlist on teas I might purchase after I make my way through the sampler. NE

2nd tea out of my sampler. I don’t even know what to say about this tea. My tea taste buds are improving the more I sample better teas, but my vocabulary lacks the words to express what I’m tasting. I do like this tea, I just have nothing to compare it to it to yet.