White Ginger

Another sample from the wondrous golden moon sampler. This is a very delicate blend. I only steeped for two minutes, on the lower end of the suggested 2-4 minutes, as I am not fond of Ginger. This tea has just the slightest tingle of Ginger in the aftertaste. It seems to build with each sip I take. I do like the white tea base that was used for this as it doesn’t taste vegetal or grassy. This was a nice hydrating cup.

I’ve had this sample hanging around for a while now. I’m pretty eager to try it, although I see it has received some not-so-good reviews. This doesn’t really concern me because a lot of people didn’t seem to like Golden Moon’s White Licorice either, but I loved it.

The aroma of the dry leaf is just your average, meat and potatoes white tea smell. I don’t detect any ginger.

If I randomly drank from a cup of this, I wouldn’t know I was drinking something that is supposedly ginger flavored. I can’t taste ginger, I only taste a nice white tea. This tea tickles your tonsils on the way down, so maybe that’s the ginger. It would be nice if I could taste it, though.

I don’t taste ginger, but what I do taste is good.

1st steep: 3 min, 180 – I tasted a whole lot of nuthin. I used one teaspoon, so that might have been the problem. Maybe my water was too cold? The directions say just under boiling.

2nd steep: 3 min, 190 – I added the rest of the packet for this second steep. The tea is much darker. I’m tasting a nice, lovely gentle white tea flavor and the barest hint of ginger. Not even a tingle. Nary a burn! If I was a catty lady, I’d call this tea “Milquetoast!”

I like it, but it’s much more subtle than my tastes run. I rather have a gingery peppery herbal if I was going in the ginger direction, and more of a green tea taste if I was going the tea way.

Those that have the Golden Moon sampler – did you use the whole packet per 8 oz water for each steep with white teas? Am I missing anything else (like is my water temp way off?). I just want to make sure I treat the rest of the white teas in my sampler right :) Thanks!

Hmmm….Ginger Chicken with Asparagus?? ;)

Actually, no that was just my initial impression—it’s the steamed ginger scent that’s throwing me off a little bit. But this does taste kind of “brothy” to me. I’m not detecting any sweetness like the description implies.

This is definitely a warming cup of tea and seems soothing to the stomach. But I guess it’s the white tea I’m not favoring too much. Very faint and tannic.

A sort of “anemic” tea that’s been invigorated by ginger.

The more I sip, I can’t help thinking that this reminds me of chicken soup! There’s this noodle restaurant near me that serves the best chicken noodle soup and they put a lot of ginger in it. So, I think this would be very good if you have a cold….kind of like a tea equivalent of “chicken soup”, I guess?

Golden Moon’s White Ginger tea is right splat in the middle of the road. Really, all it needs is some oomph to be a lovely, gingery, white tea. Sadly, it is oomphless. It smells like white tea, with a very slightly sweet note on the end that made me think of candied ginger. It tastes like white tea, with a very slightly gingery prickle in the throat as you swallow. If you like ginger, this tea will leave you far short of satisfied. You may be able to give it a bit of oomph by grating some ginger into your infuser, but with so many ginger teas out there, I’m not sure it’s worth it.

So now we’ve come full circle.

This morning, Blood Orange Pu-erh, that had some ginger in it.

Followed by Orange Blossom, that had orange.

Now White Ginger, that has ginger in it. It’s been an orange and ginger day!

Anyway, this one looks very similar to the white base that GM uses in all of their other white teas. I think it’s a white peony? I’m not entirely sure. But that’s what it looks like. The leaves are pretty and full, with little scraps of ginger mixed in. The smell… I’m not getting really much of anything. If there’s anything that’s interesting about white tea, it’s that it’s not particularly aromatic.

Anyway, I steeped the entire packet of this up, and smiled at the resulting infusion. It’s a typical white color, that beige-yellow, and the smell is only slightly gingery. With a somewhat vegetal-white smell that’s pleasant but not anything exciting.

The taste… hrm. I’m not really getting all that much ginger! Maybe my packet was lacking some, but… it’s not particularly strong. Interestingly enough, I could taste the ginger much stronger in the Blood Orange Pu-erh this morning, and it wasn’t the dominant flavor there. This one is very light, as a white should be, with typical white nectar-sweetness. When the ginger does peep out, it’s not wowing me in any way, and adding anything spicy and special.

It’s like an echo of ginger, a shadow of it, a wisp. I don’t want a super-assertive ginger taste, but I do want something substantial. Of course, this could just be that my packet didn’t get enough ginger in it to meld properly with the white, but with this one, I’m sort of left wanting more.

Overall, though, a really good and interesting tea day! I’ve progressed from dark to light, drank 3 new teas, and I have to say, it’s pretty awesome!

I was preparing for something hideous with this because of all the reviews – mostly in the 30s and 50s range. But…

Where as I wouldn’t put it in my 70 percentile – I’m pondering the 60s. I don’t love it but…

This isn’t very gingery – which is fine by me – I do know that White Ginger is supposed to be mellower than regular ginger – but I think this is regular ginger and it’s in white tea…so…not sure. Regardless – the ginger isn’t harsh. It’s a bit chewy for a white tea but the flavor overall isn’t very memorable. It’s not bad, just not stunning!

It’s an OK tea, I suppose…

Golden Moon random sample No. 19 of 31. The bad news is it’s not the chai again; the good news is that if it was the chai I would have to wait for another time to drink it given the hour.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I think this is the same white tea used in pretty much all of the Golden Moon whites. Looks and smells exactly the same to me, and my guess is still white peony. I can see little pieces of ginger root, but I can’t smell them in the dry leaves. I do smell that same salty/marshy/almost marine smell I’ve described in other Golden Moon white tea notes. The leaves have that mix of twisted/pointy and flat in this one, too.

The liquor is a light golden, and interestingly, I don’t get a lot of ginger aroma. I get more of a sweet, white tea scent. This is probably a good thing. I like ginger just fine, and I even like it in tea, though my tastes tend to run more toward the black tea/bakery flavoring profile. I’ve preferred my ginger in stronger teas with other spices rather than as a single spice in a green tea, for example. Mainly this is because the ginger tends to overpower anything but black tea that is strong enough to stand up to it.

But this reminds me of the GM White Licorice, where the licorice smell wasn’t very strong and the flavor seemed to hit the right note. So I’m hopeful, because I’m more likely to like a ginger flavored tea than a licorice one, and I liked the GM licorice one.

Now. This is interesting. I can definitely taste the ginger. This may be the first time I could taste something in a tea that I couldn’t really smell. Usually, it’s the opposite. But what’s really very nice about it is that it isn’t overpoweringly gingery. There’s a nice balance between the tea and the ginger flavor.

What I’m not sure about is whether I would pick this to drink over a non-flavored white tea, especially since I’m having a hard time figuring out when in my daily routine to drink white tea. I’ll think on it some more. If I don’t order this, that will be the reason — not the tea itself.

The dry leaves smell pretty boring with nary a hint of ginger until I stuck my nose deep into the bag.

Only 1.8g of leaf – look, it’s an ROT teabag! – so I’m using the whole thing. We’ll see how it goes. The leaf looks pretty dry and un-fresh so I’m not expecting angels to sing or anything.

Post-brewing the tea smells like a mix of powdered ginger and a little fresh ginger. Not 100% fresh ginger but there’s enough of a fresh smell that it makes me happy.

I’m… mixed on the taste. I like the ginger. It’s warm on my tongue and gives my mouth a lovely tingle after I swallow. It’s really not overpowering which I almost find disappointing. But I’m not so fond of the tea base. I’m getting a little hint of green bean water with it. Though as it cools, it becomes more floral and that melds with the ginger better.

I really wasn’t expecting a lot out of this, but the more I sip, the more I like it.

I’m really enjoying this. It is so light and fresh tasting. The ginger isn’t an overwhelming flavor, but, I like it like this. (Of course, I do like my ginger good and strong too). I like that it tastes soft enough so that I can taste the sweet, tender white tea.

Overall, a very gentle, sweet yet spiced cup. Nice.

Plucked at random from Golden Moon Sampler Basket
Tasting Note circa #18 or 19

I tried to make this a success. I really did. I try to meet a tea and its demands 100%. I don’t think I can spin gold out of cat food but I do think I will try my hardest to bring out the best in the tea. I had a small sample and therefore only used about 3 ounces of water. The dry tea smelled faintly like one of those very mild soaps that they sell for use with babies. I could not pick up on the ginger at all.

Brewed, the golden tea looked ok but still did not present itself with a discernable aroma. Maybe if I conjure up vegetation in my mind it’s slightly vegetal but that might have been one of my Jedi Mind tricks (the limits of my Jedi Mind tricks are remarkable: pretend that the spinach has a romaine overtone—that sort of thing).

Ultimately, I think that I still prefer big, bold flavors and I like my ginger to be all full of huff and stuff. This is probably my least favorite of the Golden Moon Teas I’ve tested thus far.

GM Sampler | Tea 7 of 31

White Ginger | http://bit.ly/cScCEi
All Together Now | http://bit.ly/cHWS3X

I drank this the other day amidst a rather frenzied slew of schoolwork and…it was a really strange tea. It could be that I should have let it sit longer, but reading the other logs I’m not sure that would have done much.

The flavor was there, though it was extremely light and it was almost more…textural than flavorful. It felt like the ginger was trying to shout, “I’M HERE! I’M HERE!” but it showed up with a lost voice and a box of tissues.

The feeling it created was almost on the way to tingly, but it was softer, not unlike ginger ale that hasn’t quite gone flat. I’d call the sensation shimmery, and the swallow was clean and fresh. It would have been fully enjoyable, if a bit devoid of taste, but then this mucky aftertaste that followed it. The aftertaste, while soft like the rest of the tea, killed the diffused sparkly quality of the body of the tea like it was splooting [technical term] it with mud.

I was able to pick out some notes of hay that I believe were coming from the white tea, but that was pretty much all I was able to get out of this tea other than the weird smothered ginger taste. It wasn’t horrid by any means, and if it weren’t for the bummer-inducing aftertaste I’d consider getting more, but I won’t be buying this one.

So I decided to open up the Golden Moon Tea Sampler today. The first one I tried is this one. The leaves do not have a strong aroma, but I also do not have a lot of tea to smell here.

I steeped it hot for four minutes. I tried it with and without sugar, but really found very little difference between the two. The tea is very simple. It is a complex white tea in that it makes a pale liquor, with delicate veggie fragrance but a strong white tea flavor. The ginger is mostly lost in brewing, but you do find it as an undertone note in the tea. Which is good, because overpowering ginger would not be enjoyable.

Overall, I found this tea to be very enjoyable. I would definitely buy a tin of this.

I didn’t drink white tea in ages. Was never in the mood for it somehow. Or was I lazy to wait for the water to cool down? :)
Anyways now i remember. I like this one. It has that smoothness that white teas sometimes have. Ginger is quite present but in a very delicate way. It’s not as peppery as I’d expect. Can bearly feel that side of ginger.
But all together this is quite an enjoyable white tea…

Drank this last night, following the White Licorice sampler — for ginger is where I reign supreme! Alas, I found this much too weak for me, and barely tasted the spicy snap of ginger. It is perfectly serene, as they say in the description, but I wanted the ginger to see a little more action. Onwards!

(Might have been a combination of too much water and not a high enough steep temperature, but I find that rawther doubtful.)

So I finally dug back into my Golden Moon samples. I’ve had the family stomach bug that 15/17 of us got and wanted some ginger something to sip on. And now, halfway through the cup, I’m seconding everyone else’s comments. I don’t get a lot of ginger here. It’s a decent cup, not something I’d avoid, but it’s also not something that I’d choose if looking for ginger in the future.

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

I’m approaching this one warily – dare I say gingerly? It’s such a strong flavor, and to team it up with delicate white tea… Opening the packet there was a pronounced but not overpowering ginger aroma, and when I poured the sample into the hot water there were about 20 or 30 little ginger chunks which immediately sank to the bottom. Well, I like ginger anyway, so I gave it three and a half minutes at 180.

I’m really surprised at how mild this is. I’m getting the mouth feel of the white tea, which is nice, and just the tiniest bit of warmth on the back end from the spice. There’s a pleasing amount of natural sweetness to the flavor, but really not a whole lot else going on for me. It might be worth trying it again brewed up much more strongly and then iced?

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #17
Woah, almost halfway! I am making some excellent time here.
I was very pleased that this came out from my random grab this afternoon, since my belly has been complaining about something all day and I’ve often found it responds well to ginger – better than to mint and chamomile, even. I’ve been kind of dreading getting any of the white teas, though, since I am a total white tea noob.

I was somewhat suspicious of the 2-4 minute steeping time on the packet, so I decided to compromise by going with 1m 30s for my initial cup (which is what my timer app recommends) then proceeding to leave the leaves in the pot for an additional one and a half minutes for the rest of the cups. Depending on the results, maybe I’ll put the leaves back in after my second cup. But that is probably a horrible thing to do to a white tea, so I will try to refrain.

The first cup was very light, I agree with Meghann that the taste isn’t vegetal of grassy, but I can’t put my finger on what it actually is. I like that, although the taste is light, it still seems to have suffused the water and doesn’t just taste like tea flavored water, but like it’s own unique beverage. The ginger, in this cup, is only obvious in the aftertaste.

Second cup, the doubled steeping time has left the tea darker and, obviously, stronger. The burn from the ginger is obvious throughout, and the white tea flavor, which I have decided tastes kind of grain-ish, is also much more obvious. There is also a sweetness that seems much more subdued than the sugary taste of a green tea.

Although I quite like ginger, it seems to serve more to add a kick to the tea rather than any sort of flavor. My stomach does feel better though.

Sampler 7/31
This tea is has a very delicate taste. As a hot tea I really didn’t get any taste of ginger which was disappointing cause i love ginger. I don’t know if thats because I drink ginger brew all the time (if you don’t know what ginger brew is it’s super gingery soda). As the tea cools down the ginger becomes more apparent. I think this would be really good iced as an alternative to water, as i’m not a fan of straight water.

Maybe too subtle for me! I did notice the ginger taste becoming more noticeable with each drink, which was nicely curious. Loved the slight and spicy ginger aftertaste.

Second steeping: done at 195F at 3 minutes again. Much more distinct flavor this time, and I can taste the ginger from the start. Definitely not too strong – it feels like a very comforting tea overall.