Dylan Oxford

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Dylan Oxford drank Sinharaja by Golden Moon Tea

Tried this one with a little longer steep time today, bumped it up to four minutes (we usually do our blacks at about 2-3). It made this one a little more heady, and definitely a lot more malty. Upped the astringency notably as well, but that is to be expected. Still quite a good little black tea from Golden Moon. Quite enjoyed this one from the black sampler.

If you should find yourself looking for the black tea sampler from Golden Moon though… stop. Don’t do it. You can buy all four of the teas in the same 1 oz packages for about $6 cheaper than buying the sampler itself. Granted, if you do that you’ll be able to stop and go “Why the heck am I paying $9/oz for tea?”. I think they really just want to discourage people from getting samples. For $42, you can get one ounce each of four black teas. For $52, you can get four ounces each of those same four black teas, in handy little tins. The math just doesn’t work out.

2012-05-08 21:45:03 -0400

205 °F / 96 °C

4 min 0 sec

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Sandy Stith 2012-05-09 03:00:23 -0400

That’s why the stupid Groupon was better math, right? We got 8 one ouncers for what? $26? So you know, now that I’m off for a week, I’ve lost my ability to do math.

CHAroma 2012-05-12 11:42:38 -0400

I noticed ESP Emporium does this exact same thing. The pro of buying samples should be that you get to try a smaller version for cheaper so you know if you want to invest more money or not. Otherwise, it defeats the entire purpose, doesn’t it?

Kittenna 2012-05-13 15:45:10 -0400

Completely agree. The price per ounce need not be the same for the sampler pack as for the non-sample-packed tea, but it has to cost less than purchasing the teas outside the sampler pack. Verdant is a wonderful example of excellently priced samplers – I’ve gone through and checked prices, and in some cases it’s cheaper to purchase the sampler, in others it’s about on par or a dollar or two more.

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My fiancé and I are beginning to enjoy tea infusion, and it’s slowly becoming an interesting hobby that the two of us can share. Maybe not slowly… it’s somewhat amazing how much tea you can buy when everything looks shiny and new.

Tea Rating system:

90 – 100: This is a tea I will always have on hand at work, and at home. I will leave it on altars as offerings of perfection.

80 – 89: This, or one of it’s close cousins, will likely be in my cabinet at home. When this tea runs out, I will buy more. I’ll always wonder if there is something better, but be too afraid to look to stray from home to find it.

70 – 79: Definitely good, but not a clear winner. I enjoy it, I’ll finish it, but I probably won’t buy it again until I’ve exhausted all other versions of this product from any reputable retailer. Though, it may enjoy a resurrection for custom blending.

60 – 69: This tea is okay, but definitely not something I’m going to brew again. I’m going to give what I have left away.

30 – 59: I didn’t finish drinking this tea. I actually poured it out, and went for something else. I’ll still give this tea away, but I’ll do it with a warning and a plead for forgiveness.

0 – 29: This tea is riding securely towards an iceberg at the helm of the failboat. I’ve taken this out of my tea tin, and laid it on a napkin as potpurri. I do not consider it fit for human consumption.