Golden Moon Tea

I was super excited to find another tea that was called Kashmiri Chai. So excited that I overlooked the fact that this is black and my long lost love that I’m trying to replace, Zhi Tea’s Kashmiri Chai, was green. Got to tone down the blinding tea enthusiasm.

This tea is nice. It isn’t impressing me excessively tho. Smells nice and cinnamon like. When I sip, I taste the cardamon, clove and cinnamon, but it in’t really spicy and I do like spice. Zhi’s version had a ton of cardamon, but it is hard to pick out in this one. The black base seems okay, kinda lingers in the back. I added cream and sugar, but I might try boiling it on the stove in proper chai fashion.

Sipdown!

I really really love this tea – the coconut flavour is so true-to-life without being thick or cloying. I was very happy to have an ounce of this in my cupboard.

However, Golden Moon tea’s shipping options to Canada aren’t the greatest, so I’m going to have to bid this tea farewell. I’m hoping that Zen Tea’s Coconut oolong turns out to be just as good, so I can have a domestic option for such tea deliciousness.

Had this last night, but the little stash in my metal tin is losing some flavour. Luckily, I have another stash saved in a heat-sealed pouch fresh from the vendor.

I think I’ll coldbrew the remainder in the metal container. I hope I like it that way!

I really wanted some coconut tonight, so this came to the rescue… but I didn’t taste much coconut at all! It’s been sitting in an airtight metal container for over a year, so I expected some loss of flavour, but not this much.

I have an unopened 1-oz pouch of this beyond the sample tea in the metal container. I’ll have to finish off the sample soon.

On an unpleasant note, I noticed that drinking this tea made my stomach upset – just this feeling of gnawing hunger even though I know I’ve eaten. I’ve had this stomach problem on and off for about a year and a half. No idea what triggers this fake hunger feeling (I went to a gastro specialist and had them examine the interior of my stomach with a scope camera, but nothing unusual turned up). I really hope this tea doesn’t trigger my stomach pain, because I’d never finish it if that were the case.

Backlog from yesterday

I decided to revisit this tea after having Golden Moon’s Sugar Caramel Oolong earlier yesterday. I like this one more. The leaf is definitely green and floral, but the coconut blends with that in a wonderful way.

I would definitely consider restocking this once I run out. However, since I have it so rarely that probably won’t be for a while!

I finally tried this one today! I’m not normally in an oolong mood, but this one was quite nice, and the leaf smells heavenly.

I steeped this using a gaiwan and got about 7-8 steeps out of it, though only the first 3-4 had a lot of flavour. Later on, some astringency (that “curly” oolong taste I keep noticing) came through. My mouth also tingled a bit. The leaf expanded so much in the gaiwan!

Next time I’ll try it western style and see how it compares.

I wanted to try this one from Rachel’s sale a while back when I saw Dinosara was selling some… to make sure I didn’t love it and needed to buy it. :D It’s difficult to taste anything in this first cup. But it seems like a white tea to me. The leaves are long and spikey, almost like another tea I had the other day I hadn’t seen before. I love the name! I dropped the sample pouch on the floor and lost a few of the leaves, but it was right before I vacuumed anyway. I hate dropping tea on the floor, but it was a one cup sample anyway… germs gone and not back in my tea collection! The second steep wasn’t much better than the first. Kind of boring, this one.

This tea brews up to a nice classic copper orange colour and smells of plum tinted with cherry, cinnamon, and malt with brown sugar. There is a hint of sweet potato as it cools and the spice becomes slightly floral reminding me of clover nectar.

It taste very smooth with sweet sugary fruit notes up front, strong ripe plum is evident sprinkled with brown sugar, followed by a soft floral note that is slightly powdery and finished with malt. The texture is almost creamy. Hidden in the malt is a bit of cocoa and sweet potato. There is a slight grain note like barley present. The flavour is rich but the tea seems to be too thin to add milk to. The aftertaste is a mix of bitter malt and sugared fruit. A very nice mix of fruit, spice, floral notes and malt.

Thank you so much Dexter3657 for sharing this sample for me. It is quite a nice Ceylon.

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

This sample came to me from Dexter3657. When I brewed it up , I could smell something I just couldn’t place. For taste I picked up the light white tea but just couldn’t detect the melon. I don’t know why. There are plenty of reviews here that say they can taste the melon. Then I read a review that said it tasted like liquid bread. Yes, that’s the taste I picked up – like a baker’s yeast.

Just not my cup of tea but thanks Dexter3657 for the sample. I’m glad I got to try it.

I’m gonna keep this quick, as fruit flavored teas are not my thing:
Incredibly delicious coconut smell. The taste pairs wonderfully with the light floral of the pouchong. It’s really surprsing how well the two pair as I was sort of expecting the very strong coconut smell to overpower the tea. It leaves a really dry feeling in the mouth and throat after 5 infusions or so gongfu style. Otherwise, really nice light flavor with a generous amount of coconut that surprisingly seems like just the right amount.

Since I had had a sample sachet of this for a while now, I decided to have it this morning. It wasn’t particularly remarkable even though I was hoping there was some Chinese tea blended in… as it seemed a bit sweet.

Unfortunately, now I read that it is just Ceylon tea, the one kind which instigates zero interest in me (although I must admit that it is pretty awesome iced), which would explain its almost mediocrity to me. Almost mediocrity, because I did detect some pleasant floral notes. I only wish they were a little stronger.

Also, the tea didn’t resteep very well. The second steep was really mild and weak even though I added 1,5 minute to the original steeping time. Not a bad tea, not anything that was a challenge to finish, but nothing particularly flavorful or sophisticated either.

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.

At first glance, this tea is an unusual mix of flavours: green tea, black tea, mint, and vanilla. I’ve found that I’m not a huge fan of mixing green tea and vanilla together, but I don’t mind black tea and vanilla, and mint goes well with both kinds. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was prepared for something discordant when I tasted it, and that expectation was reinforced when smelling the dry leaf – smelling vanilla and mint together is just a weird combination for me.

But what’s this? When brewed up, it’s surprisingly smooth, and well blended! The flavours are distinct, but they don’t fight against each other, instead combining to form something even better. It tastes good both straight and with a little bit of sweetener added, though I prefer the sweetened version. Even better, despite the boiling steep temperature, the green tea didn’t become astringent.

So, this was a tea I expected to be weird and jangly and disorganized, only to have it defy my expectations and become a smooth, delicious cup. So what fictional character did this tea remind me of? You’ll have to take a look here to find out: http://christinavasilevski.com/2014/05/sunday-tea-books-vanilla-mint/

Sipdown of a very old sample, not even sure who sent it to me at this point!

I enjoyed this though, it reminded me a lot of Davidstea’s version of coconut oolong (the pre-lemongrass edition). Which I love and hoarded.

This type of tea is everything I want when I crave a coconut tea, that is to say it’s creamy, buttery and super coconutty! The buttery base definitely lends itself well to this sort of flavoring.

Since it’s so similar to the DT old version which I still have plenty of, I wouldn’t need to own this one, but I enjoyed it just as much. Thanks to whoever sent it long ago in my pre baby days!

Sipdown and side by side comparison! Note: this is cross-posted with http://steepster.com/cvasilevski/posts/302699

A few months ago Golden Moon switched almost all of their blends so that they were organic. This was one of the affected ones, and I was mighty curious to see how the organic replacement, Masala Chai, would compare. When I got a coupon code from GM for free shipping, and since I’m in Canada, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go for it. I’ve had a last smidgen of this Kashmiri Chai in my cupboard for the longest time and been dreading finishing it since it’s a lovely chai.

However, I was curious to see whether the Masala Chai would be a worthy replacement. So once the Masala Chai came on Wednesday, I decided to do a side-by-side taste test!

Both teas were brewed for 5 minutes in identical mugs using identical filters and a nearly identical amount of leaf. So here’s what I’m noticing about each tea.

The dry leaf: The leaf of the Kashmiri Chai looks larger and more intact, and you can definitely see whole chunks of cinnamon and pods of cardamom. In contrast, the leaf of the Masala Chai looks much more like a CTC tea, and while I can see the occasional cardamom pod, I see a lot of ginger and not much cinnamon. The smell of both varieties holds this up – the Kashmiri Chai smells much more of cinnamon and cardamom, while the Masala Chai smells much more of ginger.

The tea liquor: When they started brewing, the Masala Chai had a reddish tint to it and the Kashmiri Chai looked like more of a cool brown/umber colour. However, after a 5-minute steep, the colour of both teas was pretty much identical. The smell was fairly similar to the dry leaf: Kashmiri smelled cinnamon-ish, while Masala smelled like ginger.

Taste and mouthfeel: The Kashmiri Chai had a smooth sweet taste that coated the tongue and lingered long after the sip was over. I could taste the earthy base of the tea underneath, but could definitely sense the play of spices. In contrast, the Masala Chai smells and tastes strongly of ginger and malt, like gingerbread. Not quite a gingerbread cookie, but if you actually had a loaf of ginger-infused bread. I got a sweet potato note and a citrus note. I really can’t tell here what the base is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the base were a Ceylon tea of some sort. It didn’t linger much on the palate, but was somewhat malty.

Verdict: I prefer the Kashmiri Chai tea, but considering they don’t make this blend anymore AND that this taste test was a sipdown of the last of the KC leaf, I’m out of luck.

Next, I might consider mixing the Masala Chai with some of Just Organic’s Just Charming Chai – the JO Charming Chai is too cinnamon-heavy, so they might complement each other really well. We’ll have to see.

I’m nearing the end of this sample, and sad about it. It’s a lovely-smelling chai – very cinnamon-y and cardamom-y, without being too oppressively candy-like.

I really want to order the Masala Chai that Golden Moon offers since they switched to stocking organic blends, but I have no idea how similar it will taste. The reviews on Steepster so far are meh. (This makes me very sad)

Man, I’m going to be sad when I finish up this tea. The cinnamon smell is so strong and sweet, I love it. I love the whole pods of cardamom, too. I think this chai is an excellent blend – though of course I know others prefer chais that are less cinammony.

Unfortunately, shipping from Golden Moon to Canada is so ridiculous that this definitely will not be a restock. :(

Backlog from yesterday morning:

This tea is so cinnamon-y, and so tasty as a result. I can taste and see lots of cardamom in the dried leaf, and perhaps some clove or ginger, but the cinnamon is definitely the strongest flavour.

There’s an earthy undertone to the base leaf that I also find interesting. Adding a bit of cinnamon honey just kicks everything up a notch, in a good way.

Backlog from last night:

I took this with me in a thermos last night – my husband and I walked down to the waterfront to see if we could catch any fireworks. We weren’t disappointed. We originally hoped to see about watching the fireworks that took place a few km down the shore in the distance, but a bunch of random local people brought their own fireworks to set off. It was quite a show! We had our camp chairs and sat under a tree, and I sipped this.

However, thermos drinking really doesn’t allow the flavour of this tea to come to the fore. I need to get some more chais in my collection – this is nice, but the shipping cost from Golden Moon to Canada is ridiculous. Here’s hoping my order of Just Charming Chai from Just Organic Tea’s Kickstarter (it’s shipping in about a week!) will be just as good.

OMG.

Last time I tried this tea, I brewed it the normal way – pour the hot water over the leaf, let the whole thing steep for a few minutes.

This time, based on reviews by others about this tea, I tried making it as a latte. I took 2.5 tsp of leaf, 2 cups of almond milk, and then simmered the tea in the milk. I then took a mug and put a dollop of cinnamon honey in the bottom. It took a few minutes at least for the liquid to boil, but once it did boil, I simmered it the boiling milk for 5 minutes, then poured this beautiful mocha-coloured liquid into the mug with the waiting honey, and then stirred.

Oh. My. God. This is good. The nuttiness of the almond really comes through, but it mixes so well with the earthiness of the tea and the spices. The flavour is just full and round inside my mouth – so full, that I have to drink this tea in slow sips or my tongue will get overwhelmed. It does leave a slightly sour aftertaste, but I don’t mind, since the milk is dairy-free.

I MUST DO THIS TO ALL OF MY CHAI TEA FROM NOW ON. ESPECIALLY THE CHOCOLATE CHAIS.

Oooh, this is tasty! I’m bumping up the rating accordingly, from 77 to 80.

PS: I just got notice this morning that a non-fiction memoir piece of mine will be published in an anthology later on this year! Yay!

Edit: I also think I’ll try to use up my cinnamon honey in the same way – with milk lattes like this. Yum.

My aunt and uncle came over today, and when I asked them what tea they wanted, they told me to suprise them. So why not surprise myself too with something I haven’t tried yet?

This is very spicy and full of cinnamon. However, there was a taste of earth in the leaf that I wasn’t sure how I felt about. I’d LOVE to try making this with boiling milk, though, like others have tried with this tea. I bet that would be amazing.

Note: this tea doesn’t do quite so well on the resteep. It’s a bit weak.

Well all, I am starting to feel better, it seems whatever was wrong with me is mostly on the mend, the only problem is I am bushed. I keep feeling really exhausted and sleeping a lot so my sleep schedule has gotten weird and I have some serious confusion as to what day it is! A few hearty meals and some rest should have me back to normal in no time. I did use some of my time today working on a new origami piece, a modular star themed kusudama that was a real pain to assemble when using slippery chiyogami, but worked quite well with junky memo paper.

Break out your Beret, because today’s tea is French Breakfast by Golden Moon Tea, a classic black tea from Kenilworth Estate in Sri Lanka (or Ceylon if you are old fashioned about it). The website recommends this tea for people who like ‘standard’ black tea or who are starting out on their adventure into loose leaf tea. I am most certainly not new to loose leaf tea, but I am always on the hunt for a new breakfast tea. The aroma of this tea is bright, bold, and malty with a hint of pecans and dried leaves. Very much a standard black tea indeed!

The brewed leaves are very bright and quite sweet with a berry like quality to it that blends with an oak wood aroma. It does not have a brisk quality, just bright and sweet. The aroma of the liquid sans leaves is malty and sweet, like caramel, with a nice oaky finish.

This tea has a nice mild briskness, just enough to wake you up but not too much, no need to worry about your moth turning inside out. There is a bold malty and oak wood taste that fades to a sweetness reminiscent of berries. Adding cream and sugar takes away that mild briskness and replaces it with a very smooth morning cup. I agree with the company’s description, this is a great beginners tea, but it has enough going on that it does not bore a more experienced sipper.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/golden-moon-tea-french-breakfast-tea.html

I had this as my breakfast travel mug tea and it was fantastic. The sugar and caramel flavors are dead on, but the oolong is what really shines here. It’s smooth and… hefty, for lack of a better word. I did the second steep at 185f for 3 ½ minutes and it came out weaker than expected. The sugar and caramel came to the fore. The oolong kind of just dropped out of the show in the second act. The inverse happened after the third steep (boiling water, about 6 minutes). The sugar and caramel faded into the background. The oolong took on a new flavor that I can’t describe. It tastes how I imagine a maple tree would taste. Not maple-y, but dark and woody. Really tasty. Thanks for this one, Christina!