Golden Moon Tea

Just when I’m about to give up on flavored teas, Golden Moon saves me from the funk I was falling swiftly into.

I really loved GM’s Jasmine, and found their vanilla to be pretty okay, so I was a bit excited to try this one. The dry leaves have an absolutely delicious smell. Someone mentioned cream soda, but I think it’s a bit better than that (since I’m not the greatest fan of cream soda). It’s juicy and floral and vanilla, very comforting and exciting. You can really smell both in the aroma, with the jasmine probably edging out the vanilla the teeniest bit. There’s also a lovely chocolate-type smell going on here.

I steeped this one up at boiling, but then as the leaves opened up, some looked a tad green, and I began to get worried that I had messed it up. Green and black blends are pretty tricky, temperature-wise. On the pour… the tea is a fairly dark color, a coppery-orange, and the smell coming off of it isn’t that strong. I’m getting more of a black tea smell, with whiffs of vanilla and jasmine.

The taste of this… I’m surprised how light it is! There’s sort of a mellow tea flavor, which I assume comes from the mixing of the black and green. It’s not the strongest, but it’s definitely adequate. At the front of the flavor, I’m definitely getting a bit more jasmine than vanilla, but then they tend to switch and mingle, until they’re just this one flavor that I can’t really describe. Other than vanilla jasmine!

Sometimes I’m actually getting a grape-like flavor, which is sort of strange. I don’t mean like a muscatel-wine flavor, like a Darjeeling, but sort of a grape soda flavor. It’s pretty pleasant, but sort of bizarre. I’m not getting any of the cocoa notes I smelled in the actual drink, which is fine by me.

Towards the bottom of the cup, the tea became a bit bitter on the initial sip, which wasn’t unpleasant, but is probably due to my temperature issues. I’m happy that it didn’t really negatively impact the tea until the very bottom, for sure.

Overall, another pleasant offering from Golden Moon! It didn’t knock my socks off (where did that expression even come from? Did someone’s socks actually get knocked off my something just that awesome?), but it was definitely an enjoyable cup, and on par with what I’ve come to expect with Golden Moon.

I don’t have too much experience with gunpowder tea. The Adagio version that I tried dried my mouth out rather unpleasantly, and I’ve been more interested by dabbling in blacks, oolongs and whites than I have been in really exploring greens.

This brewed up to a yellow color I didn’t expect. Not quite dark enough to be considered amber, but too yellow in the cup to be properly called green, either, and very slightly cloudy (in my office where the lighting is less direct and bright, it’s hard to see).

It’s slightly less astringent and drying than the gunpowder from Adagio, but significantly more mild in every other way, too. The smoke flavor is lessened, and the green seems just as shy; there are no overt grassy or vegetal notes. They say that there’s a ‘lingering sweetness’ to the tea, but I’m not really getting that. I am getting a strange salty flavor that might be ‘sweet’ where ‘sweet’ crosses over with ‘smoke’, but then again that could be some indication that 3 minutes was longer than I needed to have steeped this tea.

I’m finding I’m not an enormous fan of the smell of it, either. Again, that could be because I brewed it (accidentally) toward the outside of the recommended brewing time, so potentially a matter of my preferences versus the tea. Alas, I will not likely find out for certain either way, as my sample of this was consumed by this cup (and the hideousness of my experience attempting to steep the other gunpowder I have a second time — producing that ashy taste, gross — will prohibit me from attempting the same thing here).

Not horrid, but not on my list to buy. Inoffensive, but unexciting (and slightly unappetizing due to the salty note). I know there are better greens out there.

Thanks for sending me some tea equals bliss. First note that the first time I tried this I accidently steeped this too long, and it was no good at all,but I tried again last night and I’t was alot better This smells mostly like black tea and honey. I steeped this a short time and the taste is like a dark heavier honey with the black tea and abit of pear. While i would have liked this honey to be sweet and lighter this was still good.

My favorite coconut tea. Sweet, natural tasting, delicious, creamy and smooth.

It’s ok. It’s not bitter, and it just smells like tea. Not sweat, not fruity or flowery, just tea.

It’s probably my untrained palate, but this doesn’t taste like much at all to me. It’s just kind of eh. I wouldn’t turn it down as a gift, but I don’t think I would seek out this tea.

Once again this is starting off as very much like a Darjeeling to me, so let’s see if the honey notes come out toward the end of my cup..

A swap tea from jennlea – thanks!

I guess I’m losing my mind. I can’t taste any real floral or honey notes here. This tea is just screaming Darjeeling to me. It has a much lighter muscat flavor, but it’s there, and it’s drying out my tongue. Blergh.

EDIT: Maybe I spoke too soon; I’m getting a strong honey aftertaste the more I drink.

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 really liked this. I only had a sampler pack, but this was an extremely enjoyable sweet and light tea, with a really discernable flavor.

I like jasmine tea and this one’s very good. I thought the jasmine flavor came through well, but was not overwhelmingly perfumey. The vanilla jasmine was better IMO, but this is really nice.

The combination of vanilla and jasmine is just inspired! (I like both vanilla tea and jasmine tea, so I may be a little biased here.) Both flavors are definitely there, but with the two blended, neither one is quite as overwhelming as a straight jasmine tea or a straight vanilla tea might be. The tea base is nice as well, not at all bitter. This is yet another tea from Golden Moon that I would like to buy a tin of to have on hand. This one is not a tea I’m tempted to try iced, but IMO it does benefit from a little sweetener. (But what doesn’t?)

The dry leaves smell extremely sweet. The brewed tea (hot, no additives) also smells sweet. The flavor is not as sweet as it smells, there is a sweetness up front which blends very well with the oolong flavor. I think this oolong is enhanced by the sweetness as I am more easily picking up the dates and orange blossom flavors.

Very good, another success for Golden Moon .

I really, really like this one. It has a strong mint flavor, but not so much that you can’t taste the tea. I think this would be a fabulous tea iced, and I’m definitely buying a tin for the summer time.

I oversteeped some (oops, forgot the tea again!) but it was still good.

I was feeling sort of like spoiling myself a minute ago. I’d wanted to save this to pair with some sort of dessert, but then I started putting my gym clothes on and thinking ‘I really do not want to run today’, and decided once my shoes were on that I was going to banish this morning’s overdose of Earl Grey with a cup of something indulgent. I’m a wee bit concerned that the cup is going to be too strong…it seemed like a greater quantity of leaf than the rest of the single-serving 2-cup sample packets have had in them. I assumed this was a result of the jasmine or something, so I went ahead and brewed it anyway, but now I’m not so sure.

It definitely smells like…cream soda. Cream soda with something else in there, and I’m not quite able to think of what the ‘something else’ is. …grape? That seems a little odd. Maybe that’s just something the jasmine is doing in my nose.

I have no trouble whatsoever getting jasmine out of this aroma. The vanilla is easy to find, but the pair of flavors are both so balanced that pulling them apart is something I’m finding difficult to do. I feel as though the jasmine wins, though. If this were a jasmine-vanilla cage match, it would go five rounds, probably involve a lot of grappling, and jasmine would win by virtue of just being on top the longest.

No, maybe we have to scratch that. Jasmine wins in the nose, vanilla wins on the tongue, coasting in for a surprise finish that I think must be aided along by the black tea, which shows up through the floral jasmine unexpectedly. There’s a nice sweetness on the finish.

As it cools, the jasmine is making an effort to reclaim the title. I suspect if I let it cool even further there would be more upsets in store, but as with most long bouts involving lots of grappling, I feel compelled to chalk it up on the board as an even match and change the channel.

As with most sweet teas, I’d be curious enough to try it iced. I could definitely drink this more often than I think I want to drink plain jasmine tea; the vanilla brings a fuzzy warmth that the jasmine — which I find can be a bit cloying, at times — benefits from.

This smells smoky – I can definitely pick up the Keemun. Surprisingly, it smells rougher than their Irish Breakfast, which seems a bit counterintuitive to me. And actually, it does seem to be a heavier cup. The Keemun is very obvious but then I taste bright sparkles of Darjeeling – not enough to make it bitter or tart, just enough to give it a citrus-like top note of additional depth of taste. There is a stoutness to it that I don’t normally find with Keemun so I’m gonna say that’s the Assam, though I don’t taste cardboard/malty so much as feel it. I can’t really say I pick up the Ceylon, but honestly, that’s the hardest tea taste for me to pin down.

All in all, a good breakfast blend but nothing overly special. I think it would hold up really well to milk and sugar (the Assam mellows out the Keemun, making it thick enough to deal, I think but also decreasing the smoky – I’m not a fan of milk in my Keemuns). Because of that it is perhaps a better take-to-work-in-my-travel-tumbler tea than the Irish Breakfast from yesterday but in general a less exciting cup.

It’s a very passable Earl Grey.

It’s also just a very basic one. There are no surprises here. The flavors are very forward; behind them there’s a little bit of something like honey that I wish had a greater presence in the overall taste. I could drink this over sandwiches at lunch or brunch with milk/cream and sweetener (which is really the only way I ever drink Earl Grey, for whatever reason) and be satisfied with it, but I don’t think I’ll be ordering any more of it. There just isn’t anything about it that lifts it up above the endless heads and shoulders of other Earl Grey teas, and I think I’ve grown pretty fond of the added vanilla element in Earl Grey cream teas.

It smells good though. Mmm, lavender.

Thinking I’m going to brew my other two Earl Greys (both of which are of the aforementioned cream variety) and see how they compare.

Second Infusion: Resteeped the sample packet, added 1/2 teaspoon of Rock Sugar, steeped longer (7 minutes). Might have over steeped it here or it might just be because it is the second infusion, but lost much of the undertone flavors from previous brews. The orange blossom is mostly gone, I have completely lost the chestnut and date flavors and even less of a hint of cedar at the end. However, this is still a very good oolong, just now it is very plain.

No complaints, just saying is all.

The leaves are long and definitely silver tipped, very pretty presentation. The fragrance of the leaves is really very simple: oolong tea. I brewed this hot, with no sugar for only three minutes (the package said five, but I felt it might be too much). The flavor is very clean: oolong tea, with a hint of orange and chestnut and date, then a slight cedar aftertaste. I wish that the cedar and date flavors were a little stronger, but I might achieve that with a longer brew. I drank most of the tea hot, but forgot about the end of my cup and wound up enjoying it, very much so I might add, cold.

Very good, will try steeping for longer or maybe adding some sugar to try and boost the flavors a little.

Up at 1am! This schedule thing is not correcting itself, but…

This is still a good morning. I’m jamming out to Passion Pit, I’ve got an idea for a book, and a pre-‘breakfast’ cup of this that seems to have turned into something slightly sweeter on the tip of the tongue than I expected, but not so sweet that it’s the coconut pouchong, which sounded like a bit too much…more a nutty sweet that seems just right for whetting the appetite and helping me feel better disposed toward the idea of cooking eggs and bacon after all.

PS: I don’t think my cats like the Passion Pit. They do not seem to like it when I dance in the kitchen. They especially do not like it when I pick them up to dance with me. Oh well. At least one of us is having a good morning!

I’m brewing this a little bit hotter than I was last yesterday, but it isn’t suffering in the least. I’ve been experimenting with temperatures for this and for the coconut pouchong in the hopes that I can figure out what produces the best balance of steep flavor and longevity through multiple steeps. Not quite finished doing that, but I am drinking an awful lot of both of them lately.

Yesterday I think I must’ve had approximately a bucket of this while I was sitting and writing, which is interesting — of the teas I ordered when I placed my Full Size Order from Golden Moon, this was the one I was most ambivalent about. The aroma of the steeping brew is still cause for an arch of the eyebrow; it’s pungent, woody, musky and floral all at once. My original note still stands — every flavor they describe on the label is immediately discernible in the final brew. The leaves — which are gorgeous, by the way, varying in color from black to a rich chocolate brown with silvery tips — produce what strikes me as being a rather complex cup of tea. In fact, sipping on it, it seems completely bizarre to me that this tea is unflavored…the uniqueness of the taste and the very distinctive character that it has for me is the source of some small amazement. Teas like this remind me to be astonished that all ‘tea’ — as far as white, green, oolong, pu-erh, and black — is derived from the same exact species of plant.

Giving this a big rating bump retroactively. Yesterday’s binge proved it well-earned.