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I am ruined for life. This tea. With all the wonderful teas I’ve received from the insider club, /this tea/ makes it all worth it. From the moment I unscrewed the tin, and took a whiff of its gloriously vegetal scent, I was in love. I didn’t even drink it at first. I absorbed it by scent alone.

There are some teas that don’t live up to its taste when experiencing its addictive scent, but this is not one of them. The taste blows me away. It’s warm and grassy, and it’s smooth. It’s what I imagine drinking tea right in the middle of the tea farm is like. It IS advertised as “one of the freshest teas you’ll ever taste,” and you can tell. It’s such a joy to experience that I had to share a bit with a fellow tea-loving friend, because I needed someone to gush over this with.

Congratulations, harishi sencha. You’ve set a standard for me that’s so high that all other senchas will be woefully disappointing.

This is the first of my tea-of-the-month collection to finish off. This saddens me. I adore this tea.

My tin may be empty, but this one works for multiple steeps. It’s rare that I’ll dry out leaves to steep them again later, but this one is well worth the effort.

There are some teas you buy because they smell amazing, and that initial amazement fades over time. But there are some—like this one—that retain its crisp, minty fragrance and surprises you every time you open up the tin. I adore mint, so I might be biased. And I tend to only drink this one when I’m sickly, and the smell alone really clears up your sinuses. But even when I’m working at 100% capacity, this tea is a delight.

I’ll admit, it’s less “green” and more “mint.” If you’re not a huge fan of mint, it won’t be for you. The scent is overwhelming (I say that lovingly), and the fragrance fills your mouth and your sinuses. Despite the hot temperature, it’s cooling on the way down. The green base is pretty average, but you’re probably not picking up this one for the taste of actual tea.

So much mint. Everything is mint.

Ah, the reason I rejoined steepster. I spoiled myself and signed up for Golden Moon’s insider tea club, and already it’s off to a fabulous start.

This isn’t a tea you make with the “hot water” of the work water cooler and forget about as it sits on your desk. This requires precision and adequate time to prepare and savor. And a proper cup—I broke out my porcelain for this one. This tea is SO smooth. I didn’t catch that the first few steeps, since I oversteeped it, but my fourth attempt is perfect. (The steep time is incorrect on this review, since 15 seconds is the shortest it will go. It’s actually five. Yes, seconds. That’s just enough time to pour in the water and pour it out again. It makes me feel like a scientist.)

This tea was grown on a private lot in the mountains of China, and you can almost SMELL it. I don’t know what standing in the middle of a tea farm smells like, but I’d bet this is it. Smooth, fresh, with a scent of dew-dropped grass. This tea deserves a porch on a mountain overlooking China. Unfortunately, I’m in New Jersey, but the Hudson River is pretty, too.

It’s sweet and buttery in your mouth, and smooth on the way down. There’s no overwhelming aftertaste, just the slightest hint of that dew-dropped grass. I intended to make my current cup last long enough to finish this review, but… well, I don’t have to tell you how THAT went.

A side note: this can be stepped up to 20 times (!), and is thus far the only tea I’ve dried out between steeps to keep for future use. And it just gets better each time. (I’m responsible for the photo here in the swanky glass teapot, because why wouldn’t I use a swanky glass teapot?)

I’m back on steepster after a many-year hiatus, with an expanded tea knowledge and a newly stocked cupboard :D

This summer I went on an herbal kick. I also worked near a David’s Tea, which explains all the colorful canisters and unusual tea names in there. Peanut butter cup is among the most unusual, and it’s probably my favorite of my summer/fall tea-buying binge.

I’m not the first to say it—but there are no peanuts, and you would never know. If you’re looking for “quality” and “organic” this isn’t it, but it’s fun. At least smell the leaves, which genuinely smells like a peanut butter cup. It’s a mix of apple, almond, and chocolate, but you’d swear that you could eat it right out of the tin. (I’m smelling my tin now again. It’s addictive.)

The chocolate doesn’t come through as strongly when you steep it, but I’m not complaining. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate tea. But I am a huge fan of peanut butter, which explains why I restepped a giant mug of this one tonight. It’s deceiving—you do taste a hint of apple, but the scent of (nonexistent) peanut butter almost makes you think you’re drinking candy. Almost. This, at least, doesn’t leave me with the inevitable regret of consuming too much.

I LOVE THIS. I don’t have much else to say about it. But with the combination of white tea and aniseed, I was biased from the start. I’ll eat/drink pretty much anything containing anise.
I love the smell of licorice (I seem to be the minority here), so I was inhaling this from the moment I opened the sampler packet. And it’s a heavy scent. Drinking this is like liquid licorice. But that’s why I plan to invest in a proper supply of it, now that my sample is nearly gone. You can’t keep an Italian away from her anise.

Roasted anything will win points for me. I’m loving the flavor of this one. Prior to receiving this sample I had yet to experience a twig-like tea, so I was excited to open the little pouch. Even the scent of the tea itself is lovely; a somewhat smoky, nutty fragrance. Yum.

I steeped it a little too long, because I forgot to put on my timer, but it’s still great. It’s not bitter at all, despite the oversteep, and it’s smooth and nutty. I see here that it can be mixed with juice? I must try it.

I love white tea. I really wanted to love this tea. But I’m coming to the bottom of my sample, and I’m just not feeling it. It’s supposed to have this nice, sweet taste, but I’m not tasting it. I even let it cool down a bit (actually, it’s about room temperature now, oops) but nothing comes out for me. I think my taste buds are broken.
It’s not unpleasant by any means, but I’m not running out to buy it. I’ve tried steeping it longer, too. How disappointing.

This is my go-to tea when I’m looking for something light. Or when I’m lazy, as I have it in bag version.
Everything I love about tea is in its description: “coconut, vanilla, ginger, and lemongrass.” And why wouldn’t I love this? The ginger is almost not there, which I’m totally okay with, as I’m not a fan. But it blends together so nicely that nothing sticks out, and I’m left with something refreshing to battle my Monday morning.
I’m almost out of my stash, surprisingly, and I do believe I’ll be replenishing this one.

I still haven’t gotten around to testing some of my tea-of-the-month samplers, so I decided it was time to break them out (especially considering the November batch is coming soon).

This has a great roasted nutty flavor. I didn’t read up on it at all before steeping, so I wasn’t expecting anything in particular. So it was a pleasant surprise! It has a happy scent, too; it fills my room with that same nutty fragrance. It’s a nice tea for autumn. Works well with my current surroundings, with the falling leaves and brisk air (if I wasn’t sitting at work, that is).