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Yay, my samples from Golden Moon are here! Woo!

I thought I’d start off with this one because I need some caffeine and the honeyed description sounded delicious. I used about half the leaves in the packet in 8 ounces of water. There is a sweet, honey like flavor, but it’s the kind that I’ve found in a lot of black teas. I think that good black teas tend to have a delicious honey/black tea/sweet aftertaste, if you know what I mean, and this tea has lots of that delicious aftertaste.

The flavor of the tea just seems like “default black tea” flavor, with very nicely executed “good black tea honeyed aftertaste” flavor. It’s just a little tannic, but I didn’t have any trouble sipping my cup without sugar or milk. That kind of smoothness without milk or sweetener is pretty rare for breakfast bends.

Personally, since I drown my tea in milk and honey and sugar, I would rather have cheaper, lower quality, ground up Twinings English Breakfast. It’s not nearly as smooth or honeyed as this tea is, but I don’t mind, since I’m going to smother it in milk and honey anyway. However, I think this tea would be perfect for those times you just want a nice, clean cup of delicious black tea. I might just keep this one in stock for those times, since I’ve tasted very few plain black teas as good as this one without additives. Yum.

There’s a heavy layer of flavoring oils at the top of my cup, but I don’t mind as this tea tastes pretty nice. Last time I tried this, I thought it tastes like someone had dripped real caramelized sugar into a cup of black tea. This time, however, it tastes a lot more artificial. I did, however, let this sit out for around 2 hours before I reheated it, so that could be affecting its taste. There’s a strong aftertaste to this tea…the caramel flavor lingers in your mouth long after you swallow. I know some people like that, and I usually do, but I don’t like sweet things so the lingering syrupy caramel isn’t so great for me. Still, not bad…

This is my first genmaicha ever, so I can’t say how this compares to other brands, but this is pretty yummy! I actually ended up making my own genmaicha extra green/“ryokucha” by stirring in some matcha powder, and the result is delicious! Toasty, milky, lightly sweet, vegetable-ey, a little bitter…om nom nom nom nom.

I finally was able to try out my new tea thermal! I ordered the Copco tea thermos (http://www.amazon.com/Copco-2510-4600-Tea-Thermal-Stainless/dp/B0028N6OLQ/ref=pd_sbs_k_1) which has a twistable infuser so you can stop steeping without having to dump the leaves. Unfortunately the inside of the mug is plastic, not steel…deceptive, because the outside is stainless steel!

Anyway, I decided to christen the thermal with one of my favorite teas, English Breakfast by Twinings. I heated the water and milk to boiling, put a little under 3 teaspoons of leaf in the infuser, added some Splenda and honey, and let it steep for a few minutes. The first thing I noticed was that the tea is HOT! And it refused to cool down until like an hour later…good if you’re planning on packing your tea for a long trip, but bad if you’re impatient like me :(

I’ve never made English Breakfast outside of the Zarafina, so it might have just been my weird steeping methods, but the tea did not taste very good. It actually tasted a lot like Irish Breakfast tea does…malty with notes of brown sugar and, um, sweet potato. I didn’t taste the delicious caramel-honey flavor English Breakfast with milk and honey usually gets. I don’t know if I added too much leaf, or oversteeped it, or if the temperature was off. I’m increasing the rating a little, just because before today, this tea has never let me down.

I found this on sale today at the store, so I picked up one box of this, along with a box of organic genmaicha. Instead of drinking this straight up, I made ochazuke with it! I layered cooked white rice, umeboshi (pickled plum) paste, wakame seaweed flakes, and bonito flakes in a bowl, poured a cup of hot green tea over it, and then topped it with some crumbled seaweed/wasabi flavored rice cake. Umai!

Grossness. Hot hibisicus sourness that completely masks the flavor of green tea. Was a bit better when it cooled down and I added Splenda and honey. Otherwise, I won’t bother with this tea.

This blend tastes to me like your average English Breakfast blend, but it’s saved from mediocrity by this delicious syrupy sweet note. Still, I’m pretty disappointed by A&D’s Series 2 set so far…so expensive, and not that tasty. Sigh.

Oh wow…this tea is pretty darn good, even though it’s from a teabag and decaf. I wasn’t even keeping track of how long I steeped it, but I think it steeped pretty long, in boiling water…yet not a bit of bitterness! I added in some milk and Splenda, and the tea is strong enough to handle it. It tastes creamy, orangey, sugary, and flowery. It’s late, and I apologize if this note is just blah. But the tea itself? Good enough that it’s making me feel better since my kitty, who peed all over her own winter coat fur bloomers, backed up into my leg 5 minutes ago and got pee on me. :(

(Side note….should I take her for a haircut? It’s the middle of winter, but my apartment is really warm…)

I measured up 11 ounces of water. I heated the water to around 194 degrees. I added a little less than 1.5 teaspoons of dry leaf to my teapot. I timed it for 3:45. I tried it plain. With Splenda. With milk. But the result was always the same—no caramel!

This tea is yummy on its own, as a smoky, non-bitter, savory tea. The texture is like silk, and it goes down easily. I won’t have any trouble finishing it off. But I wanted caramel, damn it!