White Ginger

Plucked at random from Golden Moon Sampler Basket
Tasting Note circa #18 or 19

I tried to make this a success. I really did. I try to meet a tea and its demands 100%. I don’t think I can spin gold out of cat food but I do think I will try my hardest to bring out the best in the tea. I had a small sample and therefore only used about 3 ounces of water. The dry tea smelled faintly like one of those very mild soaps that they sell for use with babies. I could not pick up on the ginger at all.

Brewed, the golden tea looked ok but still did not present itself with a discernable aroma. Maybe if I conjure up vegetation in my mind it’s slightly vegetal but that might have been one of my Jedi Mind tricks (the limits of my Jedi Mind tricks are remarkable: pretend that the spinach has a romaine overtone—that sort of thing).

Ultimately, I think that I still prefer big, bold flavors and I like my ginger to be all full of huff and stuff. This is probably my least favorite of the Golden Moon Teas I’ve tested thus far.

GM Sampler | Tea 7 of 31

White Ginger | http://bit.ly/cScCEi
All Together Now | http://bit.ly/cHWS3X

I drank this the other day amidst a rather frenzied slew of schoolwork and…it was a really strange tea. It could be that I should have let it sit longer, but reading the other logs I’m not sure that would have done much.

The flavor was there, though it was extremely light and it was almost more…textural than flavorful. It felt like the ginger was trying to shout, “I’M HERE! I’M HERE!” but it showed up with a lost voice and a box of tissues.

The feeling it created was almost on the way to tingly, but it was softer, not unlike ginger ale that hasn’t quite gone flat. I’d call the sensation shimmery, and the swallow was clean and fresh. It would have been fully enjoyable, if a bit devoid of taste, but then this mucky aftertaste that followed it. The aftertaste, while soft like the rest of the tea, killed the diffused sparkly quality of the body of the tea like it was splooting [technical term] it with mud.

I was able to pick out some notes of hay that I believe were coming from the white tea, but that was pretty much all I was able to get out of this tea other than the weird smothered ginger taste. It wasn’t horrid by any means, and if it weren’t for the bummer-inducing aftertaste I’d consider getting more, but I won’t be buying this one.

I had this for breakfast this morning. Hot with just a little sweetener, it has just the right kick to it to start my day!!

I need to have this more often. Maybe iced?

So I decided to open up the Golden Moon Tea Sampler today. The first one I tried is this one. The leaves do not have a strong aroma, but I also do not have a lot of tea to smell here.

I steeped it hot for four minutes. I tried it with and without sugar, but really found very little difference between the two. The tea is very simple. It is a complex white tea in that it makes a pale liquor, with delicate veggie fragrance but a strong white tea flavor. The ginger is mostly lost in brewing, but you do find it as an undertone note in the tea. Which is good, because overpowering ginger would not be enjoyable.

Overall, I found this tea to be very enjoyable. I would definitely buy a tin of this.

I didn’t drink white tea in ages. Was never in the mood for it somehow. Or was I lazy to wait for the water to cool down? :)
Anyways now i remember. I like this one. It has that smoothness that white teas sometimes have. Ginger is quite present but in a very delicate way. It’s not as peppery as I’d expect. Can bearly feel that side of ginger.
But all together this is quite an enjoyable white tea…

Drank this last night, following the White Licorice sampler — for ginger is where I reign supreme! Alas, I found this much too weak for me, and barely tasted the spicy snap of ginger. It is perfectly serene, as they say in the description, but I wanted the ginger to see a little more action. Onwards!

(Might have been a combination of too much water and not a high enough steep temperature, but I find that rawther doubtful.)

So I finally dug back into my Golden Moon samples. I’ve had the family stomach bug that 15/17 of us got and wanted some ginger something to sip on. And now, halfway through the cup, I’m seconding everyone else’s comments. I don’t get a lot of ginger here. It’s a decent cup, not something I’d avoid, but it’s also not something that I’d choose if looking for ginger in the future.

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/whiteginger/

I’m approaching this one warily – dare I say gingerly? It’s such a strong flavor, and to team it up with delicate white tea… Opening the packet there was a pronounced but not overpowering ginger aroma, and when I poured the sample into the hot water there were about 20 or 30 little ginger chunks which immediately sank to the bottom. Well, I like ginger anyway, so I gave it three and a half minutes at 180.

I’m really surprised at how mild this is. I’m getting the mouth feel of the white tea, which is nice, and just the tiniest bit of warmth on the back end from the spice. There’s a pleasing amount of natural sweetness to the flavor, but really not a whole lot else going on for me. It might be worth trying it again brewed up much more strongly and then iced?

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #17
Woah, almost halfway! I am making some excellent time here.
I was very pleased that this came out from my random grab this afternoon, since my belly has been complaining about something all day and I’ve often found it responds well to ginger – better than to mint and chamomile, even. I’ve been kind of dreading getting any of the white teas, though, since I am a total white tea noob.

I was somewhat suspicious of the 2-4 minute steeping time on the packet, so I decided to compromise by going with 1m 30s for my initial cup (which is what my timer app recommends) then proceeding to leave the leaves in the pot for an additional one and a half minutes for the rest of the cups. Depending on the results, maybe I’ll put the leaves back in after my second cup. But that is probably a horrible thing to do to a white tea, so I will try to refrain.

The first cup was very light, I agree with Meghann that the taste isn’t vegetal of grassy, but I can’t put my finger on what it actually is. I like that, although the taste is light, it still seems to have suffused the water and doesn’t just taste like tea flavored water, but like it’s own unique beverage. The ginger, in this cup, is only obvious in the aftertaste.

Second cup, the doubled steeping time has left the tea darker and, obviously, stronger. The burn from the ginger is obvious throughout, and the white tea flavor, which I have decided tastes kind of grain-ish, is also much more obvious. There is also a sweetness that seems much more subdued than the sugary taste of a green tea.

Although I quite like ginger, it seems to serve more to add a kick to the tea rather than any sort of flavor. My stomach does feel better though.

Second sample out of my box! I did not expect this company to introduce me to white teas (that I not only like, but love), but I’m pretty happy about this turn of events. I thought a whole type of tea was lost to me, but it turns out I was just doing it wrong!

This one has a lovely, delicate ginger smell both dry and brewed. “Delicate” and “ginger” aren’t usually found together in my experience, but this manages it. Again, the ginger doesn’t hide the white tea flavor, instead blending with it nicely. It has an almost floral, sweet aftertaste that follows the ginger. I also think this would be wonderful iced.