Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Ceylon Black Tea
Flavors
Cherry, Cocoa, Chocolate, Honey, Sweet, Caramel, Molasses, Oak, Sugar, Walnut, Yams, Plum, Raisins
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Teatotaler
Average preparation
Boiling 4 min, 15 sec 2 g 10 oz / 295 ml

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122 Tasting Notes View all

From Golden Moon Tea

For Sinharaja we use rich, dark loose leaf tea leaves that are nourished by fertile rain forest streams in the hills of Ceylon. It has a toasty, molasses-like character with ripe berry notes and a caramelized finish. Serve with a touch of raw sugar and cream for a taste that is smooth, full-bodied and warming.

Our owner, Marcus Stout, drinks a lot of tea. He actually drinks so much that sometimes we think he may start sprouting leaves! And no matter what day it is, he always starts his morning with Sinharaja. This rich black tea is not only one of Marcus’ favorites, but it was also named the #1 tea by the food critics at Gayot. Sinharaja has everything you want in a strong black tea. It is smooth, rich, complex, and can stand up to milk. In fact, that is how Marcus drinks this tea. With 2% milk and a dollop of honey.

Ingredients
Pure Black Tea Grown Bordering the Sinharaja Rainforest.

Preparation
1) Bring fresh, filtered water to a boil
2) Pour over your tea leaves in a teapot
(1 spoonful of tea per serving)
3) Steep 4 minutes
4) Stir, strain, and enjoy!

About Golden Moon Tea View company

Golden Moon is dedicated to offering outstanding, whole-leaf teas of the greatest quality and finesse. All Golden Moon Teas are hand-plucked and meticulously crafted to enhance leaf character, aroma, color, clarity, body, complexity, and above all, flavor.

122 Tasting Notes

100
305 tasting notes

Smooth. I have missed drinking this…added a bit of sugar crystals in brew basket. Three minute infusion. Yum.

gmathis

Had to look back at my own notes on this one…but it got a good review when I tried it. Better than any other GM I’ve tried.

Terri HarpLady

I still haven’t tried any of Golden Moon’s offerings yet.

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77
1908 tasting notes

I wanted to try this tea sweetened but I only realized as I brewed the cup that I only had cherry-flavoured creamed honey, lol! It doesn’t seem to have hurt the flavour of the tea though – if anything the cherry sort of enhances that little hint of berry flavour. The biggest change I tasted was that the natural honey/molasses flavour of the tea was really brought out by the honey – now I’m beginning to see what people are talking about. ;)

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec

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92
176 tasting notes

So I’ve been wanting to try the GM Sampler for a while now. However, yesterday I opened up the mailbox and SURPRISE! Ricky had sent me some tea! The package included the two Golden Moon teas that I wanted to try the most – and this was one of them. So this tasting note is dedicated to Ricky and his awesome generosity and his ability to make my day!

I was so excited about this that I forgot to smell the dry leaves. I made this with a tiny pinch of sugar and a little bit of 2% milk. Let me tell you guys, I love black tea and this one smells delicious! I can tell I’m going to like it and I haven’t even tasted it yet.

Wow… this one ranks pretty high on the Nom Scale. I know for sure I’ll be ordering more of this once I get the cash (although I’ve vowed not to order any tea during the month of April. I got my credit card bill yesterday and oh boy). Yes, it’s delicious all right. It’s very smooth and full-bodied, with notes of honey and possibly some nectar. Underneath everything is a very nice Ceylon. The aftertaste is sweet and it leaves me itching to take another sip.

So congrats, Ricky! You’ve made my day twice in a row! Thank you!

JacquelineM

I know what you mean! I bought my new tea kettle with cash, but oooof! I am going to be cooking some pretty creative dinners until I get paid again!! And no more tea purchases until May! :)

LiberTEAS

This is a very good Ceylon – one of the very best! I love it.

SoccerMom

JacquelineM- May? You are going to need to do lots of swaps til May :))

JacquelineM

SoccerMom – Thankfully my cupboard is so full that I could go months without buying and still have lots to enjoy :) I literally can’t fit another thing in my shelf so this comes at a great time!

SoccerMom

Oh that’s good!

Ricky

Didn’t have any white persian melon, sorry!

Jacqueline, are Jackee, Thomas, Marco, Florence and Tiger still getting along or did someone get evicted from the garden!??!

JacquelineM

Ricky – I brought the Tiger to work to mind my tea stash – we’ve been having a MOUSE problem in the office!!!

Jackee, the Two Thomases (yes there are TWINS!) and Marco Polo are having a grand party now that A+D’s Earl Grey and especially Jasmine Green have entered the cabinet (she is one gal who likes to party!! Strains of Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? have been heard from the tea cabinet, and she installed a disco ball of all things!

Poor Florence – All she cares about is CHOCOLATE – she is simply drowning in chocolate chips (see my tasting note on ChocolatTEA). She is a changed woman!!

There is now a little area for the Samovar teas – they are a bit snobby and don’t attend the disco – they have yoga class.

Ricky

Oh my, seems everyone’s having a blast in the cupboard! Samovar teas are snobby, lolol. What about the Golden Moon peeps? Are they in their jacuzzi basket? Too cool to hangout with everyone else? Tsk tskk, those pesky GM people, thinking they all fancy in their silver suits and all.

JacquelineM

The GM peeps like the disco too! They are easy going and mingle with everyone. Not a bad egg in the bunch! I can’t wait to see what happens when the Dammann Freres come from France!!! Maybe Marco Polo will stop partying so much (very bad influence those wild A+D teas) and they will all join together to open a French tea room!! Bring a little dignity back, sheesh!

AmazonV

LOL now i’m tempted to peek in my cupboard and see what they’re all up to!

SoccerMom

Oh what fun! My tea cupboard could only be compared to a public high school or a college a big melting pot! My husband wants to know what we have been spiking our tea with!

JacquelineM

SoccerMom – LOL! Wait til we take our tea tins out at the Russian Tea Room and play with them like dolls! We’ll make them talk to each other by lifting the lids like a little mouth! He will hide under the table!!

(I won’t really do that in such a classy joint, but !!!)

SoccerMom

I like the part about Marco Polo and Dammann Freres. I think my Dammann Freres and Marco Polo are gay men! They both are so stylish and sophisticated and love to hang out with the ladies!

SoccerMom

Oh and they are both totally HOT!

JacquelineM

:) :) :) Thomas Sampson did once call Marco Polo “fruity” !!! I did lecture Thomas about that, btw!!

SoccerMom

I do recall your Thomas Sampson calling Marco Polo fruity now that you mention it! Shame on Thomas that big burly bully that he is!

SoccerMom

Ricky this had me totally LOL “Tsk tskk, those pesky GM people, thinking they all fancy in their silver suits and all.” Thanks for making me laugh. :)

Ricky

Haha, glad I could brighten your day =]

williams

Well at last me found the sample of Ceylon tea..
I here its so good for health..me feel exciting to found it…

ceylon tea

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85
185 tasting notes

Tried this one with a little longer steep time today, bumped it up to four minutes (we usually do our blacks at about 2-3). It made this one a little more heady, and definitely a lot more malty. Upped the astringency notably as well, but that is to be expected. Still quite a good little black tea from Golden Moon. Quite enjoyed this one from the black sampler.

If you should find yourself looking for the black tea sampler from Golden Moon though… stop. Don’t do it. You can buy all four of the teas in the same 1 oz packages for about $6 cheaper than buying the sampler itself. Granted, if you do that you’ll be able to stop and go “Why the heck am I paying $9/oz for tea?”. I think they really just want to discourage people from getting samples. For $42, you can get one ounce each of four black teas. For $52, you can get four ounces each of those same four black teas, in handy little tins. The math just doesn’t work out.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Sandy Stith

That’s why the stupid Groupon was better math, right? We got 8 one ouncers for what? $26? So you know, now that I’m off for a week, I’ve lost my ability to do math.

CHAroma

I noticed ESP Emporium does this exact same thing. The pro of buying samples should be that you get to try a smaller version for cheaper so you know if you want to invest more money or not. Otherwise, it defeats the entire purpose, doesn’t it?

Kittenna

Completely agree. The price per ounce need not be the same for the sampler pack as for the non-sample-packed tea, but it has to cost less than purchasing the teas outside the sampler pack. Verdant is a wonderful example of excellently priced samplers – I’ve gone through and checked prices, and in some cases it’s cheaper to purchase the sampler, in others it’s about on par or a dollar or two more.

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85
807 tasting notes

Full Review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ today at 6 central time but here are snippets:

The aroma of Sinharaja from Golden Moon Tea is delightful. It smells rich, robust, sweet, and full of molasses. Yet to balance out this sweet tea we have an almost spicy, woodsy flavor. It is quite delicious. Now I can’t say it is the most robust black tea, nor the heaviest in the mouthfeel. Actually I have had teas with far more depth of flavor than Sinharaja, however I do love this tea. I like the subtle astringency indicative of a breakfast tea, without the ability for it to easily become bitter when oversteeped. Let’s face it, if I am going to over steep a tea it is going to be when I am barely awake, in the mornings. Well in honesty my mornings are more early afternoon, but you get the idea.

There is a earthy yet sweet balance in this tea that keeps drawing me back. Chocolate notes that seem almost creamy as the cup cools some present. Bright berry notes do liven up the cup giving an almost sparkly like sensation to the palate. The berries taste more red berry, perhaps even a slight cherry or perhaps raspberry note to the cup. Based on the sparkly sensation I am going to have to go with very sweet raspberry.

gmathis

I tried this a while back; first time I’d ever encountered “molasses” vibes in a cuppa. Wasn’t bad!

Azzrian

Thanks! I noticed that when it gets cold it gets almost peppery – I am second guessing having it iced but will still try it.

ifjuly

First ceylon I’ve ever had that was so striking and memorable I put it into regular rotation. Yum.

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89
2036 tasting notes

Golden Moon sample No. 31 of 31. I just looked back at the note for sample No. 1 and I started this journey 28 days ago. So almost a month here, too, Ewa. This seems like a really nice tea to end on, as it has a lot of love here on Steepster. It’s one of the ones I’ve been most looking forward to trying.

It’s probably not the best idea for me to be drinking this at 9:30 p.m., but at least it should keep me awake to finish my workout, which was interrupted earlier today at about the 1/3 mark.

I love the look of Ceylon leaves, that twiggy, delicate, dark brown bird nesty thing they have going on. The only other pure Ceylon I’ve had is the Samovar, and like that one, the dry leaves of this one smell a little tobaccoey and a little fruity. But I’m getting an interesting mocha-java note too.

Wow, what a beautiful color! It’s not that different from a black “tea colored” liquor really, but it has a rosey hue to it, like someone dropped a few drops of cranberry juice into it. I want a sweater this color!

The aroma is totally nommy. I get the molasses in a big way, but underneath the sugary sweetness is something else. Something that smells like that red color in the liquor, but that I can’t give a name. I think it is what the company describes as berry. The more I inhale it, the more I realize: it’s raspberry, and I don’t have to throw my mind out of focus to find it as I did with the Samovar.

Taste: I like. Lots. This seems to be among the fuller bodied Golden Moon black teas, the opposite of my experience with the Samovar Ceylon, which I found to be less deep and rich than the other Samovar black teas I’d tried. It’s smooth, and it has a character that reminds me of a lighter red wine. I get the toastiness, and some sweetness, but not too, too much. Despite its depth, it still manages to have a freshness to it without being astringent.

It was indeed a special way to conclude my voyage under the Golden Moon. Now, I must go place my order, the one I grandfathered into my lockdown by virtue of starting this trip almost a month ago.

It’s not goodbye, Golden Moon. It’s hello, again.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
malomorgen

wow u finished them all? that was fast :D just went through ratings you gave them. and its really high in average. looking forward to my delivery from the states…

Adham

Congratulations on getting through them all – I just got my Golden Moon sampler pack last night, so I’ll be making a similar journey soon…

RachanaC (Rachel)-iHeartTeas

I got my sampler yesterday and have already started enjoying the goodness.

__Morgana__

You guys are going to have a great time!

Lainie Petersen

Yes, this is a delicious Ceylon. I need to get more.

Ricky

Congrats! Isn’t it so sad to see the samplers go. Perhaps another tea company will follow in GM’s foot steps and offer a sampler as well.

__Morgana__

That would be awesome, Ricky.

RachanaC (Rachel)-iHeartTeas

I agree very awesome!

Azzrian

I just tried this and I have to agree with this tea log – everything she said!

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87
911 tasting notes

The leaves are so pretty. Dark and almost velvety looking. And they smell like cocoa? Of course, I just ate some clementines so my hands smell like them and that could be throwing things off.

The tea itself smells like it has been sweetened with honey. It smells light and fruity and sweet. And wow. The taste is… like maple or cane syrup. The end tastes just like raw sugar. This is really sweet and almost rich. I was so surprised that I called the husband in to make him taste. After one sip he gave me a shocked look and grabbed the cup back to have another sip. He said that it tasted like there was cream in it. After another sip, I’d have to agree. The smoothness gives it the feeling that it has been spiked with a little milk.

This is really good. All sorts of sweet, natural tastes combining into one yummy tea. This is probably going on my ‘to order’ list!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec
Angrboda

This sounds really awesome! I’m getting more and more intrigued by that sampler thing they’ve got. It’s definitely something I’m going to try to figure out in the new year!

Auggy

Hopefully they offer shipping to your part of the world because it is a way cool sampler. Sure, there are a few misses in there but the fact that it is their entire tea catalog and they have more good teas than bad (so far), it’s definitely a good purchase.

Carolyn

I’m so glad you like Sinharaja. Until this week it was my favorite tea. (Now it is one of my favorite two teas.) It is my comfort tea when the world has obviously conspired to make me unhappy. I bought a half pound bag and keep nervously checking to make sure it isn’t getting close to gone.

Angrboda

They don’t at the moment iirc, but I have a couple of people in mind in the US that I might be able to convince to buy it for me and have me reimburse them via paypal or some such. We’ll see if they trust me enough for that, but it’s worth a try to ask them anyway. :)

takgoti

Oooh, yay Sinharaja! I’ve got about 1 cup left of what Carolyn sent me, so it’s definitely getting ordered this week.

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98
4169 tasting notes

additional notes: Sinharaja was also mentioned in ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ so I thought it was the appropriate time to dig out this old tea from the stash as I finish the book. Surprisingly the dry leaf has a fragrance of chocolate that I don’t remember at all and it’s even in the flavor. Possibly this is aging and changing? So old yet so good…
Also, tea is not really mentioned in the book except for one of the characters not really liking tea, and Maali’s mom adding alcohol to her teapot…

gmathis

Mercy, it’s been a long time since I’ve had this one!

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1220 tasting notes

Finally back to tea! My mom came to visit this weekend and she loved the iced Rainbow Sherbet tea so that was pretty much all we drank when at my apartment! I have so many samples and things I need to try, and it should finally cool off for a little bit. I’ve got my patio door open right now and it’s so nice. I’m hoping it’ll rain soon. I just planted some flowers and herbs out there and I’m really excited about them.

I got my mom to order Golden Moon’s black tea sampler and split it with me…hoping maybe if I leave her with enough tea she will drink it on her own. I took this and the French Breakfast hoping she might like Darjeeling as much as me. I’ve always wanted to try this tea so I’m so happy to finally have it.

In the bag, it smells like molasses, but steeped it takes on more of a honey scent. I let it steep about a minute longer than intended but no harm done. Tastes sweet, and I even get notes that remind me of Darjeeling but in a richer black tea. In fact it just tastes really sweet, I can’t even imagine adding sugar on top of it. It tastes perfect as it is!

The aftertaste reminds me of my orange blossom honey. I am really getting citrus from this rather than berry.

Since I have some milk, I added it and it really cut all the flavors out, so I had to add the sugar. Now it is definitely reminiscent of caramel and I do get a bit of berry. I definitely prefer it without the additions though.

Bonnie

I have your rain.I’ll send it along to you!

momo

It finally started about an hour ago! It was like the perimeter interstate around Atlanta somehow magically prevented the rain from coming in for three hours.

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78
1112 tasting notes

Very nice for a Ceylon (but I have to say I did like Andrews and Dunham’s Ceylon better – it had more pizzaz despite it being a Ceylon. I keep wanting to type Cylon – but I won’t go there!!). This could be because I like milk and sugar in my black tea, and this tea just didn’t stand up to it in the way I like. I guess that’s why I am an Assam and Panyang Congu type of gal!

Oh! and this is tasting note number 100 for me :) Neat!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
sophistre

This is actually what I just finished in my own cup, actually. The more I drink it the more the molasses and berry they tout seem to come to the front for me. I tend to only ever use turbinado or rock sugar anyway, but using the turbinado definitely beats out any other sweetener with this tea, for me…it underlines some of the flavors already there. Also, the cylon thing made me giggle.

AmazonV

Ha! yea I have been saying it Cylon for a bit now….not sure how to break the habit (the tea leave look like humans now?)

Ricky

Wait wait, you put milk & sugar in A&D’s ceylon? I have to try that!

JacquelineM

Ricky – yup :)

JacquelineM

AmazonV – I looked in my tea cabinet and said – OMG! Is Marco Polo really a Cylon!?! Is Florence a Cylon? Are Jackee Muntz and Thomas Sampson actually Cylons coming into my tea cabinet to wreak havoc and

- WHO IS THE FINAL CYLON!?!?!!?

and what was Starbuck(s) !!?!?!?!!?

AmazonV

:) the final Cylon is lurking in your cabinet!!!!
Man, other than Starbucks the green siren of coffee I couldn’t tell you what she was, the ending broke my poor little brain…

JacquelineM

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! :O

Dan

Congrats on reaching the 100 milestone. I bet somewhere there is a Cylon tea. :)

LENA

YAY! Congrats on post #100!!!

takgoti

I am so sorry, but whenever someone talks about reaching a numerical milestone, the WoWer in me has this undeniable need to say, “DING!”

So, DING! Congratulations!

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