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The dry leaf makes me sad. Not shiny, not a pretty green and the needles have a few full ones but a lot of broken ones – and this has no indication of being a deeply steamed sencha so we should have longer, full leaves. I wasn’t really expecting anything more, but one can hope, you know? The smell was interesting… faint but sweet but dry and not rich or buttery or vegetal at all. Once put in my preheated Tokoname pot, they did smell better but I’m not going to take that to mean too much because my pot alone smells nice when it’s been heated because it’s been used for sencha so much. The tea does smell stronger than my pot alone, so it’s not a total lost cause, but it’s still not looking good.

The resulting liquid is… yellow. And wet. That’s pretty much it. Very little smell and the taste is hot and… astringent at the end. And that astringency builds quickly to a salty taste that takes up residency at the tip of my tongue and just hangs on. That tastes adds a little thickness to an otherwise very thin bodied tea.

Problem one with this tea: it’s not the type of sencha I like. It’s obviously a lighter steamed sencha based on the clear yellow color and I prefer the richness from a deep steamed sencha. But problem number two: it’s not a good example of a lightly steamed sencha. It’s bland and has very little taste, only bitterness. The leaves are either old or weren’t stored well and that probably doesn’t help the lack of taste.

The only positive I’m going to give this tea is that I did finish my whole cup. But I’m not even going to try a second steep.

Three minutes seems short, but it says 2 – 3 so I’m gonna give it a shot.

The dry leaves smell lovely. Earthy and smooth and a little sweet. No fish to be found so fingers crossed.

My first thought upon smelling the wet leaf was ‘seaweed’. But not exactly. Kind of like… dirt-covered, boiled wakame. The tea itself smells sweet but there is an undertone of… not quite fish but something oceanic or seafood-ish in it. But the dominant smell hits me as dried sweet hay that has been rained on. This reminds me of the fish pu-erh so I’m nervous.

The taste is better than ROT’s. No sweet smoked fish. There are similarities though. But not in the bad tastes, only in the good. This one does have a weird aftertaste, though. Not weird, just… not expected. There’s actually a little bit of dryness that kicks in within the sweet hay flavor at the tail end of the swallow.

I’m not 100% sold on this one. I definitely like it more than ROT’s but it doesn’t come together quite as happily for me as Samovar’s Maiden’s Ecstasy.

Had a little false start with this one. Went to sip from my cup and apparently I didn’t rinse it out well enough because I could still smell vanilla. So I poured it into a fresh-from-the-dishwasher cup (strawberry teacups from my MIL! YAY!) and we were vanilla-less from then on.

First of, the dry leaf? Lovely. So so pretty. Small but squiggly with love little bits of gold. So cute. And they smell sweet – I’d probably go with Lotus because it reminds me of the smell I got at Chusonji and I know they are big on having lotuses planted around the temple site. Plus, my other options based on the description were honey or sandalwood and neither quite fit.

Once brewed though, the tea smells more like a mild version of one of the husband’s single malts. Spicy but sweet. I’m going to go with sandalwood with a hint of honey on that, but the spice isn’t as incense-y as I typically think of sandalwood. So maybe I should just go with faint single malt with light honey.

Sipping, it is nice. There’s a large flavor that is just ‘tea’ to me but it has notes. There’s a little spice (more pepper than sandalwood to me as I can feel it make a little prickle on the tip of my tongue) but it is sweet, too. Not overwhelmingly so. Just enough to keep this from making me think of chai. There’s a dry, slightly astringent hit right at the end of the swallow that hits the back of my tongue and reminds me of some rougher Darjeelings and it seems to oddly bring the taste full circle from the spicy tickle at the beginning of the sip (and at the tip of my tongue).

I think with the spice and astringency and only hint of sweet, this tea just isn’t for me. But it’s got some good notes and an interesting flavor so I can see people that prefer bolder or spicy teas enjoying this one than I did. It’s surprisingly dark and broody tasting for such a light-colored and light-bodied tea.

I feel like I’ve already tried a ton of Golden Moon teas so far, but my little sample basket from them is still overflowing with goodies! I decided on this one today, mostly because I had just gotten up and this is the first one I saw that was to be made with boiling water. The Zojirushi being on 208, I went ahead and grabbed it. When I am more awake I can worry about what I want to drink. Right now I just need something.

My cup of tea smells lovely. The vanilla is creamy and sweet and almost candy-like. In fact, the smell reminds me of SerendipiTEA’s Colonille and City Harvest Black. Upon dipping though, it fails to fill those (admittedly very large) shoes. The vanilla isn’t overwhelming but is soft, a little sweet and creamy and really delicious. But there is a disconnect between the vanilla flavor and the tea. The two don’t fully merge. There’s vanilla, then there’s tea, then there is a little vanilla aftertaste. I don’t taste vanilla tea so much as vanilla and tea. And I want those tastes squished together.

If I were rating this tea on scent alone, this would get a very high score. It smells awesome. But the taste is a little disappointing when hit with that lovely smell. As it cools, the two tastes seem to blend a bit, but the delightful smell goes away so I prefer it hot. However, now I seem to be getting a bit of a dry, powdery aftertaste feeling in my mouth. Sort of like when a potato hasn’t been fully reheated and you’re left with a little mealy taste that goes back to creamy once you pop it in the microwave another minute.

For me, this tea just doesn’t hit all the right notes. I gave the husband a sip of it hot and his face lit up when he smelled it but he got a bit of a confused look on his face post-sip and stated, “That’s interesting.” So yeah. Great smell but the flavors just don’t match up to the smell. And once the tea and vanilla flavors starts to combine, the tea temp is close to starting to get cold enough that the aftertaste feels heavy and uncomfortable.

I think if I had finished the tea before it got to that funky aftertaste/feel point, I might have given the tea a little higher rating simply because the smell was awesome. But right now when it is time to move that little slider, I just have an odd taste in my mouth that leaves me kind of grumpy so it’s hard to remember the happy smell and odd (but not as bad as the aftertaste) taste of the hot tea.

I can’t believe how long I’ve had this… no wonder the leaves don’t look as pretty anymore. Probably a little softer than I’d prefer but I didn’t think to increase the leaf since I didn’t realize it was as old as it is.

Again, this is soft. Light and floral but not perfume/flowery. More like… a silk oolong lite. That same high sweetness, just not as intense. This isn’t something I need in my cupboard all the time, but once this little tin goes away, I’m sure I’ll eventually pick up more.

ETA: You know, for something ‘imperial’, the expanded leaves sure look liked they’ve been chewed on.

Brought this tea to my parents’ house for my morning Christmas tea. Mostly I wanted to have it from a teacup again to reaffirm my love of it after the mediocre showing it had in my travel tumbler.

In a teacup again, this tea is yummy. Bright, clear, smooth with a little Darjeeling-like citrus sparkle laid over top a more Yunnan-tasting base tea flavor. This is the first time the husband has had it and he’s a big fan, too, giving it a 5 out of 5 and saying that it is like a Darjeeling but with very little acidity or bitterness. Smooth and with good, full flavor.

This tea definitely is happier in an open cup and I’m happier with it there too.

Had a little side by side tasting of this and Golden Moon’s lapsang souchong with my dad pre-present opening tonight. This one was his favorite since it had a fuller body and a stronger smoky taste. As it cooled, there was a sweeter taste but a little darker in sweetness than Golden Moon’s. The smoky scent and flavor was stronger and not quite as smooth to me but my dad enjoyed it more for that reason, saying it was a great winter tea. While I prefer Golden Moon’s, my dad prefers this one so I might have to keep a little of this on hand when he comes to visit.

Had a little side by side tasting of this and ROT’s lapsang souchong with my dad pre-present opening tonight. Ultimately he preferred ROT’s as it is a bit of a stronger taste and with a fuller body but I liked this one. It sweeter and softer with a note of a faint honey taste running through the tea. It is a thinner-bodied tea and not as dark and murky as ROT’s. There is a smoky flavor all over this tea but nothing overpowering. Instead, it is smooth and lovely. I will be ordering more of this one.

A little after dinner tea to finish off the evening (well, finish it off before the dessert course starts. Both of my parents said this smelled like roasted seaweed to them. But to me it smells sweet and almost honeyed. Taste-wise, there is a little nut-like tartness at the end, but the front taste matches the smell of sweetness, with perhaps a little nectar or fruit or light honey, transitioning to a little vegetal as it cools.. Not an overly thin tea, it gives both a light/high taste and a darker, more substantial taste at the same time. This actually gives a nice finish to my meal.

I’m a sucker for anything orange. So just based on the name I knew I had to get this one. Sadly, I’m a bit brain dead tonight so I can’t really pick out lots of goodies from the dry leaf. But it smells fun.

Post-pouring, I can smell the lemongrass but I can also smell something that reminds me of my perfume (which has notes of things like Bergamot, Grapefruit, Mandarin and Orange – it’s yummy). Sipping is… wow. The front taste is definitely the lemongrass but it’s quickly followed by some nicely juicy and dark citrus tastes. And I say ‘dark’ because it’s a pretty concentrated flavor. The lemongrass keeps a nice, fluffy top note going on and (I’m thinking) the osthmanthus (or perhaps the lemon myrtle since I don’t know what that tastes likes) gives it a sweet end note, with the citrus hitting in the late middle. It’s almost borderline too phlegm-producing herbal with the strong citrus but that lemongrass saves it and as it cools, that heavy citrus lightens up to a more clementine taste.

This is really actually very good. Light but flavorful, good citrus flavors (that don’t remind me of Froot Loops – always a plus) and pretty darn refreshing. I think this would probably be pretty summery and awesome as an iced tea. This is an herbal I’d be happy to add in my rotation for nights that I need tea but it’s too late to have caffeine.