Ganymede Matcha Tea Blend by MoongleamTeaShoppe

by kittylovestea

Hello Tea Friends!

My head is spinning at the idea of a Matcha, cocoa, mint, and orange peel combination and it’s something I have no idea of what to expect. Frankly that is why I chose this blend to try, not only is it original but it’s also from a small Etsy store and I love to give smaller businesses a chance.

So lets have a look at the tea. what can I say?…It’s medium sized pieces of what I assume is cocoa and orange peel covered in a green Matcha dust with a few rough looking chopped leaves. It looks as adventurous as it sounds. Scent wise it smells chocolatey yet dry.

I think I will steep this at roughly 75C (on the milder side) and hope that the Matcha doesn’t become too astringent. But I still want to get the best out of the other ingredients so I don’t want to go too mild. Steeping time will also be a fairly quick 20  seconds. This is going in completely blind on a guess, I imagine it’s one of those teas you have to try and alter to taste and experiment with. But for now those are my parameter choices.

As soon as the water goes in the mint fills my nostrils and bursts through the cocoa. The colour is dark green and cloudy (thank you Matcha) and it bares a strong mint chocolate scent. It looks like used paint water but looks can be deceiving.

Okay so the first sip reveals bitter mint with some sweetness and some creamy cocoa behind it, leading to a dry yet refreshing after taste. The astringency is from the Matcha I think but it quickly fades into a creamy undertone before finishing with softer mint.It’s actually so rich it’s more like a black tea base than green. The orange is lost on me though.

A second steep with the same parameters reveals: less bitterness making it creamier and sweeter, the mint still being forefront. This is more like a traditional mint green tea with a touch of cocoa. Still dry but so easy to drink.

Think of it as a mint chocolate tea with some Matcha goodness thrown in for good measure. A strange combination but it actually makes a nice change to try something so different. My husband said it’s like a chocolate ice lolly that has melted a bit.

So unusual but nice, worth the try and I am happy to have tried a sample. If you’re looking for something different then it’s definitely worth a try.

Happy Steeping!

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Green Blend
Where to Buy: MoonGleam Tea Shoppe (Etsy)
Description: The rich, earthy flavor of matcha meets the sweetness of cocoa, mint, and orange peel.
The flavors combine wonderfully to create a wonderful interplay.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

kittylovestea

My name is Kayleigh Jade and I was born in Leicester, England, UK. I have always had a love for herbal and fruit tea (even as a child) but my curiosity got the best of me in my teen years and I started to look into other teas. I eventually found some companies in the UK that offered different teas and eBay was an easy source for international (particularly Chinese) teas. I found myself liking specific teas more than others such as Pu Erh and jasmine green pearls (which are two of my favourites still to date) and my obsession kept growing. Now I am in tea clubs and regularly order new products to try and though I have tried a good variety of different teas I still consider myself to be a beginner student. My goal in life is to keep tasting and steeping and learning and hopefully by having this blog I will pass on what I learn and feel. My name is kittylovestea because it combined my two favourite things in the world. Those being cats and tea (of course!). My cats are also interested in some of my teas (especially dessert or sweet teas) and always seem to become excited once they smell what I’m brewing. I have arrived home before to find a few tea packets on the floor with suspicious looking holes which any cat owner know are made from biting. I now have to be careful with the storing of my tea but it’s nice to know my 4 angels have the same interests as me. =^_^=

This post was posted in Green Tea, Moongleam Tea Shoppe

Ganymede Matcha Tea Blend by MoongleamTeaShoppe

by Sensiblyscript

I wasn’t sure how to prepare this tea at first. It’s matcha, so you should be able to just put it in the hot water and shake/whisk it up, right? Well, no, because there are lumps in it as well. The green lumps (I thought they might just be matcha powder caked together that would come apart in the cup) turned out to be bits of citrus peel coated in matcha, which made me realize that there was less matcha in my cup than I at first thought, so I just went ahead and dumped the rest of the sample in too.

While it steeped I could smell green matcha flavor and citrus, with a hint of mint somewhere in there. But the first taste had different flavor proportions; the flavor was distinctly of mint and matcha, with citrus and chocolate buried underneath somewhere. It turned out super-strong, but I did want it strong so I could add milk and sugar so that was okay.

When dry, this tea was green, but once steeped it turned a super-muddy brown. By that I mean that it was not just brown but also opaque even before I added milk. I’m going to assume this was from the chocolate. I could taste a hint of chocolate in the tea, although it was hidden way down under the mint still.

There is some bitterness to this tea, but I think that’s from the mint (because it tasted to me like mint tea that has been steeped a bit too long) rather than from the matcha. So next time I’d be more careful not to steep it quite so long. I was trying to give the citrus peel a chance to wake up, but I don’t think it stood a chance against the mint anyway.

Once I added some sugar and lots of milk, it tasted primarily of mint-chocolate, but still very heavy on the mint. I could hardly taste the matcha itself at all because of the mint, which could be a good thing if you don’t especially like matcha flavor but still want the energy that comes from it. With the addition of milk, the citrus became almost nonexistent– although not totally gone– kind of like a ghost. Sometimes I thought I caught a hint of it but I’m not totally sure and it wasn’t a very substantial hint anyway.

Looking at the ingredients list, I notice that there was black tea in this as well. I didn’t really notice it (as I said, before steeping everything was coated in matcha and afterward everything tasted strongly of mint). Maybe there wasn’t very much of it, because it certainly didn’t have a very strong presence in this tea blend.

So in conclusion, I’d say that if you like strongly minty mint chocolate matcha, this could be great for you. It would also be great as a functional breakfast tea because it has all the refreshing qualities of mint plus the caffeine from the matcha. I’m not sure I’d buy this particular blend but I sure had fun with the sample!

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Moongleam Tea Shoppe
Description

The rich, earthy flavor of matcha meets the sweetness of cocoa, mint, and orange peel.
The flavors combine wonderfully to create a wonderful interplay.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Sensiblyscript

Hi! My name is Tabitha and I'm an uprooted PNW native living in the South with my husband and my cocker spaniel. My favorite teas are usually dark and strong and go well with milk and sugar. I like to combine tea-drinking with all of my favorite activities, such as listening to music, reading YA fiction, knitting, and writing blog and website content for businesses. Because I'm a well-rounded person, I also have other interests, such as wearing mismatched socks and pretending to be ambidextrous.

This post was posted in Green Tea, Moongleam Tea Shoppe

Callisto Chai from Moongleam Tea Shoppe

by Hillary

I woke up to a light dusting of snow. It feels like a cozy holiday morning, so of course I’m craving Chai!

I decided to try this Callisto chai and first of all, I have to comment on the beauty of the tea itself. It has so many beautiful cardamom pods. I always know the tea will be amazing when I see cardamom! And it smells out of this world! It smells like a cozy winter morning. I smell nutmeg and cloves, not just the usual cinnamon. It smells much spicier than it tastes.

I’m having mine with a teaspoon of brown sugar and a splash of coconut milk. It’s smooth and delicious. The spice is there, but it’s subtle and sweet, not at all sharp.

I know I keep saying each new chai I try is a new favorite, but I can’t help it, they’ve all been so amazing! This is a chai I would serve to people who are not huge spice fans and might be a little leery of chai or other more “exotic” teas!

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:
Where to Buy: Moongleam Tea Shoppe
Description

This tea is no longer on the site but please click on the link below for what is available.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Hillary

Book reading, cat loving, tea sipping vegan.

This post was posted in Black Tea, Moongleam Tea Shoppe

Luna Tea from Moongleam Tea Shoppe #VeganMoFo2016

by teaequalsbliss

Today’s prompt for Vegan MoFo is greyscale so I couldn’t resist posting about an earl grey tea!

Luna Tea from Moongleam Tea. I’m not going to lie…I love the name of the tea as well as the name of the tea company! My love for this tea goes beyond the names, folks! The ingredients include Black Tea, Lavender, Chamomile, Bergamot, and Basil. You may already know that I cannot get enough black tea in my life! I start each day with at least 1 (or 5). The Lavender is strong in this flavored black tea but I like it! Chamomile is one of the ingredients I could normally go without but if done right I can enjoy. Let’s just say that the Chamomile in Luna Tea from Moongleam Teas is done right! The Bergamot offers the citrus, juiciness I was craving. And the Basil seems to even everything out nicely.

With all of this in mind I have to say that this blend of flavors awakened all of the senses and put a smile on my face, too! It’s very calming and makes for a peaceful cuppa. I found this to also be a comforting tea – much like a comfort food would be comforting on a stressful day – or a cold fall day – both of which I have been faced with lately. Luna Tea from Moongleam Teas is a pure delight!

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Moongleam Tea Shoppe (Etsy)
moongleamtea-shoppeDescription

This classically crafted tea is one of the first blends I ever created.
Smooth bergamot, coupled with chamomile, black tea, lavender, and basil, gives this tea a punctuating freshness. I have always loved Earl Grey because of the Bergamot in it, so I tweaked it to make it even better!

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

teaequalsbliss

Co-Founder/Co-Creator of Sororitea Sisters at Sororitea Sisters Jennifer (TeaEqualsBliss) is in her upper 30s and lives in the eastern snowbelt area of the US with her husband, 3 dogs, and cat (however the number of furkids can change at anytime as she LOVES providing a forever home for many shelter animals. Her several interests include music, movies, veganism, sports, traveling, collecting Baseball Cards and Unicorns, Radio, Computers, Crafting, and of course…TEA. She started drinking tea at the tender age of 3 thanks to her Grandmother and her love for tea has gotten stronger with each year! In addition to being a co-founder/co-creator of Sororitea Sisters - her main site is MyBlissfulJourney.com. Find out more about Jennifer on MyBlissfulJourney.com.

This post was posted in Black Tea, Earl Grey, Moongleam Tea Shoppe

Luna Tea Blend from Moongleam Tea Shoppe

by SuperStarling

Hello, tea-ple! I type this today during a Waxing Gibbous moon while drinking Luna Blend by Moongleam Tea Shoppe, an up-and-coming new company.

leah

(Original Artwork by Super Starling!)

Luna a mash-up of what I consider to be a “morning” profile and an “evening” profile. It has bergamot like an Earl Grey; and it also has chamomile, lavender, and basil like a sleepytime blend.

I’ve never seen tea profiles collide exactly like this. I had everything in discrete boxes. I had tea carefully assigned to the clock.

But October isn’t the season for keeping the light and the dark apart.

This is the start of fall, at the doorstep of winter. This is the year’s equivalent of a Witching Hour. This is creepy-crawlies, ghosts, zombies, the undead! Down is up! Up is down! Chamomile is in the Earl Grey!

This tea is really sweet. It’s like when a kid decides to be Little Bo Peep for Halloween. She could choose to be something more evil, flashy, or daring; but she decides she wants to do this very adorable thing instead.

I could easily see this being a morning pick for this in-between time. This tea has sweet and summery notes with just enough caffeine to brace oneself against the impending winter.

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black Tea Blend
Where to Buy: Moongleam Tea Shoppe

moongleamtea-shoppeDescription

This classically crafted tea is one of the first blends I ever created.
Smooth bergamot, coupled with chamomile, black tea, lavender, and basil, gives this tea a punctuating freshness.
I have always loved Earl Grey because of the Bergamot in it, so I tweaked it to make it even better!
An ounce makes about 11-17 cups of tea, depending on how strong you like it and the weight and volume of the tea itself.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

SuperStarling

"Hey, everybody! I'm Leah, a graphic designer from Pennsylvania, United States. I live with my husband and rescue mutt in a house with colorful walls. I love fonts, colors, animals, flowers, novels, illustration, geeking out, and -- obviously! -- tea. I've only been heavily into tea for about a year, but I've found I tend to prefer loose blended black dessert teas. I normally drink them hot western style without anything added; if I add in some vanilla almond milk or honey, I promise I'll mention it! When I'm not blogging here, I'm blogging at leahlucci.com/starling or posting to Instagram (super_starling), so come say hi!"

This post was posted in Black Tea, Moongleam Tea Shoppe