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Milk, Sugar, and Ice Cubes to Organic Loose-Leaf Tea

  • Writer: Steve Fiore
    Steve Fiore
  • Aug 11
  • 4 min read

Updated: Sep 16

A steaming cup of tea sits on a wooden coffee table next to a dark leather couch. The mug is dark colored with white text that reads "BEST Dad EVAH!" and contains black Tippy Earl Grey tea by Golden Moon Tea. The mug is placed on a dark circular coaster, and the warm lighting creates a cozy, relaxed atmosphere in what looks like a comfortable living room setting.
Drinking tea is a calming, almost meditative experience. The aroma, the warmth of the cup, and each sip make it special every time. My favorite mug, the Best Dad Evah (Boston slang for Ever) cup from my son Michael, adds a personal touch to the ritual, often joined by my dogs, Lincoln and Franklin.




·       Single Origin

·       Organic

 

Where It All Began: Tea Memories from Childhood

This was the first product where my taste buds started to realize the value of a well sourced product. Getting to this product recommendation was a journey and didn’t happen overnight. I remember growing up as a kid where my mom would make me the very popular store-bought black tea. I would add milk and sugar to it and even an ice cube because my mom would always tell me that would help it cool down so I could drink it sooner. What I started to learn over time is that the act of drinking tea became a meditative experience where the holding and smelling the tea was just as much of the experience as the actual drinking the tea.


Tea as a Ritual: Early Marriage and Bulk Buys

When my wife, Mary Beth, and I were first married, we continued with the standard black tea as we really didn’t know anything different. We then started shopping at our local wholesale club buying our tea in bulk, black for me and green for Mary Beth. Over time, I started to drink the green tea as well and it became an evening ritual for the two of us.


Five Golden Moon Tea stainless steel canisters displaying Sinharaja black tea, Golden Monkey black tea, Tippy Earl Grey black tea, Tie Guan Yin oolong tea, and English Breakfast black tea on kitchen counter
More of my Favorites from Golden Moon Tea- Sinharaja, Golden Monkey, Tippy Early Grey, Tie Guan Yin oolong tea, and English Breakfast


The Earl Grey Epiphany and the Power of Scent

However, when we went out to eat or to a coffee/tea shop, I would always gravitate towards Earl Grey due to my love of Bergamot, which to me smelled like lavender. One day at work, I was talking to a colleague who had a personal friend open up a tea shop in the Virginia, US area called Golden Moon Tea, which sold sourced and sold Organic Loose Leaf Tea. The following week, he was nice enough to bring me a small container of one of his teas, Sinharaja, which is a black tea that has hits of cocoa and honey (which as you read my other posts is probably the reason why I liked it).


I also found that they had the best Earl Grey tea which ultimately became my everyday staple in the evening. As mentioned earlier, the holding of the cup, the smelling of the Bergamot, and the taste of the tea was a great meditative experience to end the day.

 

Close-up of premium loose leaf tea samples including jasmine pearls, sencha green tea, and matcha blend displayed on coral serving plate
Green Tea leaves: Jasmine Pearls (top), Sencha (bottom left) Matcha (bottom right)

An Insider's Treat: Small Batches and Big Flavors

The other thing I loved about Golden Moon tea was Marcus, the owner, used to offer an insider club, where he would source very small batches of unique teas such as Snow Dragon and Golden Monkey that typically weren’t meant for mass consumption but were sourced from a small patch of land on their farm and the tea was just out of this world. I hope he brings it back as I will be the first person on his list to buy it.

 

Tea as a Daily Meditation: Savoring Every Cup

As of today, I typically drink 3 cups of tea a day, one in the morning (typically a rotation of black teas), afternoon (Sencha), and evening (always Earl Grey). Every cup of tea I have is a savory experience. If you are ever on a conference call with me, you will see one of my teacups as I typically rotate from the three colleges my kids go to. I hope you enjoy the tea as much as Mary Beth and I do.


Tea enthusiast holding red speckled Keene State college mug, demonstrating daily tea ritual and meditative tea drinking experienc
Me in my office drinking Golden Moon Sencha tea in afternoon with my Keene State College mug

 

 


For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself.


Early Grey- My favorite

 

Genmaicha Matcha- Mary Beth's favorite

 

Sencha

 

Sinharaja

 

Golden Monkey

 

English Breakfast

 

Jasine Pearls


Four different loose leaf tea samples arranged on coral plate showing various black tea grades and processing styles from Golden Moon Tea collection
Four of my favorite Golden Moon Black teas; Sinharaja (top left), English Breakfast (top right), Tippy Earl Grey (bottom left), and Golden Monkey (bottom right)

Cover image photo credit to Tang Don. Thank you


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