Moylings, formerly known as Little Moy, is a newly established (2021) organic clothing company for children that has also started venturing into organic loose leaf tea. Their products mostly consist of baby clothing and crocheted animals (among other accessories), and now organic loose leaf tea.
I had the honor of meeting the owners, Swarna Mathan and her husband, during my trip to Boston’s Snowport event of 2024. I was already on the lookout for handcrafted & specialty products, and that’s when I stumbled upon Moylings.
Moy is a real life elephant whom is personally known to Swarna. Moy was a major influence on the brand and is even featured on the packaging.
I was already intrigued by the bright and casual packaging that feels both minimal yet complex. The coloring is monochrome line art complemented with a green accent and I can say it’s absolutely brilliant. The art alone is enough to give Moylings a chance. However, art alone isn’t enough to make a company great, but knowing the story behind it can certainly help. And that’s where Moylings stands out.
Moylings’ Social Responsibility
While I am here to review the tea, it’s important to look into social responsibility of Moylings and that means researching their biggest product, organic cotton. The cotton sourced by Moylings is both organic and GOTS certified. GOTS certification means, “Global Organic Textile Standard” [https://global-standard.org/], and was founded by a collection of four global non-profits to improve the working conditions and quality of textiles sourced around the world. Personally, when I shop for clothing, I try to keep everything non-synthetic, and if I can find products that are GOTS certified that’s even better. I urge anyone shopping for textiles to do their best to source from organic/certified brands.
Moylings Tea Quality
Moylings tea is sourced by the owners directly from the farmers. This means there’s no broker and/or middleman taking fees or negotiating for lower prices or quality decreases. I give huge preferential treatment to companies that source directly, as it means relationship building with the farmers and usually significantly higher than farmgate prices. Working with the farmers themselves isn’t always indicative of quality nor does it mean the product is clean of chemicals and pollutants. I’d still like to see testing done by any company providing a commodity product such as tea, coffee, and cacao, however, it’s important to note that all agriculture has some level of pollution.
The owners walked me through a map of India to show me where their tea is grown, which is also on the website, in a region in Southern India called Nilgiri mountains. Southern India is known for the high altitude making coffee and tea growing conditions very favorable. Nilgiri tea is famous for both quality and flavor. A quick Google search will tell you that the altitude and colder climate allows for the tea to grow slightly slower than traditional tea, giving the tea more time to develop its aroma and rich flavors. Speaking of flavors, let’s get into the taste test of Moylings tea.
Moylings Tea Flavor and Quality
When I was at the Moyling’s booth, Swarna had many teas on display for you to visualized and smell. Flavors ranged from white, oolong, green, chamomile, and a handful of others. I purchased a white tea for myself and a chamomile as a gift for a family member. I had the chance to smell and taste test the teas and opted to try the white tea as it was the only tea in the collection I hadn’t tried yet before.
Upon opening the tea, the aroma was already very strong, even for a milder tea such as white. The leaves were tightly rolled and had great color and freshness. I brewed my newly purchased tea in a standard Bodum french press for three minutes, as per the instructions. The aroma was far greater than anything you’d find in a tea bag and the color was a lovely shade of light gold. And to be fair to tea bags, I’ve had a few loose leaf teas from shops found in Chinatown and at box stores when available, and Moylings stands far ahead of anything in the former (understandably so).
The flavor, as expected from a white tea, was mild but still very flavorful, rich with floral notes. I see why this is such a popular fragrance in candles now. White teas are the least processed of the tea family and as a consequence, are less oxidized and will be lighter in body (such as a lightly roasted coffee). It’s a very smooth experience making the tea extremely drinkable, though it’s better take small sips and to aerate it like with coffee—basically slurping. Tea and coffee both benefit from aeration when drinking as it distributes the flavor evenly across your tongue and provides air flow to the nose, thus increasing aromatic compounds. It will elevate your drinking experience to possibly allow you to taste a wider range of flavor notes.
Moylings Conclusion
Moylings was a wonderful surprise while walking through Snowport, as most of the products there are store-bought resellers or overpriced food taking advantage of tourists. Stumbling upon Moylings was the highlight of the entire trip. Meeting Swarna and her husband was a wonderful time as they educating me on the regions of India and the whole backstory of their company. The tea is ethically sourced and the company is making maximum effort to create high quality products for children to wear and for us to drink. I highly recommend them and I think anyone reading this should give them a visit.
