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I generally love Golden Monkey style teas. I love how smooth and caramell-y they can be. I bought 100g of a Golden Monkey from NBtea that I wasn’t crazy about (tastes a bit too much of hay, weirdly?) but other than that I have been blown away.

This is some top-notch tea. I use a glass teacup so that I can appreciate the colours (granted a large one because I enjoy drinking multiple large cups of tea per day) and after just over two minutes with a heaped tsp it’s a dark amber colour. (I probably should have set my kettle to 80 rather than 100, so I let it cool for a short while before pouring).

The smell is everything that I would expect; slightly rich, a little sweet, even a touch of caramel perhaps. This tea wants you to drink it.

The first sip goes down smoothly. Very smoothly. There is no bitterness, and hardly even the very light astringency that you would expect. As it cools and the flavours open up you are treated to those subtle caramel notes that you get on the nose.

Ah yes, this is an beverage than could easily be quaffed all day long if you were engaging in a hedonistic tea bender (but is probably best enjoyed sipped over about 20 minutes with a break in between like a regular person). Epicurus himself would have been chugging pints of this stuff though if Chinese tea were readily available in 300 BC Athens, I can practically guarantee it.

For me at least, this tea has joined the Pantheon of the Tea Gods and shall be restocked when my paltry 2×7g sample packs run out. Also I need to get paid because I’ve spent like £150 on tea this month (I’ve just got into the hobby) and you have to draw a line somewhere.

But yes, this a damn fine tea. So good, in fact, that I would serve it to my mum as-is (who is British and likes PG Tips with a dash a milk). What’s more, I think that she would like it.