Golden Monkey Paw

thank you Tastybrew! This is another of the BBB Box offerings that came my way a little while ago. This might? be one of the first teas that i’ve had from the California Tea house and it’s a pretty decent tea. I’m not sure that it knocks any of my top contenders out of the running but it’s a really nice sweet, chocolately, slightly malty sort of cup that suits me quite nicely! Thanks for sharing TB!

This is one of the many teas I scored in Rachel’s sale (whenever I say Rachel, you can assume I mean iHeartTeas since I’m pretty sure I haven’t actually swapped teas with the other Rachel with the actual username Rachel!) That was an awesome sale and I appreciate it — thanks, Rachel! This one sounded amazing. And it is! The leaves are very wirey and equal parts gold and black. I’m glad they don’t actually look like monkey paws, since that doesn’t sound very appetizing anyway. After a four minute steep it’s a sweet, slightly malty, slightly chocolatey flavor. Exactly how I love my teas. The second steep is also nice. Pretty darn good. Not as good as the best tea ever I had the other day, Butiki’s lion assam. But that is to be expected. I promise I won’t try to compare every tea with Butiki’s from here on out! But that one will linger in my mind a while!

I bought this one to share with the BBBB ladies in the next round and couldn’t wait to try it. I’ve been eyeing it for months and finally caved since I wanted something good to share with the ladies. I brewed this up while I was seasoning my insanely cute new yixing mug. Photo here: http://tastybrewtea.blogspot.com/2013/10/crazy-cute-new-yixing-mug.html

Brewed up, this tea is super chocolaty. And almost like a keemun in its smoke flavor, not bbq flavor, but smokey. I like it and am enjoying it, but am not as blown away as others who have reviewed it. It’s definitely interesting though, very very chocolatey. The keemun notes throw me for a loop though.

Yay!!! The BBBB arrived! TastyBrew & Sil, you ladies are awesome!
So, this is my first pick from the box, & I’m not gonna give it away until Sil gets the box, but TB’s packaging is fun & novel :)
I’m enjoying this cup, it’s very smooth & satisfying. It’s also a very evenly balanced cup, no real highs or lows, but a very tasty tea.

Wow, this is much better than the previous tea I drank. It is mildly robust. I wanted the flavor to be a little more complex where maybe I could taste various layers but I instead I got a well balanced cup. Not a bad thing, I enjoyed it.

After trying their Silver Needle I had to try Golden Monkey Paw too. Now I have no doubt why it gets good reviews on here.
This is a full bodied tea, and I detect a mild malty flavor. I had this yesterday morning before work and really enjoyed it so I had another cup when I got home and I’m sure I will be finishing this bag fairly quickly.

This was pretty good, but when placed among the pantheon of great similar long-leaved beautiful teas from China with malt and chocolate and smoothness, I don’t think it stands out particularly (we are so spoiled these days!). There are nice subtle floral and clean things going on at the front, but its body isn’t quite as thick and silky smooth as some of those others. Gonna stick with my golden teas from Teavivre and Verdant I think.

Some mornings a good pure (not blended) black tea is just the right thing to start off the day!

I’m not getting quite the depth and boldness that some of the reviewers got from this tea. It’s an ok cup, but nothing spectacular. It could use some sweetener. It seems to have a flavor similar to red dragon pearls from thepuriTea, though not as bold. I remember the dragon pearl tea having a harsh un-sweetness about just as this one does.

Wow, no wonder this one does so well on steepster! I love serving this one to house guests and hearing them say “… Whoa. That’s really good! What tea is this?” Such wonderful depth and smokiness. No edge, no astringency, just dark velvety richness. I suggest buying as much of this as you can—it’s good at any time when you in pretty much any mood. Bravo, California Tea House!