Golden Monkey

Of course I got some of this with my order. And of course it was a double quantity compared to all the others. Of course. Not doing that would have been like… not breathing.

The aroma is quite mild. Mostly it has a wood-y note, and I’m not noticing too much of the cocoa and grain that I otherwise associate with Fujian, but it seems to be there in very small amounts. It’s like I can sense it more than I can smell it. Or perhaps I’m just so tuned into it having to be there that I’m making it up? I don’t think so, though. I think there are trace amounts of it there.

Anyway, the important thing is the taste. Yes, aroma is very important, but it’s still only 30% of the experience. If the aroma was lacking the grain and cocoa notes, then the flavour has them in spades. Especially cocoa. It’s the primary note here, and all the wood and grain is going on underneath the cocoa.

I’m quite pleased with this. It’s my favourite ever type of tea, so it’s bound to score high on that alone (see the first paragraph of this post), but I really think that this one can rub shoulders with some of the best tan yangs out there. It lacks just a bit more body to push it towards the full 100 points, but we’re very close.

Om nom nom nom Fujian black!

Thanks to Angrboda for this sample!

Up until now, the Golden Monkey tea’s that I’ve tried have been disappointing. Somewhat average tea’s that are malty but lacking the cocoa taste that I can easily get with other Fujian Black tea’s.

Although Angrboda commented that the aroma wasn’t very fragrant, my less than petite nose perked up right away. I noticed more than cocoa coming from the dry leaves. There was a sweet brown sugar candy scent that smelled delightful (like walking into an old fashioned candy store).

Prior tastings of ‘other’ Golden Monkey tea’s left me with the rather odd aftertaste of super dark baking molasses.

This Jenier Fujian tea was mild light brown sugar, cocoa and caramel. Smooth, gentle and with enough body for adding milk.

I can see why this tea is a favorite of Angrboda on a cold day in Denmark!

A sample from the lovely Angrboda! I’ve been bad about logging my tea lately. Mostly because I ran into a bit of time that everything tasted flat and I couldn’t pick up anything other than “tastes like tea”. But that’s all fixed now so hopefully I can dig into the remaining samples and new-to-me teas that I have.

This one… Wow. First off, I wasn’t really expecting anything super awesome because the smell of this one initially struck me as twiggy. I’m not a huge wood-in-my-tea fan. But there was also some raw cacao to the smell so I was hopeful.

Upon sipping, though, I was kind of knocked back. The smell is mild and pretty but the taste? It’s bold and kind of smacks you in the face. The tartness was what I first noticed. It’s that semi-sour note that I’ve found in a number of Keemuns – kind of a mix of an underripe black plum (or maybe lemon juice without the citrus aspect) and a tiny hint of tar. Not lapsang-levels of tar, mind you. Perhaps it is a raw cacao taste, but this seems too silky and heavy on my tongue for me to think of raw cacao (but it’s too dark to be even an 80% dark chocolate). That thickness & richness makes me think more tar-like thoughts, even if there’s no real smoke or char note in this.

There’s a lot of bittersweet going on in this, too. The sweetness in this is somewhere between blackstrap molasses and burnt caramel and there is a delightful grain note that seems very much liked the caramelized barley the husband uses in beer making. All dark, rich, heavy notes that hint at sweetness but never really get there.

Even the feel of this tea is dark and heavy – like rolling around in a chocolate bar commercial. You know the ones where they use satin sheets rippling and flowing to show you the silky sexiness of the caramel in the candy bar? It’s like that. Heavy, rich, decadent, sophisticated and quite sexy.

This is one sexy cup of tea. It’s so dark and rich with the not-quite-sweet-but-not-quite-bittersweet-either that it’s pretty close to overwhelming. It’s a tea that is worth a post-cup nap. Or a cigarette.