Premium Golden Monkey Black Tea

Now this is a special tea!
Comparing it with other black teas from Teavivre, it’s in a whole other category.
First, the taste. It’s strong. Then stronger. Give this to your coffee loving friends and watch them overdose… If not, you’re doing it wrong.
Perfect for work, better for overdosing and then leaving home early…
I was getting dried fruit (maybe fig), nuts, honey and then speeding towards some light roast coffee, but without acidity.

Second, the smell is strong. Mostly reminded me of tobacco (the good smelling part of tobacco) and then some wood and malt.

Last part, the price. It’s good, it’s fair, you get more than you pay for. And if you want strong, I don’t think you can find it cheaper.
This is a 9/10 material of black teas, but for the price, it goes almost full perfect.
And strong!

Tea Tumbler 250 ml, 6g for 5/10/20/30… sec @ 90°C

Flavors: Dried fruit, Tobacco, Coffee, Nuts, Honey

There is a cat in my lap, an Espeon to be precise, who is happily keeping me warm. This really has no relevance, but I thought I would share that with you all since she is so immensely cute and cuddly. Today sadly was another day of getting nothing done since I still feel pretty nasty, I truly worry I am coming down with a cold, but considering I always get sick this time of year (mostly because stress causes my fibromyalgia to go bonkers) I am totally unsurprised. With luck this will pass quickly and I can get back to doing my usual routine!

Once again, we look into one of my older notebooks, because I drink too many teas and take too many notes, TBT posts really make me debate reviewing more than one tea a day, but I am pretty sure you all would hate me at that point! Today we are looking at a favorite type of tea of mine, Teavivre’s Golden Monkey Black Tea, a fuzzy golden tea from Fujian, golden and fuzzy just like a monkey, those oh so cute Golden Snub Nosed Monkeys, one of the few monkeys that I actually like. Ok, not true, I am mostly ok with monkeys, but I loathe apes with a passion, I admit it, I have a phobia, but that honestly has nothing to do with tea, so moving on. The aroma of these fuzzy leaves is rather intense! Strong notes of cocoa, yams, roasted peanuts, plum, and a touch of black pepper. It leans more on the side of savory than sweet, though it is not outright savory…just very light in the sweetness department.

Into my old, chipped gaiwan the leaves went for steeping, this gaiwan has moved on to a new home, chips and all. The aroma of the soggy leaves take a turn for the sweet, blending roasted peanuts and yams with a delicate honey and distinct dried plum note. The liquid is creamy and sweet, raw honey and yams with juicy plums and a wee bit of cocoa at the finish.

The first steep is fairly light, a gentle start to the golden fuzzy tea. It starts with a creamy sweetness and moves to juicy plums and rich cocoa, the plum notes linger and blend with honey at the finish. The aftertaste is short but sweet honey, and even though the first steep is light and has a memorable presence.

Whoa, the aroma for the second steep is pretty intense, very sweet notes of honey and juicy plums, with a starchy sweet potato finish. The taste is still pretty light, it is a gentle tea, with notes of cocoa, yams, and plums at the first. As the tea reaches the finish it picks up notes of dried apricots and a slight roasted peanut finish. Even though this is a light tea, it has a powerful sweetness and the notes are very crisp and distinct.

Third steeping, the aroma is very sweet, strong notes of plums and honey, with a starchy sweet potato finish…but there is also a bit of cocoa too! I do not say this very often with black/red teas, but this is a refreshing tea, it is light and sweet with notes of plum and apricots, that moves to sweet potatoes and roasted peanuts. It is a light tea, sweet and fruity and surprisingly refreshing, I find myself drinking this tea in the evening thanks to its lightness.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/12/teavivre-golden-monkey-black-tea-tbt.html

I have the 2013 harvest, from MissB! Thank you!

I enjoyed it in my neat-o little teapot (see a couple posts ago for a pic? IDK.) this evening. Probably 5 steeps worth. It was delicious. So delicious, that it’s the ONLY TEA I’m taking camping this weekend. Camping in what will possibly be the gross and disgusting rain.

But still. Delicious tea. Rain. Wooly blankets. A book to read. Ooo, a book to read. I should get on that.

Had a gongfu session with a ceramic gaiwan. Since Teavivre recommended only 4g, I split the 7-gram sample packet and had two sessions with two different sets of steeping parameters. The first from is Teavivre’s website: 10, 20, 30, 50, (accidentally skipped 70), 90, 120. The second is my own: 30, 60, 90, 180, 300.

I smelled the dry leaf aroma two ways. First, I stuck my nose into the packet, then I heated the gaiwan bowl with boiling water, poured that out, and let the leaf sit in the bowl for thirty seconds. What a wonderful aroma! It’s one of those you can’t stop smelling. A combination of cocoa powder, gingerbread, and cinnamon. I knew this leaf would smell great if it were amplified by a heated bowl. Great start to the first session. The wet leaf aroma smells differently – sweet potatoes, then, after the leaf aired for a bit, freshly baked muffins.

Against a white porcelain cup, the liquor has a beautiful and clear burnt orange color. The texture is consistently smooth and little thick. Full body. The flavor profile doesn’t evolve, but it’s filled with individual notes that I taste all at once yet can pick out separately. This goes for both sessions. There is the cocoa and the sweet potato, but also subtler notes of wet wood and clover. Sweet and bitter simultaneously, with a coffee aftertaste. This has a soothing and warming effect on me.

This is forgiving and easy to drink, therefore good for the Western brewing method and beginners to Chinese black tea.

First thing’s first: How awesome is Teavivre’s customer service?! Colour me impressed. They confirmed my address before shipping (which was fortunate because I did screw up on it and said I was from the opposite side of Canada) and have followed up immediately after delivery.

And of course, the tea. It’s yummy. It’s very mellow, smooth, and bready. Dry leaf I picked up a bit of a smokey note, but I’m not getting any of that in the cup, which… I was slightly disappointed initially, but now I’m liking this cup for what it is and not minding that the smoke doesn’t come through.

… Increasingly finding it difficult to peg numbers to notes. Maybe after a few more cups.

Very much enjoyed this tea, I like Golden Monkeys a lot. Even like their name. Would like to meet one, one day. Mm cocoa-y and smooth, a comfort tea that is so easy to drink.
Thank you for the opportunity to sample this, Angel!

Good morning fellow tea lovers! This is my morning brew. I’ve gotten a lot of this stuff, and I’ve been meaning to try it out.

The dry leaf resembles a more fragile and darker jin jun mei. These small ebony curls give off a dry currant and baked bread scent. I brewed them up gongfu. I placed a generous fluffy amount (the tea feels soft and silky) into my warmed gaiwan and gave it a shake. The aroma was sweet, yet it was also very dark and crisp. I washed them once and began brewing. The flavor is very heavy. This is a bold black. This still has the yunnan sweet tones, but it leans more towards the malt. I get a lot of dark wood, stain, and baked bread. The most overpowering flavor was that of wood. There is a light honey tone present in this brew. The liquor is a vibrant blood red. I enjoyed this tea, and it did a great job in waking me up. I would use this as an everyday black.

https://instagram.com/p/6AJFlRzGUy/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I’m baack. Again. Sigh. Real life is hard, how do you all do it?
I’ve spent the last few days finishing off my reviews for the Red Leaf sponsored matcha testing and I really needed a nice black tea to go back too (I’m seeing green in my sleep). I got the sample from Teavivre a while back so I thought this would be a good time to sit down, work on some school work and drink a good black tea.
This one smells amazing, its got such a nice dark amber colour to it and such a nice taste. It has a subtle sweetness with chocolate and honey notes and some more subtler maple-y and nutty notes as you sip it down more and it cools. Definitely one of my top straight black teas (y)

I grabbed this one cause I felt like a Chinese black tea. However, this was not the kind of Chinese black that I like. It tasted like smoke and tobacco. Yuck. Not my cup of tea. Sadly, I poured the cup down the drain. It was way too strong and just not to my liking at all. I’m sure it’s perfectly enjoyable to other palates. Maybe I shouldn’t have started with such a long infusion. One or two minutes would have been plenty. Thanks to Teavivre for providing this free sample. I’ll re-home the rest of it to someone who will enjoy it.

I’m out of practice thinking about the way tea tastes. My version of tea drinking has become bagged tea thrown in a mug of boiling water, picked up off the counter after an uncertain amount of time. I think of the caffeine boost tea will give my energy rather than the flavors of it. How to go about picking up the cycle of thinking and writing and tea drinking all while raising toddlers?
I enjoyed this tea, but the beginning of the cup – enjoyed with a pastry – was much different than the few bitter sips remaining at the end.