Golden Monkey

Evidence of trichomes on the inside of the package. With an interesting wine aroma. Like a Burgundy. With a very slight sweetness from a Visanto. Golden tips and curly tightly twisted leaves. The wet aroma is very nice. A mix of what was already mentioned but then it switches to heavily wooded notes. This is definitely a woodsy brew. Wood chest. Wood compost. Playground wood? Also creamy with a bit of astringency. Would go well with milk.

This one grew on me. Caramel, pumpkin, chocolate anise, tannin, nuts, and smoke this morning. Really easy to drink in fall weather. Most teas taste better in Michigan’s colder weather anyway. I still think it’s overpriced, but it’s a very good black tea.

Sip down!

This is actually the second time I’ve had this in my stash. I just finished it quickly last time and never got around to logging it. The first time, my mom picked it out for me when she was away for work in Texas. Recently, she had to go back and picked up more because she remembered I liked it.

I have such a thing for Fujian black teas. This one is no exception. The leaves are a mix of chocolate brown and dark tan, delicate and skinny. Most are somewhat whole, with only a little broken leaf debris in the bottom. Dry, it smells a little bitter and musty, with a hint of smoke and tobacco-like sweetness.

But once it’s steeped, the flavor is something mellower and much more smooth. Notes of honey and hay bloom, along with that distinct finish of Fujian cocoa flavor. Almost dark chocolate. Oh yes. That’s what I’m in this for. The black teas that naturally taste like chocolate or croissants or dinner rolls. This is almost precisely that, but I have to take points off for a faint iodine flavor. Because of Teavivre and other companies, I know that note doesn’t have to be there. I’m spoiled.

One bad note doesn’t spoil the whole tea, though. I’m happy to have this back in my collection just in time for the temperatures to start to drop.

Here’s a little gem I picked up at Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Golden Monkey is one of my favorite black tea varieties so I was excited to give this one a try when I spotted it at the store.

The unbrewed leaves of this tea are long and are both brown and golden brown. The aroma is earthy with standard black tea characteristics .

I steeped the tea for four minutes at 212 degrees. The color was dark amber gold.

The flavor was much like the unbrewed leaves smelled. It was earthy flavor with standard black tea attributes…and something else less pleasant. There was a faint taste behind the other flavors that reminded me of the smell of un-emptied ashtrays on the morning after the party. The sensation was weak but there just the same. It didn’t ruin the experience for me but it did subtract from the positive feelings.

I’m not ready to write this tea off yet since it does have some good features. I will try a lower brewing temperature next time to see if that reduces or eliminates the ashtray effect.

I have purchased so much tea and had no restraint whatsoever in the past few weeks. However, I have absolutely no regrets. When I go to sleep I think about which tea I’m going to have the next day, and wake up excited to start steeping. I’m glad that golden monkey tea is in my current rotation…very rich, slightly sweet and smoky, peppery, and very smooth. I think Keemun is next for me, but I’ll have to work through my current inventory a little bit first…not too long though, the sale for Harney and Sons English Breakfast at Fresh Market ends in 2 weeks. :P