Alex_Allen

I have spoken directly (through e-mail) with the tea buyer for Intelligentsia about this tea, and his reasons for purchasing this particular crop are rather interesting. He is not a fan of the Anxi-style TGY’s, with their prominent floral notes, nor is he a fan of Taiwan’s increasing adherence to the Anxi standard. Luckily, he found a TGY in Taiwan that was processed in a more traditional way: a bit heavier oxidation, and more time roasting over the fire.

That said, this particular TGY is not typical of others of the sort. The roasty flavors really come through, and it is also very prominent in the aroma of the dry leaves. The first steepings yielded purely the flavor of the roast: hints of baked nuts, dark chocolate, and french fries. By the third steeping, the floral notes of the leaves started to come through. I found the third and fourth steepings to be by far the best. I got a total of eight steepings out of this tea, and it probably could have gone farther, if only I wasn’t all tea’d out. In the subsequent steepings the roasty flavors died out, and the floral and fruity notes became more and more prominent. I have found this to be typical of most good oolongs, even of the Dan Cong and Wuyi Shan varieties.

The look of the steeped leaves were nice and whole, almost no broken leaves in the pot. Truly the feat of a masterful tea maker!

Overall, I very much enjoy this tea. I may disagree with the Intelligentsia tea buyer (I prefer the high floral notes of Anxi oolongs), but I can still see the high quality behind this tea from pluck to cup, and I can at least appreciate that.

This tea is kind of Blah by itself, but it mixes well with other Teavana teas, especially the Wild Orange Blossom.

A fine balance between fruit and herb is achieved in this tea. The scent is of orange, lemon, and of course, lavender and sage. What a wonderful, innovative, invention for a tisane! The only reason for the lower rating is because I only got one full flavor steeping out of it.

This tea blends well with other Teavana teas, especially the Yin Zhen pearls, Spice of Life, and Azteca Fire.

This is a wonderful everyday green tea. The leaves are handpicked, and they have retained their wholeness until they reach the cup. It is not every day that we find a tea this cheap, and still be able to appreciate mostly whole leaves at the bottom of the gaiwan. The aroma is complex, the flavor is nutty and vegetal, and you can get at least five steepings out of this cheap cheap tea! I highly recommend this to any Chinese tea drinker.

I haven’t tried this tea since 2010, when the Seven Cups store in Denver was still open. It has a wonderfully, complex, malty flavor. My dad was drinking it, so I only had a taste, but it left a lasting mark upon my memory. Unfortunately, Seven Cups no longer sells this tea, so I’ll have to go with the next best thing. I miss it greatly.

This is definitely one of the best green teas that I have ever tried. The prominent flavor is a sweetness from the unusually high concentration of amino acids. Below this are hints of rose petals, cantaloupe, and button mushroom. It yields a full flavor in a gaiwan for at least three steepings. I am currently finishing my 2011 stock, a gift from my dad, and I am avidly awaiting the 2012 crop, which should be in the next week (April 15 or so).

A truly outstanding green tea. If it wasn’t for the price, I would be drinking it every day!

This tea never gets bitter. A sign of a good quality white scented tea. What I do: I simply put the pearls in a cup and drink, blowing away any leaves on the surface. It is not quite as good as their other jasmine teas, especially the silver dragon pearls and snow drop jasmine, but it has a stronger flavor than both of these, which satisfies my taste. The jasmine aroma is not overpowering, and the flavor of the tea comes through nicely, even after five steepings. For the price, I have to give this scented tea a good rating.

This is by far my favorite green tea, other than Seven Cups’ Shi Feng Long Jing, which is a bit out of my price range to have on a daily basis. Da Fo Long Jing has evenly shaped dry tea leaves, indicating the masterful processing that it went through. The wet leaves reveal very few broken leaves with a picking standard of one bud to two young tender leaves. I have let the first steeping sit for as long as ten minutes, and it did not even get bitter! I could drink this tea straight out of the glass with the leaves steeping right in there and not have a problem. The flavor is intensely nutty and sweet, and the leaves yield at least five good steepings. This tea is truly the work of a master

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I have recently tried the 2011 crop of this tea, and it is simply amazing. I have never tried a better rock wulong. The first steeping at boiling for thirty seconds yields a dark auburn brew that simply GLOWS. The aroma is reminiscent of dark chocolate and roasted hazelnuts or almonds. The flavor of the first steeping was very strong, almost bitter, but that is to be expected from a truly good rock oolong that has gone through several stages of roasting to get its unique flavor. The fourth steeping was the best, giving me the best balance between the roasty and fruity notes.

Oh my goodness. At this price, I never would have thought that this tea would be as good at is it really is. The brew never goes bitter, a true testament to its quality. It lasts for at least five steepings of full flavor. Yet another testament. It does not have the delicate nuances of the finer green teas. But that cannot be expected from an everyday green tea. Bravo, Seven Cups for finding and promoting this wonderful, cheap tea!

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A good green tea never goes bitter, no matter the temperature of the water (Don’t believe me? Send me a message and I will refer you to some reputable sources to back up my claim). This tea fetches a price that says it will not go bitter. But alas, it gets bitter even if the temperature is slightly over 175 or whatever. What’s more, it doesn’t even taste as good as a bag of Celestial Seasonings Authentic green tea! I don’t understand why people would pay this much

Teavana has created the illusion of super high quality by comparing this mid-quality tea with their other super-low quality teas. The illusion is partly due to the blindness of the majority of customers who have tasted nothing better. I am here to tell you that if you enjoy this tea, then fine, but if you are willing to pay the price that they ask for it, then you are being ripped off and lied to. Let me explain.

A good tieguanyin (what Teavana calls their “Monkey Picked”) will yield no bitterness after the first brew. Rather, its buttery mouth feel and floral aroma would be backed up by almost umami flavors. Furthermore, over subsequent steepings, the umami flavors will be enhanced up until about the fourth steeping.

Teavana’s version of this tea, although it has the buttery and floral qualities, does not have the complex umami flavors. Rather, the tannins are out of balance, and the carefully discerning palate will notice a thin bitterness in the back of the mouth. This bitterness increases over several steepings. A truly high quality tieguanyin would not have this characteristic. The fourth steeping was simply flat, and this is how I know that Teavana’s Monkey Picked oolong is not worth the price that it fetches. At the same price, a tieguanyin could be found that yields 10-15 steepings if brewed properly.

The number of golden buds is a testament to the high picking standard of this leaf. Other than this, I do not have much praise for this tea. The aroma of the brew is pleasant, the appearance of the wet leaves are rather broken (could this be from poor processing, transporting, distribution on a large/small scale, or a combination of these?). For a tea that fetches a price such as this, the leaves should be relatively whole, and there should not be many broken leaves. This is not near the case for Golden Monkey.

The flavor of the first brew tasted simply like lipton, with a bit more roundness. Subsequent brews left me unsatisfied with a thin flavor.

I find it odd that this jasmine pearl tea is made from green tea, when most, not to mention the truly high quality, jasmine pearls are made with white tea from the Da Bai Hao cultivar. Anyways, cut the crap and straight to the review.

I judge all green, white, and scented teas by the following criteria: dry and wet leaf appearance, dry and wet leaf aroma, flavor of first steeping, number of steepings that the tea can get, and its tendency either toward or away from bitterness.

The dry leaves are evenly shaped pearls. Teavana claims that each pearl was hand rolled.

The aroma of the dry leaves is extremely jasminey, almost to floral to be true. Nonetheless, Teavana claims that it was scented six to eight times with real jasmine flowers.

The first steeping was extremely floral. I steeped it according to Teavana’s instructions. Even so, there was a hint of bitterness to the brew. Sadly, I was pleased by the intense floral aroma, but let down by the flavor. For a truly high quality jasmine tea, the flavor would emphasize the aroma.

The second steeping was more flavorful, some of the bitterness gone. However, the aroma was not even half of what the first steeping produced! Again, I was let down. I knew by this time that the third steeping would not increase in either flavor or aroma, so I tossed the leaves.

My high rating is only because of the amazing aroma and appearance of the dry leaves. Then again, it is easy to take a worthless book and rebind it with a fancy looking cover.

A decent tea. The pearls are pleasant to look at. There are a lot of golden buds peeking out of there, and I like that. The flavor, for a Chinese black tea, was rather thin and bland, but with at least a prominent flavor nonetheless. The aroma is delicious. At this price, though? I’ve had much better Chinese black teas at a much cheaper price.

Wait, there’s white tea in there? And I couldn’t taste the Mate, either. I’ve posted this before, but I wonder if Teavana is just making an excuse to sell cheap spices and herbs at a very high price, only because they put next-to-nothing amounts of supposedly high quality tea in it. First of all, if the tea quality truly is as high as they say it is, then what a waste of tea! A lower quality white tea would do much better to reduce the price, and the flavor would not be tainted at all, considering that all other ingredients simply overpower the tea flavor. IMO, this is more of a tisane, not a tea.

Oolong? What oolong? All I taste is chai spices. Seriously, Teavana, you could have made this chai it a much cheaper tea with a black tea. I may be cynical, but it Teavana just trying to make an excuse to charge high prices for a bunch of cheap spices by threading the blend with “Ti Kuan Yin” tea leaves? If you’re looking for an oolong, this tea is not for you. If you’re looking for a chai, you could probably make it yourself at home for a quarter of the price.