Golden Monkey

Backlog:

This is a really nice Golden Monkey. Perhaps not the best I’ve ever tried, but certainly worth a try. Nice and chocolate-y. Interesting apple note. Not overly peppery, a very subdued spice note. Here is my full-length review of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/01/25/golden-monkey-from-adagio-teas/

Thanks to Soccer Mom for my Golden Monkey taste championship – Adagio vs Teas Etc. The verdict: Adagio… The Adagio’s version is much bolder, malty-er. In fact, I find that I may have a new mission: which vendor supplies the “best” golden monkey?

Sure the award-winning Teas, Etc had more golden leaves and brewed to a darker liquor but where was the taste?

This tea is from RABS and her wonderful Geek package. The rules stipulate that I not try more than three a day. I’m trying to limit myself to just one a day so that the bliss lasts longer.

Today I rolled a “2” on the die. The beautiful package yielded a most generous sample of Adagio’s “Golden Monkey.” I like Adagio a lot. Although they can sometimes be “off” a bit or even a lot, they offer some really exquisite teas for what I consider a most reasonable price. I also think that the “blend your own” tea can make a wonderful gift and have used it four times thus far….but I digress.

I wanted to have this tea hot. I know that I could have opted for iced, but I was feeling a bit urgent. I love the image of monkeys high in the tea trees, gripping the bud in their little hands (while a primate compadre carefully and contemplatively picks the fleas off his tea-picking amigo).

This tea is malty and earthy in all the best ways—not too much, but sufficiently pronounced that I like it a lot. I detect some chocolate notes and I see how this tea can be, like The Simple Leaf’s justly celebrated Dawn, one of those miraculous tea shape-shifters that manages to mix and mingle a panoply of tastes and aromas.

I also sense a range from what I would call the buttered grape/prune/current range—perhaps I’m referring to what others call a “wine” taste. For me this taste often, but not always, comes with some overtones of date. (By the way, I love dates and anything cooked with dates). So far we are hitting most of the major tea notes I love aside from the tobacco/tar/roof pitch family.

This really is an exquisite tea. Approaching the bottom of the cup I added one sugar crystal and a dash of milk. I would say that the tea can stand up to the milk and sugar well and that they only enhance the flavors. But the tea is superb without them.

I really love teas that are AD/DC: great black but also supportive of a bit or milk and sugar and this is one of these. I am thinking of ordering a full bin of this and also small sample sizes of chocolate, current, and plum. I’ll probably place an order with Adagio soon and get Golden Monkey and Mambo and add a dash of the flavors from time to time.

Thank you so much, RABS for this excellent choice. It happened to be the perfect tea at the perfect time for me and I continue to be so very excited about being a winner of your Geek contest.

Well, my last Upton sample is green Earl Grey, which is simply Not Suited for being my morning tea, so I’m going to get started on a new project! The Great Finish Off My Adagio Samples That Have Been Taking Up Space In My Cupboard For Ages To Make Room For More Samples Project! (or TGFOMASTHBTUSIMCFATMRFMS Project for short)

Does anybody else do this thing where you end up not drinking your favorite samples all that often because you don’t want to finish them off and be left with the not so great samples? That is what has happened to Golden Monkey. I love this stuff, but the sample tin tends to sit in the back of the tea cupboard, neglected due to my miserliness. Poor Golden Monkey. This tea has a lot going on; I was thinking “smoky” when I was drinking it earlier, but reading the other notes, malty is definitely the right word.
I let this steep for a stupid long time this morning because I was distracted trying to find all the April Fool’s jokes I could before leaving for class, so the end result is extremely strong and extremely malty. Suitable for mornings, when nothing else gets through the post wake-up fog, but I was definitely wishing for more subtlety by the end of the mug.

Alright folks, I’m back! For a small amount of time. But enough time to enjoy my swap package from Joe Cook!! Thank you so much Joe for all the generous samples!

I chose Golden Monkey to try first because it’s 1:33 pm and this tea is speaking to me yo.

Piping hot, it’s very malty and has a “sundried” taste to it, that’s how I would describe it! A little bit of honey goodness, plus bold, full flavour. As it cools down, I get this kind of tomato-y taste that I’m not really digging, but it passes right away and slips into malty goodness.
So I’m not quite sure what the “tomato” part is – I had the same experience with Utopia Tea’s Cocoa Mate, so maybe it’s a cocoa sort of flavour that my tastebuds are misinterpreting!

Either way, this is a great morning/mid afternoon/any time tea when I need a kick in the butt with some sweet flavour notes too! Thank you Joe!

(Man it was hard to write this review; my boyfriend’s band is in the adjacent room rehearsing for their very last show tonight ; 3; )

The Final Sipdown: Day 15.2

A little bit late to be drinking black tea, but I was able to get to sleep at a decent hour last night and so I’m going to roll with it because I’ve been picking samples out mostly at random.

I’ve had enough black tea that I’ve become accustomed to certain scent profiles and feel that I know roughly what to expect when I take a sip. The aroma wafting up from this tea is malty and deep with a note of hay and old-book-mustiness. This tea completely contrasted with what I was expecting to taste [something dark and malty] and let me tell you, that was a really foreign experience for me. I think I actually made a noise when I tasted it the first time.

There is definitely a maltiness within this, but what I mainly get is something akin to caramel chews. Specifically, those Kraft caramel squares that came in the plastic packaging. It doesn’t really hit me anywhere on my tongue, it’s mainly in the slurp and then it dissipates rather quickly.

And then there’s this strange, lighter flavor. I had a lot of trouble placing it and spent a few minutes contemplating it and then it hit me: Raisinets. This tea reminds me exactly of Raisinets. Both the chocolate – that specific flavor that the chocolate coating takes on – and the raisin center. I don’t know how to explain it beyond that, because Raisinets have a distinct flavor to them, but perhaps those of you who have had them know what I’m talking about?

The only problem for me, and it’s a biggie I’m afraid, is that there is a lot of astringency in this and I’m not finding it pleasant. I very much think that this could be because I dumped the entire sample in. Maybe if I had gone with a shorter steep time I could have avoided it, but as it stands it’s making it difficult to finish the cup. The aftertaste is pleasantly sweet, however. The raisin taste really comes through in the end. And while the players in this cup are not particularly new-sounding compared to what I typically get out of black teas, it is combining in a manner that is making this tea both alien and familiar, and I’m finding myself quite intrigued by it.

I’m actually somewhat sad that the sample is gone, but Adagio samplers don’t hit the bank very hard and thanks to TFS [and the generosity of Steepsterites like Erin I’m finding some teas that may have me placing a small order with Adagio.

It might be time to try some milk and sugar in this to see if I can temper the bitterness in this cup. I’ll be sure to edit the end of this log if I do. But for now…

ETA: A little bit of milk and sugar did indeed lessen the bitterness of this tea. It also decreased the sensations of everything else involved rather dramatically, but that’s somewhat expected. I still get Raisinets and caramel, so I’m not really complaining and I’ve been able to finish the cup this way. I’ve also noticed that this tea is leaving my mouth rather dry. Ah, paper tongue. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.

Teas Downed: 26

“Oh, what a pretty one you are,” I whispered as I opened the bag and peered inside.

This is one of the few teas that just look beautiful dry – tiny little thin curls of black and gold, like tiger stripes.

Steeped, it’s great. It’s a medium-bodied black with a smooth mouthfeel and just a little bit of astringency – just enough, but not too much. On a second steep, the earthiness comes out. I definitely think I’m getting more of this.

Thanks Soccermom for passing along a generous sampling of this tea!

This is a nice malty cup. It’s more mellow than Golden Moon’s Sinharaja. It smells slightly like warm beer, but a good warm beer. I’m enjoying this cup with out additives, but it could probably handle some cream, or a pinch of sugar. I’m not sure I would ever crave this type of tea, but I do like it.

Mmmmmm…niiiiice. This tea is hitting the spot! Its very visually appealing when u first put it in cup- it is like lil friggin monkey claws! Too cute! The taste is very smooth, with a nice malty touch and a hint of chocolate notes for sure. Its very satisfying and filling while I snuggle here in my sweats on a cold day . Yes I did actually get to the gym earlier but that was hours ago and now I’m satisfying my craving for warmth. When I was working out I was trying to distract myself from the pain by thinking of the blueberry white tea I would have iced when we got home..well, that never happened and I’m now chilled enough that iced anything makes me shiver. I suppose I could turn the heat up but I kinda like the briskness in the house- keeps me going. That and keeps me wanting more and more tea and thats never a bad thing!!

Another from the sampler, this is GOOD! It’s earthy and malty, and a clearly good cup of tea! I was surprised at how much I like this one. I gave it to my husband to try and he declared it a “strong” cup of tea. I almost finished it, but left it out for a while and it ended up being pretty cold. And surprise, it was really good cold as well! This is a surprise winner for me; I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. Now, if only I can ignore this sample until I try at least one cup from each of the other samples. :)

So, I have had this particular canister of tea in my stash for over a year… and it is still going strong (thanks to the air tight canister it is in).

It is a bold tea, just under an Irish breakfast blend I would say. It has notes of caramel and almonds with a bit of a smokey aroma/flavor, as well.

I have been drinking this hearty brew in the morning as a pick-me-up. Good stuff.

This is a nice, smooth, cocoa-y Golden Monkey. A perfect introduction to black tea without milk or sugar added. Nice.

I picked this tea up from the adagio website on my first ever adagio order and i’ve gotta tell ya guy…i don’t regret it at all. Now, i really don’t know much about china or geography but the package to this tea says that its from fujian… now having said that, it think its a little more bold and darker then the Yunnan Gold, but its not as naturally sweet as the gold either. it is higher quality then the Yunnan Noir (and don’t get me wrong, i love all of these teas) i feel like this one is a more everyday kinda tea compared to the Yunnan Gold.

It’s a wonderful dark amber liquor and musky robust flavor. It kinda has a honey smell to the dry leaves and it tastes slightly of honey after steeping.

Will write more soonish, gotta go to work. Later Steepster.

Loved this tea, will need to get more. When I opened the bag the aroma hitting my nose was one of carmels. Could not wait to brew this one and take my first sip. I was not disappointed. The flavor was smooth with no bitter after taste. This tea is worthy of a place in the tea cupboard.

Sorry I haven’t been on in quite a while! I’ve recently been promoted to a key-holder/managerial position at Teavana, so I’ve been a bit busy during the holiday season. I sat down and ordered a bunch of teas from adagio, and I’m finally getting to it.

The first of my new batch I’ve tried is the Golden Monkey. I’ve had three other Golden Monkeys before, and I must say this is the most bland and uninteresting Golden Monkey I’ve ever had. The flavour is there, but the malty undertones and subtle smokey flavour I get in Teavana’s and Elaine’s (Wild Orchid Teas) are missing. The leaves are missing the more aggressive hay smells before brewing, and faintly promise at least a subtle smokiness. I’m sure at one point this tea was just as good as Teavana’a or Elaine’s, but I’m fairly certain that it just got stale – the leave’s length indicates a very high quality black tea. It arrived in a sealed bag, so I must wonder as to how airtight it actually is.

I never thought I’d rate a flavoured tea lower than a straight one, but there you have it, folks…

I was pleasantly surprised when I received this with my tasting set that I purchased from Adagio. When I opened the package I was hit with a nice spicy chocolate aroma from the dry leaf. I decided to brew this in the tasting set, and was happy with the results….although I did spill a little.Tasted like cayenne pepper on a dark chocolate bar. I was taken aback by how much I enjoyed this tea.

I have not gotten allot of Golden Monkey teas apart from that from Teavivre (a mighty fine sample thank you very much!), so I got a sample from Adagio and there is quite a difference in the amount of assertion and boldness. Comparing to Teavivre, Adagio’s Golden Moneky is a bit similar to the much of their Yunnan tea they are selling, it has less of the sweet, almost lighter component of honey-fruit like flavor (faint berry-like). what it has a Cocao and mellow earthy flavor much like Yunnan teas, it lacks bitterness, smooth, and welcoming. A good tea but not on par with Teavivre take on Golden Monkey. Its quite affordable for Golden Monkey and quite a recommendable staple from Adagio.

This is interesting for it being a black tea. It is sweet with a bit of a malty flavor and the smell is unusual and wonderful… it ‘s a sweet smell like a honeysuckle mixed with a fresh made bread if that makes since. It’s quiet nice.

Update: Totally bumping this one up because I seem to crave it more and more and only had one tsp left.

Golden Monkey is a sweet black tea that is very smooth with chocolate notes. (You can see my general addictions here). It’s the tea I always recommend to non loose tea drinkers because they see the light in one sip. They toss those silly bags aside and start drinking hardcore. (Teabags are sadly just a gateway drug for this).

Anyhow, this was one of the first real quality hardcore black teas I tried and was hooked. I had had other loose black teas in the past, but this was an important one.

I recently got a bunch of dian-hong-esque teas from Adagio. My favorite tea in this realm is Chicago Tea Company’s Golden Bi Luo, and that’s become my benchmark. I’m looking for something that can beat it. Haven’t found it yet.

But Golden Monkey manages to go off in its own direction. Despite being a dark, malty brew, it has less of the molasses note that I’m used to in these teas, and more of a…what is that?

Soy sauce. I think it’s soy sauce. Mostly in the nose, and of course without the salt. There’s a rich, dark soy brew flavor in there. Surprisingly I really like it. It’s almost savory, like a pu-erh, but it’s not a meal in itself.

Actually, the flavor on the palate seems lacking to me. I used a generous teaspoon for my cup and gave it almost 4 minutes, but the mouthfeel and palate is thin and unimpressive. I wouldn’t want to steep it longer; the nose would be overpowering. Stimulant-wise, it’s definitely a morning kickstart.

It doesn’t break the Golden Bi Luo’s record, but I’ll probably get more of this. Maybe I’ll try a second steep later.