Golden Monkey Black Tea

Thank you Angel of Teavivre for this sample!

I could kick myself for not trying this tea sooner. It is exceptional. The infusion is a beautiful amber color, and it smells slightly bready. At the first sip I taste maltiness followed by a slight sweetness . Yum. Really yum. The tea feels smooth and rich, but it is also light. This tea makes me want to slow down and enjoy everything it has to give. One cup turns into two which turns into the whole pot. I have no regrets. :)

Looks like I’m going to have to make room on my shelf because this tea will become part of my permanent stash.

wow! every time i steep this remarkable black tea i am impressed again. this tea is so complex in its flavor profile that it’s difficult to notate as you’re being delivered from one hint to the next. strong honey, black cherry, chocolate and walnut to name a few. i can’t think of another black tea with so much flavor and yet is not overwhelmingly rich. this tea is light and delicate. thank you so much to @ashmanra for the sample that got me switched from Teavana to a better purveyor :-)

This is my new FAVOURITE tea. The smell is intoxicating. Strong but not overpowering and slightly fruity/malty. I brewed it as per the directions on the packaging. The liquor is quite dark(almost looks like nestea Iced tea)orangeish. The taste is incredible. So much going on compared to alot of blacks that Ive tried. I love the malty taste that I get, it reminds me of a pint of guinness for some reason. Needless to say I love it. My new morning tea. What a way to start the day…..and you cant beat the price or Teavivres service!!!!

Long, spindly thin black needle-leaves.

Yesterday I steeped a tumbler of this hot, and it was good. In between classes, though, I didn’t have enough time to heat water and wait for it to steep, so I just filled my tumbler with cold water and let the second steep cold-brew on the way to class.

It was so good! There was a beautiful honey-like sweetness that blended surprisingly well with the smoky notes! And any astringency or maltiness had faded, so it was a much softer brew.

Dare I say it? Am I being too impulsive by already saying that this has become one of my favorite teas?

Eh, let’s say it. I think it’s safe. This tea was so great! It’s the first Golden Monkey I’ve tried, and I think it’s pretty safe to say I’ve found a winner. :) It had a very interesting taste. It tasted chocolately, yet it was fruity, and yet it was also had a slight tinge of pepper too. Very slight mind you, the tea is very pleasantly sweet! I practically guzzled the cup, and I have my next infusion steeping now. The shelf life on the package said 36 months. As if this’ll be around for three years. More like three days. Haha. Next time I order this, I’ll be sure to order it with a tin. This’ll be a permanent one. Very glad I was confident and ordered a good pouch rather than just a sample.

I’m feeling much more comfortable about my likes with black teas. I tend to love them either very bold and roasty, or really naturally sweet. I enjoy the nutty ones, and I’m not a huge fan of super peppery ones, nor super smokey ones as I discovered with lapsang souchong.

Edit: Second infusion, the chocolatey and fruity notes have really receded, and it’s mostly hayish now. It’s still quite flavorful, and really good! I’ll be sure to try a third infusion. :)

Another great tea and helping cup, this time its Golden Monkey! Its very much like Yunnan type black teas with a complex and layered flavors that seem best to come out during multiple steeps and playing around with temperature. It has a distinct flavor almost near to Assam which explains the sweet potato flavor with the amount of slight sweetness without it being to brisk on the palate. I can taste however the Yunnan qualities that works well with this tea, it gives a soily, maybe woody body, with smooth almost chocolaty on the back end of the palate. Just perfect!

This tea is very distinctive: it is malty like Assam teas, and has a caramel sweetness to it, but it is also woodsy and earthy. The finish is a sweet fruity flavor, a little bit reminiscent of a Darjeeling, except that the woodsy earthy flavor is present as well. I am not sure how to rate this tea yet, though I do like it.

Measuring out the tea, I observe long, full leaves, consistent gold color and a pleasant sweet aroma. Mmm, nice. I anticipate an enjoyable evening with this tea. I’m curious about it-how will it compare to Teavivre Yun Nan Dian Hong Golden Tip which I adore, and Bailin Gong fu, running a close second. Without trying a sample of this first, I had gone out on a limb and ordered 100 gms. I’m glad I did. The drink is smooth and tannin free with notes of oven-roasted sweet potato. The low astringency and sweetness of this tea make it a great every day tea.. The price is reasonable and I’ve been looking for an economical everyday “go to” Chinese black. My experience with TeaVivre has been exceptional. Golden Monkey is a little less pricey, which makes it a tea I will likely keep on the shelf.

I like that when you order samples from Teavivre they tend to give you two packets (separately sealed for freshness woot!), so you can brew gongfu and Western style, with significant time in between. Very cool. Going to try to hold off half of each type I ordered until my gaiwan from Verdant (! yippee) arrives at the end of the month.

This tea is so fragrant, smells like very sweet delicious sweet potato (cleanly so, like a steamed or boiled one, not a roasted, caramelized, or heavily spiced version) and just a little like bread/yeast , especially while brewing. This one’s also pretty in the cup, a very fine dark mahogany. There is a tinge of astringency, but the tea is sweet and “clean” enough tasting to make it bearable. This is yummy! I’m happy to find it’s not heavy or intensely rich like Laoshan Black; I don’t think I could devote myself to both, ha. It’s stronger, deep-darkier though than Honey Orchid or Mi Xian too (can you tell I’m trying to get my bearings with premium tea via plot point mapping dimensions?). I love that it’s not like any other tea I’ve tried so far, but at the same time very easy to drink.

Oooh, as it cools it deepens, and a slight, mysterious muskiness comes in. It also takes on a slightly bitter component, but somehow it’s not unpleasant. There’s some hay.

This may be the first tea I’ve had where the tannin and astringency build up doesn’t bother me somehow, because there’s also a velvetiness to go with it.

1st resteep per Teavivre’s instructions on the website yielded a darker, more opaque cup that is maltier, breadier, less sweet potato smelling than the first. Also a bit more bitter, but totally manageable.

Pretty satisfied with this choice. I’ve been addicted to Golden Monkey; however, (unfortunately) I was addicted to the wrong company’s. I feel that compared to Teavana’s Golden Monkey, this one has a lot more going on…more complexity, if you will.

When I drank Teavana’s, I felt satisfied…like it was a rich, smooth black tea. Rather classic, nothing special. With this one, though, I was able to draw out some of the nuances mentioned in the description.

I don’t recall picking up any fruity notes, but when I held the liquid in my mouth I did catch faint notes of chocolate. I didn’t even know that was possible! You always hear these elaborate descriptions of tea tasting like chocolate and wood and whatnot, but most of the time I could never pick up on the subtleties mentioned. But this tea was almost a musky, chocolaty, caramel. I enjoyed the cup for about the first 2/3 but then I wasn’t as fond of it. It wasn’t astringent or bitter or anything, but I started feeling that the caramel-cocoa was becoming too prominent.

After brewing it for a second time today, I was very satisfied through the entire cup. Instead of drinking it straight up, I decided to add a little Sugar In The Raw to see if the sweetness would complement the rest of the cup, and boy did it! Every last drop was delicious, and I look forward to buying some from Teavivre in the future!

Wow. Tied with Teavivre’s Bailin Gongfu for being my favorite tea ever. Strong sweet potato taste. Resteeps well.

If you like your full bodied black teas, this is your cup! This tea is full flavored, lightly sweet, and perfect with a dash of sugar and some milk in the morning. This might become my new go-to morning tea.