Golden Monkey Black Tea

Smells like my ideal tea: thick, malty chocolate with hints of apricot. The taste doesn’t disappoint.

Might be my all time favourite black.

I can’t rate or out in details in my phone, so…

Organic Golden Monkey Black
2 heaping teaspoons in 12oz water
Boiled and cooled to 89C
Steeped Western style, 5 minutes – I lost track of time, and it shows in the brew. Boo.

Finally getting around to trying this one from a Reddit swap two years ago. Still seems fresh. It tastes pretty much the same as all the other golden monkey teas I’ve tried. It has a bit of astringency. Not my favorite sort of tea, but typical as far as golden monkey goes. I apologize that I don’t have more to say!

It’s the 18th day of Advent already? Time for another tea from Sara’s calendar!

This tastes like “golden” to me! I also notice honey and cinnamon notes. It kind of feels rich and light at the same time. I can taste the black tea also. I’m really impressed with this one.

I finished off another tea I had marked for sipdown last night, so Sipdown September is making some progress (hoping to get the collection count down to 500 by the end of the month!) I’ve taken to making herbals in the evening in my Japanese teapot, since it’s easy to bag these (they don’t need ample expansion to still taste great and that makes cleanup in the teapot super easy) and I can just leave them in the pot without them turning bitter and astringent, and then I just keep refilling my cup as I watch YouTube videos before bed. This switch has also been discouraging me from grabbing caffeinated teas around bedtime, which really aren’t very helpful for my sleep schedule…

Now that it’s morning I can pull out the caffeine. I am so in the mood for a Chinese black. I have two different Golden Monkey teas, one from TeaVivre and one from Dazzle Deer (for all I know maybe they use the same source, how would I know?) but in any event, I decided to try the TeaVivre one first. I believe this one came from Ost’s cupboard sale not long ago, so thank you very much Ost!

First up, Baby Gaiwan session. I’m loving that the new kettle isn’t nearly as heavy as the old one and the water is easier to control when pouring into Baby Gaiwan. I’m already quite smitten with the Lady. (Somehow that’s the name that stuck on day one… don’t ask me why I name my teaware, because I don’t have a proper answer.)

2g / 50ml / 194F / Rinse|5s|10s|15s|20s|25s|45s|60s

The dry leaf doesn’t smell very notable to me, other than a bit peppery. After rinsing the tea, the leaf smells like malt, baked bread, raisins, honey, and stonefruit. The steeped liquor is a deep, golden orange color. The aroma from the first steep was very malty, with notes of apricot and orange, some honey sweetness, and slightly smokey. The flavor was very malty, tasting of baked bread and sweet apricots, with some smokiness on the finish. The next steeps brought out some notes of raisins, peach, orange rind, and yams, with the smoky finish becoming weaker, and a chocolately aftertaste appearing on the tongue. There was a very mild dryness left on the tongue, but not so much as to be unpleasant. By the fourth steep the smokiness in the finish had disappeared, but the flavor had also already become very mild. The aroma from the cup was wonderful, smelling like melted caramel, honey, and cinnamon, but the flavor was a much weaker malt, orange, and apricot taste. With the smoky finish gone, a spice note now appeared on the finish. I wrapped it up by the seventh infusion since it was obvious the tea just wasn’t giving much anymore at that point.

Since the flavors started to weaken so early into the session, it is my guess that perhaps age may have something to do with it. With cupboard sales there is no way of knowing which harvest the leaf is from, so there is a chance this may be some much older Golden Monkey. There was quite nice, defined flavors during the first three steeps, but after that it seemed pretty exhausted already.

Next up, a western brewed cuppa with my breakfast. Which I’m eating at noon. Because it’s Sunday and I’m lazy. (Breakfast was the gong fu session, lunch is now breakfast. Don’t judge.)

2.5g / 350ml / 194F / 3m

The aroma of the tea smells like mandarin oranges, chocolate, and cinnamon. I’m surprised how different this tea has come out in a western brew. It’s a much richer flavor, that has a more mild malty note, and instead of tasting stonefruit and honey, I’m getting a thick chocolate flavor, with hints of orange and spices on the finish. It’s still a very nice tea brewed this way, I just wish some of the apricot/peach and malted honey notes had shown up… it’s quite a vast contrast. The very mild astringency I was getting from the gong fu brew was also not present from the western brew, so there is also that. Despite the less complex flavor of the western brew, the chocolate/spice flavor alone would make me happy to brew this up before work and use this black as a morning daily drinker.

I prefer the variety of flavor on this more in the gong fu, but not how quickly it gave out on infusions, which makes me more inclined to use this for western steeping… hmm. I think I’ll play with this one more. Next time I gong fu it I think I’ll use my shiboridashi, which holds more leaf and water, and do fewer infusions at slightly longer steep times. My next western cup I think I’ll knock down the steep time to two minutes, and see if it doesn’t bring out some of the sweeter notes a bit. I also want to compare to the Dazzle Deer Golden Monkey I have, since I know the exact harvest date on that tea (it’s an April 2017), and that may make quite a difference compared to the flavors in this one, since there is a chance this may be an older tea.

Thanks Ost for the sale! It took some work to get organized, but we got there. It’s my fault though for wanting to wait to see what else would be added to the sale list. I definitely wanted this one from Ost’s sale because if it’s the older Golden Monkey, it’s the smaller leafed Golden Monkey that I love MORE than the bigger leafed. I was really enjoying it all day. But I’m not sure it’s as delicious as the first harvest I had from Teavivre. I’m also confused if this should be a tasting note for Golden Monkey or Premium Golden Monkey because they switched the name on the other Golden Monkey when they started selling the other Golden Monkey. How many times did I just time Golden Monkey?!?!
Also, is anyone else an Ed Harcourt fan? I’ve been a fan for years but just started listening to his album Furnaces this week and every song is excellent and he has a NEW album this week. I suggest giving ‘The World is on Fire’ a listen but I really love all of his songs. He has had solid albums for… 20 years now? And not enough appreciation!

2021 Sipdown #3:
This one was really good but I still prefer the Premium Golden Monkey tea from this company. The best by date for this sample was last May so it could also just be not quite as fresh. Still delicious though! Sipped on a pot of this while cooking a New Year’s themed dinner. My grandmother really enjoyed this one as well. Overall just a lovely black tea with no bitterness or astringency. Not one you have to worry about oversteeping.

Leaf: Dry, it smells bright, with malty undercurrents. Wet, the leaf smells sweet, almost fruity. About half of the long, thin leaves are a pale gold.

Water: Bubbles are formed on the bottom of the kettle and began being released.

Amount: I used approximately 1 tablespoon of tea for 8 oz of water.

First steeping:
1 minute: The tea is a deep, dark brown. It tastes very malty.

Second steeping:
3 minutes: The tea is now a rich amber color. It still tastes malty, but there’s a slight flavor with it that is almost slightly fungal.

I really like the Premium Golden Monkey tea and this, the regular version of the Golden Monkey has pretty strong review on Steepster, so I my expectations were high.

Meh – a surprised but emphatic meh. This tea simply lacks the balance and refinement of its premium counterpart in taste. The golden buds seem to be completely lost and underwhelming, while the black tea part assaults you with harshness and unrefined boldness. The smell is meh as well. Given that the price of the premium version is only $3 higher per 100 grams I see no reasons whatsoever to buy the regular Golden Monkey from Teavivre.

I even stopped after only two gaiwan infusions and had no desire to continue and finish the tasting, which is very unusual for me. Luckily, it was a free sample that came with my order and I don’t have to force myself to invent a mood that would call for this tea in order to finish the remaining 45- 95 grams. That’s why I never buy a tea I have not previously tried in any quantity but a sample regardless of dazzling reviews and beguiling discounts.

Five years ago, I had the pleasure of trying Teavivre’s exceptional Premium Golden Monkey Black tea. That tea still stands out as the premier Golden Monkey tea that I’ve tasted.

Recently, Teavivre was selling its “standard” Golden Monkey tea selection at a great price. Even though I had been spoiled by the premium offering, the discount on this one was too good to resist. I decided to take a chance and reasoned that if it had at least an OK flavor, it would be worth the money.

When I opened the silver shipping bag, my nose was greeted with a semi-sweet and earthy Chinese black tea aroma. The leaves were long and brown with equal amounts of golden accompaniments.

I steeped the tea at 195 degrees for four minutes (one degree higher and one minute more than the recommended method) as I like my teas at maximum strength.

The brewed color was dark and golden. The smell was sweet and chocolaty and much more intoxicating than in its pre-liquefied state.

The closest word I could think of to describe the flavor of my first sip was SUPERB! The taste was rich with chocolate, caramel, honey, and other sweet accents, without making it a chocolate drink. The sum total of the flavor recalled my memories of a brown sugar ice cream cone.

This taste remained amazingly consistent through two rapidly demolished cupfuls. Even with the steady bombardment of the robust flavor, I didn’t detect any bitterness whatsoever. The entire experience was incredibly smooth. The aftertaste was delicate and it dissolved quietly.

This is an awesome Golden Monkey tea which I HIGHLY recommend. I will mainly be drinking it in the morning but this selection could just as easily be served to your favorite guests at your most special events.

I am very pleased with myself that I rolled the dice and purchased a pound of this tea at the discounted price. My only concern is that I will devour the entire pound too quickly!

soooooooooooooooooooooo boooooooooooooooooooooored….with my cupboard. Honestly 2 pages of tea cupboard is not enough. that is all. haha