Golden Monkey
This tea has been retired/discontinued.
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Commercial Description
Surrender to the flavor of the Golden Monkey with full-bodied flavors of black tea hand-processed one leaf at a time. Known for its strange, monkey claw appearance, this tea offers a unique concoction of savory roasted apples, cocoa and spice notes that linger on your tongue with each tantalizing sip.
Brewing Instructions: (from Infuze)
Boiling water, 3-5 min.
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
57 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 2/5Sylvia (215 reviews) on Dec. 21st, 2013
I was surprised when I tasted this tea. I don't like the aroma much - it smells like raisin toast, and I don't like the raisin aroma. But the taste is really different. It has a toasty flavor that I like. It's a little odd. I added cream and sugar.
87 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5Alex Zorach (1453 reviews) on Nov. 15th, 2013
I really enjoyed this tea. Dry leaf is dark with golden tips, and has a strong and pleasant aroma of dried fruit, like raisins.
Flavor is very smooth, cup has just enough astringency to give it a pleasant body...aroma is strongly of dried fruit, with tones of vanilla, and a sort of bready finish, tending towards toasty at the bottom of the cup. Infuze describes the aroma as suggesting baked apples, and I can see this. There is a faint wintergreen note and a suggestion of smokiness without it actually being smoky. Very pleasant.
I brewed for 3 minutes and it came out on the mild side. However, brewed this way I was easily able to produce a second cup, also mild. The second cup brought out slight cocoa tones, and had a more pronounced vanilla aroma. I found it very pleasant, similar to the first. I was able to produce a third infusion. I think I prefer making two steepings though, using longer steep times: this brings out more of the complexity of the tea, and it doesn't become too strong.
I preferred brewing stronger, for about 5 minutes. This brings out the cocoa tones, as well as some pleasant herbaceous tones, and the cup feels fuller-bodied, although a bit more astringent, and still mild. This way there was enough flavor left for a second, but not third infusion; I needed to steep the second cup for well over 8 minutes to get it as strong as I wanted.
A very easy-to-drink tea. This would please people who like dark black teas with a fruity character, yet who want lower-tannin teas that are smoother and with less astringency or bitterness.
I'm much more familiar with the Yunnan gold teas than the Fujian Golden Monkey, but I thought this was a very enjoyable one. It's not a "pure gold", just gold tips among mostly dark leaf, but my experience has been that I like the darker variants better anyway.
This tea is on the pricey side, but it's a high grade tea that brews many cups, so considering this it's not as pricey as it seems. I do think that the 1 ounce size is a bit expensive though. $7 for an ounce seems awful steep, whereas $19 for 4 ounces seems much more reasonable.
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
More Golden Monkey
Golden Monkey Black Tea
| Brand: | TeaVivre |
| Style: | Golden Monkey |
| Region: | Fujian, China |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
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Golden Monkey
| Brand: | Adagio Teas |
| Style: | Golden Monkey |
| Region: | Fujian, China |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
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Golden Monkey
| Brand: | Harney and Sons |
| Style: | Golden Monkey |
| Region: | Fujian, China |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
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Organic Golden Monkey Black Tea
| Brand: | Prince of Peace |
| Style: | Golden Monkey |
| Region: | Yunnan, China |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
1 Rating
