90
drank Golden Monkey by The Tea Table
2036 tasting notes

Enough flavored blacks for one day. Now for something unadulterated.

I had to add this one to the database, but unfortunately The Tea Table no longer offers it so I can’t provide a picture. They do offer something called Kings Golden Monkey but from the description it’s quite a different tea.

This dates back to my Tea Table tea of the month club. Overthem00n introduced me to the Tea Table and they’re nice people with a good selection of yummy teas.

The dry leaf is a pretty mixture of dark and golden leaves and has a smoky fragrance. It reminded me of the smell inside one of our local barbecue/steak places combined with something that’s close to chocolate. The steeped liquor is a lovely copper color as mentioned in the description, and the aroma of the steeped tea has a fruity thing going on. A little raisin, maybe a little plum.

The tea is smooth and mellow and retains some of the hints of chocolate from the dry leaf. It’s brisk and definitely medium-bodied. I get a slight astringency but not enough to make it not refreshing. It doesn’t leave me thirsty. There’s a slick, slightly thick mouth feel to the finish, and something suggestive of grain—its a maltiness, but not a sweet maltiness so much as a grainy one. I am not sure which grain though. It’s a little like wheat, a little like rye.

And I just noticed that none of the grains I might have picked (including wheat, rye, or just “grain”) are among the flavor options. (Whine. Whine. Whine.)

This is a really tasty black tea that I’ll enjoy exploring over time.

.

Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Stewed Fruits

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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