Golden Monkey

Well, I have found out (and it took me years and years and years) that my vintage teaspoons from my Aunt Rosie are teaspoons in name only. I expected as much. Now that I have my Perfect Teaspoon and have begun making tea with it, WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Vintage Teaspoon is a stingy little thing and I always tried to compensate but you know. Some days you are in a rush and you just expect your teaspoon to measure a spoon of tea and not be all chintzy about it!

I made Golden Monkey with Perfect Teaspoon and it has taken my enjoyment up … at least three notches! So rich and honeyed. I was close, but I wasn’t using quite enough tea. Just that little bit extra is making one of my favorite teas even more delicious!

Now I feel like I have all new teas because I will be making them for the first time with my Perfect Teaspoon! I wonder how Keemun Mao Feng and Tan Yang Te Ji will taste when made with the Perfect Teaspoon? I shiver with anticipation!!!!

(…and maybe in 5 or 10 years I’ll get a Tea Scale and …)

Golden Monkey is a fabulous tea, and this one from Harney and Sons is far superior to the Teavana version to me. This particular year’s harvest was especially rich, full bodied, and dark. Last year it was a wee bit lighter because of the drought, I am told.

My guest said she thought there was almost a molasses taste or something similar. I think of it more as malt and rich, chewy raisins. The tea was paired with apple dumplings from that easy peasy pinterest recipe that has been going around, and it was delicious!

For the apple dumplings, just spoon either Comstock Apple Pie Filling or Stouffers escalloped appled onto a Pillsbury crescent roll, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon (I used Vietnamese), roll up tightly so the juice doesn’t leak out, bake for 12-15 minutes, and serve while warm, drizzled with Hershey’s caramel sauce. Yums!

I have a recent new appreciation for unflavored black teas, especially Fujians, so I decided to revisit this one, which was a sizeable sample from JacquelineM a while ago. I still have enough in the tin for another cup after this one, even!

Mm, I definitely appreciate this one more than I did the first time I had it. I’ve really come to love those Fujian flavors. This one has lots of those caramel, honey, bready notes. I like this a lot. I tell you, I never thought I would get into unflavored black teas because they didn’t really appeal to me, but I am definitely enjoying them now. Of course, that usually means that suddenly I need to try all the different kinds, like when I first got into oolongs.

Sip down. What a wonderful tea. Even using microwaved water this comes out perfect. Ashmanra says this is bolder than the Teavivre version. I can’t really tell the difference but I never tried them back to back. This one is leaving me with cool breath like peppermint. If you haven’t tried golden monkey – you should.

Did a side by side this afternoon with this and Teavivre’s Golden Monkey. Harney on the left, Teavivre on the right.

http://tinyurl.com/hyqoboe

I warmed the gaiwans, put in the leaf and covered while the water was heating. Visually, there are more golden tips in the Harney tea. The scent of the warmed, dry leaves: Teavivre has a smell of hay and dark molasses. Harney’s aroma is malty brown sugar.

About 200F was water temp. 1:30 steep time.

Scent of steeped leaves: Teavivre was sweet dusty hay, Harney was a smell of cooked, wet leaf and rock.

Taste of cup: Teavivre was hay with some malt, mild with a minor, not unwelcome, sour note at the end of the sip. Harney was maltier than TV and sweeter in that brown sugar way, liquor is lighter in color by a touch.

Conclusion: I like the Harney better. Granted, however, that the Harney is fresher (2015) and the Teavivre is older (2014). So this wasn’t an optimal taste comparison, probably. I’ll still enjoy both. :)

A little honey and caramel twist without the brisk so put this tea on your list or you’ll miss a moment of bliss.

Another sipdown. I thought my cupboard was pretty much at full capacity, but I realized going through it today that I am nearly out of several good teas. Glad I have some new ones on the way to try!

I overleafed a little bit to use up the last of the loose leaf and it was even more enjoyable than last time with bolder flavors. Not getting any cocoa or fruit, but the lovely malt and honey goodness is just right for a chilly winter afternoon. Wonderful!

Experience buying from Harney & Sons http://steepster.com/places/2779-harney-and-sons-online-millerton-new-york

Date of Purchase/Date of Steeping: Bought sample in December 2011; brewed up late-May 2012.

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: strong, wonderfully fruity smell (similar to a Darjeeling?) with a hint of a roasted aroma; small, beautifully curled light and dark brown leaves (similar to a quality Yunnan).

Brewing guidelines: almost 5 full TSP tea for 4 cups water; loose in my new ceramic four-cup teapot; stevia added; I used my standard Chinese red tea steeping times and temperatures, steeped five times.

Color and Aroma of tea liquor: Beautiful, clear dark-red color with a faint malty aroma.

Flavor of tea liquor: Good! Similar to an Assam—it was clearly malty—but with a definite Chinese red tea flavor profile (somewhat like a Yunnan, possibly in its sweetness?). Good flavor up through the third steeping, some on the forth, with just a hint of flavor on the fifth.

Appearance and Aroma of wet leaf: A few largish-looking stems but few broken pieces and plenty of nice buds in the wet leaf; I smelled it just after the first steeping and it had a wonderfully sweet aroma.

Value: $3 for the sample, but otherwise $22 / 3OZ. This is clearly a quality tea, but that price-tag is too steep for me (as in, expensive, that is); there are to be plenty of other teashops that carry quality Chinese red teas for a price better than $7/OZ (but maybe none with precisely this kind of flavor profile, hmm?).

Overall: I spontaneously brewed up this sample today, it being the last in the bunch I bought from H&S toward the end of last year. On a side note: having now had about ten Teas from H&S I have to say I am impressed with their offerings such that every Tea (NOT including their tizanes) I have tried has been of commendable quality. As I mentioned in Value this is clearly a quality Chinese red tea. Strangely enough in color and flavor this tea somewhat reminds me of a red ale I helped to home-brew just a few days ago; I like that. I am not willing to pay the normal price for this tea, but still, I’m glad I had a chance to experience it.

Ever since tasting Teavivre’s Golden Monkey, this kind of Fujian tea has been near the top of my list of plain blacks. I’ve been very curious about it ever since, especially from someone as trustworthy as Harney & Sons.

The scent is very fruity and complex, characteristic of this kind of blend. I’m definitely getting the aroma of sweet potato. What’s great about the flavor of this tea is that it’s fruity without being fruit flavored, and it’s so very smooth. There is no bitterness, no astringency. Just delicious, almost breadlike taste. I’m also getting light notes of honey. Truly something to savor.

A bit of a warning — this stuff doesn’t like being treated like a traditional black tea. You want to be gentle with it. Give it a shorter steep time and cooler water than you’d usually go with. Otherwise, the flavor gets pretty overwhelming and distorted.

And a bit of a random note, I made this for my stoner friend who always wants a cup when I offer, and he said “This is really good tea…” while crashing cars in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Jenn was good enough to send this to me a while back. I’m finally getting to it after sorting out the tea cabinet at home. The dry leaves are golden and dark in color and smell very much like honey! This excites me a little because I love honey. But I hate having to add sweeteners to my tea. I’m finding I like my teas straight up these days. As the tea steeped I continued to get the notes of sweet coming out of the cup. This almost reminded me of a Yunnan I have a large amount of. (Again another good thing!)

The taste? Very rich and very bold! I really like it. I have to say I was planning on a nap this afternoon, but I have a feeling this tea will keep me from that. Honestly I’m ok with this, this time. I have a lot to do and a nap would just get in the way. There is the slightest hint of honey to this tea which makes it perfect when matched with the rich malty flavor I’m also getting here.