Classic Bai Lin Gong Fu Black Tea of Fuding * Golden Monkey 2016

Oooo, My first impression was this is “nutty” of some sort. Macadamia? No… not walnut or almond, either. But a tree nut nonetheless. Like, acorn or chestnuts. Chestnuts! That’s what I’ve decided! Haha!

This tea is hard to describe. It’s got some malt flavor in there. Maybe baked bread. There’s a hard to identify sweet note. Overall this is good tea. If this doesn’t wake me up nothing will. It’s a very strong tea.

I brewed this tea once with a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

I asked Husband what sort of hot drink he would like this morning (hoping he wouldn’t say coffee because he’s under the weather and I’d have to grind the beans myself.)

Anyway, he asked for tea.

I asked him if there was a specific one he would like.

He said, “one that mysteriously cures all illness.”

Hm. Tall order…

Eventually, I decided that this would translate to one of the teas in the Life-Giving category, of which Golden Monkeys are prominent members.

So that’s what I made him. Extra strength.

“Oh, did you forget it?” he asked.

The cheek! No, I did not, in fact, forget it. I added extra leaf. On purpose.

Now, if Husband had to pick a most favourite black, I would guess he’d say Golden Monkey. Even more so, mysteriously, than Tan Yang, which is just something I don’t get. Luckily my favourite and his favourite are so similar that they are pretty much interchangable for our purposes.

As it turns out, extra-strength brewing of this one makes it sort of thicker feeling. Bit like there’s some sort of cream in it that you can feel but not taste. At this point, Husband came in and distracted me by showing me a rainbow visible through the window. A really big one too, the whole arch. I tried to take a photo through the window but don’t know how it turned out. Haven’t looked yet.

Second steep is even more extra strength, but this time it wasn’t so much on purpose as it was putting less water in the pot than I thought. That ‘invisble cream’ feeling is still there. This time it’s also more malty and a bit caramelly. It actually tastes like a darkish but still golden caramel brown colour. My head is filled with that colour when I sip. At this strength there is also a smidge of a rough smoky quality to it, but I know that’s really only just because it’s brewed so strong.

Yum, I love Golden Monkey teas so I was happy to see a 50g bag of this show up with my Yunnan Sourcing dark tea of the month.

I am still trying to wake up after having a deep dish pizza and wine with a friend last night, I think I was in a carbohydrate coma all night and morning. It was so good but I haven’t eaten deep dish in years and what a calorie load.

So on to the tea… I tried steeping this two ways already, both in clay teapots. The first try was Western style in a large pit for 3 minutes. The second try is via gong fu method in a small pot for 45-60 seconds.

Both were good, but I am preferring the shorter steeps as the longer one took on a slight bitterness. This is a great tea to sip on straight as it is not at all tannic or astringent. Very smooth and sweet with the shorter steeps. To me this takes on notes of chocolate and has a slight dark grain note, like that of pumpernickel bread. Honestly I am not getting much fruity or floral from this unless you steep it for a short time, like 10 seconds. Then it begins to take on a bit of a peachy quality. Anyway, this tea seems to be great any steeping time as long as it isn’t oversteeped. I would say do not exceed 2 minutes and you are good to go. ;)

Glad to have this one in my stash. Hoping it will revive me enough that I make it to the gym later today!