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Welcome to Monkey Monday

I’m sorry, but when I was doing sipdowns this weekend, I realized that I had a number of small samples of teas with the word “Monkey” in the name, and "monkey Monday is so much more alliterative than Monkey Saturday, so I brought several of them to work to drink down today.

So, on to the tea: The aroma is earthy with hints of cocoa. The taste isn’t terribly strong, but that may be due to the low density of the tea (I usually weigh my tea but don’t have a scale at work, so guestimate with a tea-spoon. The tea is very smooth and blends nicely into a medium-length finish that has the same flavors as the taste.

I tend to require complexity for a high score in a tea. This tea is reasonably complex, but is a bit more restrained than I would like. Still, a very good tea overall.

I had about half a cup in the teapot that I let steep for several extra minutes. This second cup was quite a bit stronger, as one would expect, but lost the cocoa nuance and had more of the earthy flavor, which i didn’t like as well.

I’ve been too lazy to write up tasting notes, but it’s too cold to go outside today, so I’ll write some notes.

This is a sample I bought on BF. I’m a big fan of Keemun, so was looking forward to this tea, but this tastes more like a Yunnan to me. It is a cross between a leafy, forest floor taste and chocolate, with only a bit of smoke hiding under the other flavors. The tea is well-made, but I’d prefer more smoke.

As the tea cooled, it became somewhat bitter. Overall, a bit of a disappointment. However, the last time I drank this tea I saw enjoyed it more. My rating is an average of the two scores

An aptly named tea: truly a delight!

1st steep: Lovely stone-fruit smell with hints of honey and orange marmalade. The aroma is so good that I just smell the tea, not bothering to drink it! The taste is soft and full and continues the stone fruit flavors with an earthy undercurrent. The taste seems to grow in the mouth, leading to a very good, very long finish. The flavors changed subtly as the tea cooled, but in no way diminished in quality.

This is the way tea is meant to be. I should probably give this a score of 100, but the earthy flavors contain a hint of bitterness, and the stone fruit doesn’t carry all the way through the finish. Also, the cup finished with some bitterness.

2nd steep: Same basic flavors but more subdued.

I’ve been remiss in logging teas. I’m trying to taste every tea I own (this is number 87) so I’m moving fast and taking brief notes. It’s now after Christmas and I can relax and enjoy some of my new tea.

This is one of my Black Friday teas, brewed with water from my Cuisinart temperature-controlled pot Christmas present, and it just seemed right to write up a note (particularly when I discovered that I’m the first reviewer.

The aroma from the fresh cup was really pleasant: a classic Darjeeling mix of stone fruit and leather. The taste had similar qualities. I really liked this tea, but as it cooled it became somewhat bitter in the finish, which was disappointing.

2nd steep: Nose is richer, with less fruit. The taste is still reasonably powerful but not as complex as the first steep. This time as the tea cooled the stone fruit came forward, but there was no bitterness. I may need to experiment with time and temperature for this tea.

A note on weight: Art of Tea doesn’t give weights for their samples, just saying “5-7 cups”. I bought a number of samples and most were at least 15 grams, which for me is more like 10 cups. I was happy to get this much tea, and love the little tins that their samples come in.

I’m sipping down the last of my samples from Yezi Tea

First steep(3 minutes): Rich aroma of damp forest. The flavor is more like old leather with undertones of chocolate and cedar. Very powerful, yet balanced and well integrated. Good finish.

The second steep was significantly less powerful, yet held all the same flavor components. It seemed more refined; almost like tasting a Bordeaux wine after a California Cabernet. I preferred the first steep, but only slightly.

This isn’t my favorite style of tea, but it was of such high quality that I enjoyed it a lot, so gave it a good score.

My black Friday shipment arrived yesterday and so I’ve started to enjoy the teas (I’m letting my wife put some of the teas away as Christmas presents but I couldn’t stand to wait for all of them).

This tea was a bit disappointing. I tried it first without any sweetener, and the only flavor was cinnamon. The aroma reminded me of the “Atomic Fireball” candies I used to eat as a kid, and that probably influenced my impressions, but I couldn’t taste any tea or apple: just the fireball.

I tried adding NutraSweet, and the sweetener brought out the apple flavor, but the cinnamon still overpowered the apple. This tea might work for someone who really likes cinnamon, but it isn’t for me.

Note added two months later. This time I liked the tea much better. The cinnamon dominated, but I accepted the tea for what it was: a cinamon tea. I also noticed that the cinnamon faded faster than the other flavors so the second and third steeps were much more balanced. The current rating is an average of 73 and 82.

I’ve been sipping down teas in anticipation of Black Friday, and decided it was time to try this sample from Yezi Tea. I used the entire 3 grams in 6 oz of water in a series of 60 second steeps.

1st steep: Nose is soft and spicy with hints of straw. Flavor is light and grassy with milky texture. Finish seems more powerful than the taste. As the tea cooled the flavor opened up and became quite buttery, but the spice disappeared.

2nd steep: the nose is more grass than straw, with just a hint of spice. A bit more powerful than the first steep. The first sip just exploded in my mouth: tremendous power! It has an incredibly rich mouth-feel, with flavors dominated by straw and grass, with undertones of spice. The taste transitions smoothly into a long, powerful finish.

3rd steep was less powerful than the second. Mildly spicy nose. Same flavors, but much less buttery texture in the mouth. Finish is still good, but not quite as good as the second steep.

Many thanks to Yezi Tea for providing the sample

From Considering a new Travelling Tea Box

This has a beautiful golden appearance that suggests quality. The instructions said to use 1/2 tsp, but I used my standard 1.5 grams (though increased the water to 8 oz from my usual 6).

This was an amazing tea. I was initially hesitant at the Yunnan-like damp forest aroma, but there was an underlying note of cocoa, and I didn’t find it off-putting. The flavor is HUGE. I won’t use as much next time, yet the strength was wonderful: a big, complex, mouth-filling tea. The flavor changed subtly in my mouth and as the cup cooled, making it hard to identify specifics, but it retained the forest/cocoa notes in the nose. The finish was also delightful and strong. A great tea.

There is only about 5 grams left in the box, but I’m afraid I’m claiming it.

I should probably give this a 100, but I’ve always been a tough grader.

From Considering a new Travelling Tea Box

I’m not a big fan of Pu-erh, so the fact that this one smells so much like a pu-erh made me a bit nervous, though there were also strong notes of cocoa.

The taste is very interesting. The chocolate and pu-erh mix into something different from either but very nice. The cocoa flavor somewhat dominates the finish, but without losing balance.

At this point I added some sweetener. As with many chocolate teas, the sweetener increased my awareness of the chocolate. The taste changes from cocoa to chocolate. I didn’t have a preference either way.

From Considering a new Travelling Tea Box

Lots of spice and pepper in the nose. Smells a bit like fireball candy. The taste carries the same flavors, but milder, with good backing of tea. Over time, the cinnamon dissipated, but the black pepper remained. Good finish. None of the damp forest flavor I associate with Yunnan, but the fireball taste is a bit distracting.

This is a solid tea, but I couldn’t fall in love with the flavor combination. It might work for someone else.