Organic Golden Monkey

I bought this tea yesterday, although I really KNOW I shouldn’t be buying any more tea. This is one of my favorite Golden Monkeys and I don’t have any more so I felt justified. And it’s my favorite breakfast tea, but right now it’s the afternoon. :-P

So I finally heard from my ex-employer after threatening them with my attorney and now they say they’re going to offer me a severance package if I resign. Oh happy day. Nice to leave a place that would “restructure” your job after you broke your arm and were on a company approved medical leave. I won’t be sorry to leave this pack of wolves but it’s still a very emotional time for me. Thank goodness for tea.

This is a bit too light bodied to be the tea for a work morning, but in the afternoon or on a weekend, it is excellent. It tastes like toast, in the best possible way. No bitterness or astringency, just smooth, golden toasty goodness. It makes me happy to just think of this tea. And at the price, I can afford to stock up. I get two steeps also, which is good for a light tea, making it an even more excellent value.

Currently my go to for a basic, solid, simple black tea.

I am an unusually organized person. My bookshelves are sorted first by genre, then by author, then by book size. My iTunes gets a makeover 2-3 times per year when I get the bug to further organize, or I just need to make sure everything is properly marked and in the right place. All of the clothes in my closet are sorted by season, type, and hung in the correct direction.

However, I have had every hair color imaginable, a mohawk at times, and I am constantly searching for new foods, beers, and teas to enliven and excite my day to day life.

This tea fits that lifestyle. Basic, but not boring. All the right flavors in all the right places. I am in complete control with this one, if I want to add something extra to change the taste or feel, I can. And I do. I’m not a fan of milk in my tea, but a bit of honey, a sprig of mint, a touch of Lapsang Souchong for that smoky taste, all of those things I can do for myself if and when I want. And they all work. Or I can go bare, and just enjoy this tea by itself, which it is fully capable of shining all by it’s lonesome.

All too often tea companies try too hard creating new blends that in the end come out bland and confusing, too many tastes lost in a mix of a tea that sits on the shelf of a store for too long, each individual flavor loosing its sense of self and personality and blending into a, well, blend.

Blend starts with ble(h).

You want a great, basic, super yummy black tea with just the right amount of bite, surprisingly smooth and tannin free, with a hint of sweetness, that can also work very well as a base for experimenting with creating your own tea blend adventure?

Here ya go.

This is a very light, mellow black tea with no noticeable astringency. Flavors of toasted grain and a hint of earthiness make it a nice “warm” cup. Steeps well twice, a third steeping unfortunately results in very little flavor. I don’t recommend sweetener as it could easily overpower the tea rather than enhance, and there isn’t anything to mask with sweetness. Every now and again I will add a splash (about 1 Tbs) of milk not cream just for a different flavor.