Monkey-Picked Oolong

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea Leaves
Flavors
Astringent, Drying, Mineral, Honeysuckle, Melon, Sugarcane, Champagne, Floral, Orchid, Smoke, Smooth, Sweet, Bitter, Earth, Grass, Seaweed, Honey, Vegetal, Dry Grass, Sugar, Chestnut, Roasted Barley
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by sterling
Average preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 5 g 11 oz / 315 ml

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146 Tasting Notes View all

From Teavana

As legend has it, Buddhist monks formulated this ancient top ten treasure. The monks trained monkeys to gather the youngest leaves from the tip-top of wild tea trees for this special Imperial Reserve blend. The secret lives on with the deft hand plucking of the unbroken, evenly sized leaves that unfurl to create the most complex yet light orchid aroma and highest grade of oolong in the world. IMPERIAL RESERVE

Smooth, bright orchid aroma throughout with clean refreshing finish

How to Prepare
Use 1 teaspoon of tea per 8oz of water. Heat water to 195-200 degrees and steep tea for 3-4 minutes. 2oz of tea equals 25-30 teaspoons.
Ingredients:
Pure oolong tea.

About Teavana View company

Company description not available.

146 Tasting Notes

77
1220 tasting notes

Received some of this from silvermage2000 in our swap. I’ve always been curious about it but never purchased it, given its high cost.

It is good though, but not something where I’m like, oh I have to go out and get this now. I’m sure there are many cheaper alternatives that might even be better. I’ve only had one TGY but I kind of like the taste of this better, it seems more buttery. Now I’ll know to explore similar oolongs with an “orchid” taste then!

This is good on the second steep but I’m afraid that very shortly it won’t be worth resteeping :( Sure enough, on steep #4 it tastes like absolutely nothing.

noordelijk

The Thai Mountain Oolong is a bit on the pricier side, like this one, but a bit fuller flavour if you want to try another Oolong. It has that really lovely floral orchid taste, and its very smooth, and not at light as the Monkey Picked.

momo

I do want to give that one a try at some point. I really wish they’d sell teas in smaller amounts with ones like these oolongs.

noordelijk

Yeah it’s too bad sometimes you have to get 50g, in case you hate it and can’t even have one more cup haha. But you can always get a cup to go if you just want to try it once. They’ll even make it in your own thermos if you have one (I hate paper cups, bleh).

tea-junkie

Hey there, I’m new to this site, just joined today, and I noticed you mentioned the swap for monkey picked oolong with someone. How does that work if you could help me out. Thank you.

momo

go to the discussion tab then choose the tea swap category or just browse through

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75
58 tasting notes

Well it’s the morning after. I peeked a glance at my new glass within glass (kwisatz haderach) tumbler and the MPO was still there. 8:03 a.m., and time for a fourth steep. By now the liquor has taken on a brownish color, and the mouth feel has become creamier. Still, mostly what I taste is bitter and mineral, but the fault for that lies in nor running the water long enough.

All in al it does well to reach a fourth steep a day later, and this hasn’t been the fairest most scientific review process for this tea.

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55
2145 tasting notes

Somehow I ended up at the mall tonight, I hate the mall, so I decided to console myself with a cup of tea from Teavana. Our store recently had a complete staff changeover, so I’ve been trying to give them another shot. I’m actually glad that I did, this is 2 visits in a row where I wasn’t pressed overly hard about buying something. The new staff realizes pretty quickly when someone isn’t interested in buying anything other than what they walked in to buy. In this case I had walked in to buy a single cup of hot tea and walked out 5 minutes later with exactly what I had asked for.

I’ve never actually ordered tea to go from Teavana before, unless they’ve had a promotion, which means I normally don’t get to pick my flavor. I’ve been curious about the quality of their extremely high priced unflavored teas, so I opted for the most expensive at $25 for 2oz or $4.99 per to-go cup.

When they opened up the canister to waft the scent, I was immediately surprised by the dull color of the dry leaf. This tea falls short in the taste department as well, it isn’t nearly as robust tasting as many others I have had and it doesn’t even come close to the quality of teas that I purchase from TeaVivre or Verdant, both of whom are my go-to places for Tie Guan Yin.

The cup of tea was perfectly drinkable, but in my opinion it is overpriced for what you get and was a real let down.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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79
1759 tasting notes

Backlog # 6
I can’t remember much about this tea, I have the notes written down somewhere. I’ll update it when I have the chance… but overall it was a little too fruity for my liking. Reminds me more of a Formosa, or Long Life Oolong from DT, than a TGY really. Decent enough but it’s so standard!
I would never buy any for the house since I have much more affordable alternatives available to me at home. For that reason, it gets a lower score… maybe five points off?

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78
224 tasting notes

I wasn’t really expecting to like this. Got it in a swap because I wanted to try it before buying any, and paying $25 for just 2oz of tea is more than a bit ridiculous in my opinion. At least at this point in my tea drinking life. Give it awhile and I’ll bet something like that’ll seem like nothing. Lol.
Smelled kinda green dry, so I hesitated, but on I went. Tasted pretty green and veggie-like to me on the first couple sips. I very nearly poured it out, but I figured I’d add a bit of truvia to it just ‘cause I didn’t have anything to lose. Yes, that’s probly sacrilegious, but like I said, what did I have to lose….At least I didn’t try adding milk. XD
Boy was I surprised. I thought it would be strange, drinking sweet veggie like tea, but I actually ended up finishing the whole cup. The bit of sweet really brought out different flavors I wasn’t expecting. At the moment I can’t really recall what those were since I drank the tea last night and I realized I didn’t get to reviewing it until this afternoon. But it was pretty good.
Though in a lapse in judgement I ended up dumping the leaves without a second steeping. /headdesk/ I was trying to get a couple more teas in for the night, both of with were entirely unsatisfactory. In hindsight I should’ve just put the leaves on a little plate to rebrew later. Ah well, c’est la vie!
I’m not really sure I’d be willing to pay so much for this tea myself, though it’ll eventually sink in that there’s likely multiple rebrewings to stretch that further. But for the moment, I’ll savor what I do have and put it on the considerations list for reorder.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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67
8 tasting notes

I am new to steepster, so my note may not sway many tea drinkers. This oolong is definitely one of my “go to” teas, due to its’ refreshing nature. I enjoy this tea in the mornings and afternoons due to its’ ability to pick up my mood.

This remains one of my favorite “monkey-picked” teas; however, the taste is altered on the second steep.

Happy steeping!

Preparation
3 min, 15 sec
Daisy Chubb

Welcome!!

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85
4843 tasting notes

I received some of this tea from Doulton – thank you very much!

Beautifully golden liquor. Sweet, smooth and delicious. An excellent Ti Kuan Yin.

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60
126 tasting notes

Good to the very last steeping! If I were ever to buy anything from Teavana again, it would probably be this one. But there are so so many other good oolongs out there, that there is slim chance of that happening.

Another gone from the cupboard!

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1629 tasting notes

I got this from Rachel Thank you!!!!!! I’m glad I got to try more teas!

Have I been spoiled? Wah! No!

This tea tasted like hot water with a hint of cardboard… It got better as I went onto my 2nd and 3rd steeping. It became more floral but the cardboard aftertaste was still there. Is it my gaiwan? I have enough sample left to do another steeping session. I’ll use a different vessel… So strange…. Or its my spoiled taste.

Either way, I can’t rate this right now :)

RachanaC (Rachel)-iHeartTeas

I too found this one a bit odd. Perhaps playing with non traditional steeping parimeters is the way to go.

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82
1473 tasting notes

I’m at my brother’s house, and he made a pot of this for all of us to share. It’s good! I don’t quite agree with the price point, but I wouldn’t turn down a cup or two!

Edit: i just read the description for this tea…it’s a ti kuan yin! I thought so… Good thing he’s coming home with me, I have some tky that will knock his socks off (I’m looking at you, Verdant Tea).

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