Classic Bai Lin Gong Fu "Golden Monkey" Black Tea of Fuding

(Spring 2023)

Just beautiful – Glad I chose to go with Yunnan Sourcing for my latest tea order! This is everything I want in a black tea – Strong, assertive taste without bitterness, orchid florals, nice peachy notes (like a good dark formosa oolong), honey-like sweetness, and some nice chocolate-y notes (without going too far in that direction). And all that without breaking the bank. The dry tea leaves are beautifully formed, clearly reflecting the one leaf/one bud picking. And I can’t believe they offer a higher “imperial” version of this one – That is definitely going on my list next time I make an order. This tea is magical.

I seem to have drunk a pouch of this tea without writing a note. I brewed this one heathen style in a whole pot. I had help in drinking this down, this is one that is smooth enough my dad likes. It also steeps three times and has complex flavors, I’m thinking I might need more of this in my cupboard. It’s yeasty, malty, dark chocolate with just enough astringency to be interesting. Add in a bit of nuttiness and tobacco and you have a fun tea for special occasions, or maybe just when it’s rainy and your regular teas look ho-hum.

Filled up the bottom of the gai wan with leaf. Delicious roasted, toasted aromatics.

First steep without a wash is very soft and sweet, a little floral but also bread-like. Delicate, and yet decadent.

Second steep changed to a more toasted rice kind of quality. Also something else in there, like a sweet seaweed quality. Interesting and good.

Third steep: darker, more pungent (stronger tasting), toasted kind of quality, though still soft in the mouth. It’s a curious starchy, salty, toasted kind of taste. Slight astringency in the background, too. No bitterness at all.

Fourth steep: More of the same, though also starting to flatten out a little bit. Clearer sense of astringency.

Fifth steep: a bit flat to me. Not bad per se, but just a basic ‘spent’ black tea taste.

Overall yummy tea that’s definitely worth drinking multiple times. A 100g bag will last a while when in rotation with other teas as you only need 4-5g for a good session. It’s above average to me, but not great. To me, a lot of gentle black teas start out real strong and fade pretty quickly. It may be worth doing a full teapot or hai cha worth of tea instead of gong fu. I’ll check that out next time.

Spring 2022.

This remains one of my all time favorite black teas. The aroma is intoxicating, dripping with maple, caramel, tobacco, and malt. Haven’t quite figured out how to get all of the aromatics into my cup yet but it still yields a delicious brew. Smooth, rich maltiness with pronounced dark chocolate notes. Brewing at or near boiling brings out sweet potato while infusing on lower temperature (195 F) is sweeter and more chocolatey.

Drank this tea yesterday while “playing” Life with my four-year-old. The moment the initial aroma hit me in the face I knew this was going to be a good tea. Nothing quite makes one happy like that first smell. Excitement for what’s to come. This one was full of earthy notes. Woodsy in many ways but also a scattering of different forest ones.

Sipdown! Still undecided on what to do with YS going forward.

Harvest & Year: Spring 2020

Ahh, this tea is so beautiful! And it smells amazing. Lovely golden dust floating all around and over everything. I left this to steep for too long, of course, but it’s still tasty even if a little bitter/astringent.

Side note – I finished up a quick inventory of the tea cabinet last night and I’m missing four teas! I keep everything separated into specific bins/drawers based on tea type so I’m not sure how they’ve managed to disappear. It’s not a big deal really, but I’m perplexed. I feel like I need to keep looking and looking until they are found, but I don’t know where else to look! I suppose if that’s the only thing going wrong for me today, then I shall count myself lucky. :)