Teavana's website describes this as, "The finest China black from the Fujian province. This smooth tea with complex chocolaty undertones is extremely low in tannins, yet rich in flavor."

So I am relatively inexperienced with Golden Monkey and the only place that I have enjoyed Golden Monkey proper from is Teavana. I have tried a number of Golden Monkey-type teas, but no other actual Golden Monkey from a different company. I have purchased a cup of this to enjoy on shopping trips to my favorite mall on at least 2 occasions. I have always enjoyed the blend and have even considered purchasing some. However, something has always stopped me from biting the bullet and whipping out my wallet and that something is largely the price. The smallest increment that Teavana sells this in is 2 oz and the price for 2 oz is $18.50.

The leaves in my sample are long and wiry and also have tons of the golden tips that are synonymous with Golden Monkey. I prepared them with water that had been brought to a full boil and allowed to cool a bit and infused them for about 3.5 min. The cup that resulted was not weak, but did, in fact, lack some of the chocolaty notes that I was expecting. The tea was smooth and rich, and while an enjoyable cup, was not actually as good as I remembered it when purchasing it at Teavana and drinking it out of a paper cup. That surprised me a bit. Since I recall liking it previously, I was expecting to give this a good review. However, after tasting my sample, I now understand what my fellow Teaview's Staff members were referring to in their reviews of this blend.

I am not sure if the batch that Teaviews received of this had in some way lost a bit of freshness in transit, storage or just maybe the batch Teavana sent was a little aged? Perhaps this is from a different season or garden than the Golden Monkey that I had previously at Teavana? Whatever the reason, this cups just lacks a little of the chocolate undertones and Golden Monkey mojo that I was expecting. I recall a much more satisfying cup when purchased directly from my local Teavana. This is not, by any means, bad tea though. However, given the price point, I might point in you in the direction of Teavana's Black Dragon Pearl, which is very, very good.

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Laura Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Laura's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Laura.

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