Name: Golden Monkey (Panyong Wang)

Brand: Drink The Leaf

Type: Black tea

Form: Loose leaf

Review: Golden Monkey is one of my favorite black teas. This probably has something to do with my fondness for cocoa (I like chocolate, but have been known to snack on plain cocoa beans right out of the package.), and Golden Monkey is known for its cocoa notes.

The dry leaf  is dominated by golden tips with a few dark grey/brown leaves. The nose is of cocoa…as Drink The Leaf’s own description says “Cocoa, Cocoa and more Cocoa”.  The cup infuses to a lovely medium amber (looks like maple syrup to me), with rich cocoa notes that dominate the nose and palate.

I infused this tea according to package directions in my glass teapot from Jing. I also prepared it in my little Yixing teapot, “George“, which I purchased from Dream About Tea. Both methods worked well, with the Yixing teapot producing, as expected, a more intense brew.

One thing that I did notice about this tea is that it was fairly one dimensional: I didn’t pick up any spicy notes as I have in other Golden Monkey teas that I have tried. I greatly appreciated the warm, rich, comforting cocoa-intensity from this brew (as well as the freshness that I have come to expect from Drink The Leaf), but found myself missing the complexity of something like Teaism’s Golden Monkey, which balances the cocoa with lovely spicy notes.

On the other hand, if you are a cocoa-head who prefers to avoid artificial flavoring in your tea, you could do far worse than Drink The Leaf’s Golden Monkey. This is a very tasty and accessible tea which is certain to make tea-converts among your more suspicious friends.

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My review of Treleela’s (an Ineeka brand) “Invigorate” (a very tasty Assam) is now available on Examiner.com.  I strongly recommend this tea to Assam lovers who prefer not to add milk and sugar to their tea!

Name: Blood Orange Black

Brand: Drink The Leaf

Type: Black tea, flavored

Form: Loose Leaf

Cost: $5.50 for 2 ounces (quantity discounts available)

Review: This is a most interesting flavored black tea from Drink The Leaf: Ceylon tea is blended with blood orange flavoring and safflower petals for a refreshing, citrusy brew.

The dark brown leaves infuse to a gorgeous red-orange color. The black tea meshes well with the blood orange flavoring: Citrus dominates, but the tea is quite detectable. Like the other Drink the Leaf teas that I have tried, this is a very fresh tea, and the fresh quality really comes through on the palate.

One interesting thing about this tea is that, unlike many fruit-flavored teas, it is not sweet. One tastes fruit, but not sweet fruit, and that makes the tea uniquely refreshing and particularly good when one is sick and needs something to penetrate a congested palate. This also makes a wonderful iced tea.

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Name: Cocoa Cardamom Tango Tea

Brand: SpecialTeas

Type: Black tea, flavored

Form: Loose leaf

Cost: $5.95 for 1/4 lb (quantity discounts available)

Review: I am sorry to say that this tea was a bit of of a disappointment. The nose on the dry leaf was rather nice, but the flavors just didn’t come together in the cup. I found the base tea to be rather harsh, and with the dominant cardamom, the result was an acrid brew.

The addition of sugar and milk did soften this tea some, and the cocoa notes become more obvious. Still, the flavors never really came together, and while it the sweetened, milky tea might satisfy a chocolate/sweet craving in a pinch, there are other flavored teas that can do the job much better.

Affiliate Links in this Post?: Yes.

I drink a lot of tea and use a lot of teaware. It isn’t uncommon for me to drink three, four, five different teas in a day. Some I brew in my Yixing pots, others I brew in a gaiwan or some other form of teaware: All under the watchful and beady eyes of Claudius, my little tea-pet.

I am not always as careful as I should be about cleaning my teaware after each use, though. Take my gaiwans, for example. I’ll rinse the bowls with boiling water between teas, but I may leave the base/saucer on its own for a bit.

This is a bad habit, though, and one I am trying to break, because spilled tea evaporates and becomes sticky. When spilled tea is left in the gaiwan-saucer, bowl and saucer can become lightly “glued” together. When I pick up the bowl, the saucer comes with it. . .but because tea is not a very good adhesive, the saucer then falls and (possibly) breaks.

Moral of the story? If I am rinsing my gaiwan bowl with water between teas, I need to also rinse the saucer. I’d advise everyone to do the same!

I am pleased to report that my favorite tea tea room, Dream About Tea, has opened up its online store at Dreamaboutteastore.com. Dream About Tea is an independent retailer and importer of teas, and are adding new teas daily to their online selection.

Through November 30th, you can use coupon code freeship09 for free shipping on any order over $10. Dream About Tea specializes in pu’erh and Chinese teawares. Here are a few of my favorite items from them:

Yunnan Golden Silk: This is hands-down my favorite black tea (aka “hong cha”). It is incredibly sweet and spicy, perfect with food and on its own. I’ve served it to tea novices and tea snobs alike, and everyone loves it. In fact, many agree with me that it is the best black tea that they have ever tried.

Dream About Tea Yixing Teapot: Interested in trying a Yixing teapot? Look no further than this simple but attractive and functional teapot from Dream About Tea. These aren’t cheap, but they are of excellent quality and will serve you well for a long time to come.

Wan Shou Wu Jiang Gaiwan: Another indispensable piece of teaware: This is a large, thick, sturdy gaiwan that is great for both infusing and drinking. The quality ceramic keeps your tea hot: Much hotter than thin porcelain gaiwans.

“S” Mini Brick Cooked Pu-erh: Ever wanted to try Pu-erh, China’s own fermented tea which is packed into cakes, nests, and bricks? Well, here is your chance! “S” pu-erh is packed into convenient mini-bricks that infuse up to a tasty, mellow brew that is good for multiple infusions.

I’ve also reviewed a few of their products here on LainieSips:

Milk Fragrance Oolong: A green oolong with a sweet-milky flavor and fragrance.

Hairy Crab Oolong: A green oolong with peach and floral notes.

I encourage tea-lovers to give them a try!

Name: Huan Jin Bolero

Brand: Adagio Teas

Type: Oolong

Form: Loose

Cost: Sample is $3 (enough for 10 cups), 4 oz is $9, quantity discounts available

Review: Adagio recently added this tea to their line, and I am glad they did. Huang Jin Bolero is a reasonably priced green oolong that matches well with food and is good for numerous infusions.

The lightly rolled, somewhat broken leaf is a very dark green, with a lightly roasted, nutty/woody scent. It infuses to a light olive green, with a nose of orchid, wood, and a hint of pine tree. On the palate, it is somewhat austere, but also substantial: This is a tea that will stand up to food well.

Incidentally, I tried this tea in both a gaiwan and prepared in a large glass teapot with an infuser basket. While it worked well in a gaiwan, and held up to multiple steepings, I actually preferred the teapot/infuser version: The orchid notes were more obvious and made the tea a bit more balanced.

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A review of Ineeka’s “Ingenuity” Green Limon tea is now up on Examiner.com. This is a very refreshing flavored Himalayan green tea that really shines when iced.

Name: Arya Emerald

Brand: Thunderbolt Tea

Type: Green tea, darjeeling

Form: Loose leaf

Cost: $18.00 for 100 grams (quantity discounts available)

Review: I confess to being somewhat skeptical of non-Chinese or or Japanese green teas: I’ve tried a few standouts, of course, but for the most part, these teas are unappealing, unbalanced and/or just plain uninteresting.

This new offering from Thunderbolt, however, is none of these things. The soft gray-green and silvery leaf is long and twisted, with a subtle, sweet/buttery nose. When infused to a very pale yellow liquor (as light as some white teas that I have tried), the nose remains subtle, though some vegetal notes do emerge.

On the palate, this tea is very light, balanced and smooth, with notes of baby lettuce: It does have some of the typical Darjeeling astringency, but it is mainly in the finish. It also makes for a most refreshing iced tea.

I was surprised by the quality of this tea, and I look forward to trying future efforts from this garden.

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Ineeka is a unique, Chicago-based tea company (check out the Chicago Tribune write-up that includes some quotes from Yours Truly),  that produces some great teas packed into innovative tea bags. Check out my recent review of Ineeka’s Darjeeling “Elevation” at Examiner.com.