Golden Monkey

Okay, one of my recent surprises has been the realization that I like black tea. I've always thought "black tea" was "English Breakfast" or "Earl Grey." It isn't. Those are flavored black teas.

And, unsurprising to anyone who likes tea, even black tea means variety.

Take, for example, Golden Monkey. I was at David's Tea last month and had a free "any flavor" tea coming to me. The name "golden monkey" caught my attention, along with the "organic" and "straight," which is to say "not flavored." David's has this thing about creating lots of flavored tea, all of which are okay for one sip, but just eh, and overwhelming for a cup. Given I drink tea by the liter, I'm not drinking flavored teas.

Golden monkey is described by David's Tea as:

Known as one of China’s finest black teas, this legendary brew comes straight from Fujian province near the mystical Wuyi Mountains. Legend has it, this rare tea grew so high up in the hills, locals had to train monkeys to go pluck the leaves. And during the drying process, the signature golden-tipped leaves are hand-crafted into the shape of a monkey's claw. The result? A rich tea with sweet aromas of cocoa, ripe fruit and baked brown sugar. Plus it’s low in astringency, making it the ideal everyday black tea. One sip is all it takes to go ape.

To me, it just tastes good.

I'm glad for this discovery. Makes me more likely to try other teas, but not the flavored ones.