Golden Monkey, First Pick

Our Golden Monkey, First Pick comes from a tea garden on Jiulong Hill, in the eastern part of the Wuyi Mountain range. The area sees abundant rainfall, the climate is moist, the environment pure and the resulting tea leaves and its craftsmanship, exquisite.

Picked in mid-March, it is the first harvest of the season, produced from leaves of the Fu’an Da Bai, Fuyun and Zhenghe Da Bai varietals. Only the top buds with one or two leaves are used, each bud and leaf combination carefully hand-picked then just as carefully withered, rolled, oxidized, roasted, shaped and then dried.

The resulting tea is as beautiful as it is delicious, more than half of the dry tea is comprised of golden leaf buds – hand twisted and curled to resemble the silhouette of a golden monkey. Both buds and leaves are whole and distinct, each slender twist no longer than a finger nail. Once infused, the orange colored liquor of the tea is no less exquisite, with a sensuously buttery and captivating sweet flavor and an aroma that carries notes of caramel, cocoa nibs and molasses.

Brewing Guide

The first pick of our Golden Monkey is exceptionally easy to brew. We look for sweetness and aroma as its primary characteristics, so an off-boil temperature is best. We recommend steeping this tea at 200 degrees, using 3.5 grams of tea leaves for 1 minute.

Try steeping at even lower temperature water and longer steep times - you'll be surprised at how much more floral the tea can be.