What is Golden Monkey tea?
Golden Monkey is a Chinese black tea from Yunnan Province, made almost entirely from young buds and tips. Those golden-tipped leaves are where the name comes from, and they're also why it tastes the way it does: smooth, honey-sweet, a little malty, with none of the briskness people brace for when they hear "black tea." It's a close cousin of standard Yunnan black — same region, same plant — but the bud-heavy picking takes the profile somewhere sweeter and softer.
If our Yunnan Black is the dependable daily driver, Golden Monkey is the same car with nicer seats.
What does Golden Monkey taste like?
This is the part I wish more people got to experience before they wrote off black tea entirely. The reputation black tea carries — bitter, tannic, needs milk and sugar to be tolerable — comes from low-grade leaves brewed too hard. Golden Monkey is the opposite of that.
Expect:
- Honey and malt up front, with a natural sweetness you don't have to add
- A smooth, round body — no sharp edge, no astringency
- A clean finish that doesn't dry out your mouth
One of our customers put it the way I always want to: it's the kind of tea you reach for when you want something that tastes rich but treats you gently. As another customer said about a different one of our Yunnan teas — "forget coffee's caffeine frenzy." Golden Monkey lives in that same neighborhood.
How to brew Golden Monkey
It's an easy one, which is part of why I recommend it to people coming over from coffee or teabags.
- Water: just off the boil (around 95–100°C / 205–212°F)
- Leaf: about a teaspoon per cup, or enough to cover the bottom of a gaiwan
- Time: 2–3 minutes for the first cup
- Resteep: yes — you'll get two or three good infusions, and the sweetness holds up nicely
And here's the thing I tell everyone nervous about black tea: Golden Monkey is forgiving. If you wander off and let it steep too long, it doesn't turn into the bitter stuff you're afraid of. That alone makes it a great everyday tea.
Is Golden Monkey a good tea for coffee drinkers?
It's one of the first ones I'd hand a coffee drinker. It has enough body and richness to feel like a real morning drink, the caffeine is meaningful without being a jolt, and the natural sweetness means you're not reaching for milk and sugar to make it palatable. If you're working your way off coffee — or just want an afternoon cup that won't keep you up — this is a sensible place to start. (We get into the caffeine details in our caffeine in tea guide.)
Where ours comes from
Our Golden Monkey, like all our teas, comes from Yunnan through relationships we've built directly with worker-owned cooperatives over decades — not a broker, not a blend assembled for shelf-stable consistency. It's organic, it's a single tea rather than a mix of this-and-that, and when a harvest runs short, we run short rather than swapping in something else to fake continuity. That's just the way we do it.
FAQ
What kind of tea is Golden Monkey?
A Chinese black tea from Yunnan Province, made mostly from buds and tips, known for being smooth, sweet, and malty rather than brisk or bitter.
Does Golden Monkey have caffeine?
Yes — it's a black tea, so it sits in the moderate-to-higher range for tea, though still well under a typical cup of coffee. Good for mornings.
How is Golden Monkey different from regular Yunnan black tea?
Same region and plant, but Golden Monkey is picked almost entirely from young buds, which makes it sweeter, lighter, and more explicitly fruity than standard Yunnan black.
Can you add milk to Golden Monkey?
You can, but most people don't — it's smooth and naturally sweet enough to drink on its own. Try it plain first.
How many times can you resteep Golden Monkey?
Two to three good infusions, sometimes more in a gaiwan. Add hot water and steep a little longer each time.
