FUCHOW MONKEY KING BLACK TEA

This hand-picked tea is processed skilfully by hand to produce its elegant shape. This is the best grade of the black teas called Fuchow, hence the name 'Monkey King'. You can tell from its appearance, with the abundant tips and golden hairs that it will be a rich, smooth tea with a complex character. It is these silky 'hairs', known as 'Pak Ho', from which we derived the term Pekoe, that gives the tea its intense flavour and which also contains the healthy antioxidants, many more than is normally found in black tea. It is predominantly malty in character with notes of cocoa and according to some of our customers a hint of ginger. That is the beauty of great Chinese black teas, they seem to taste different each time you make them. It is produced in the Tai Mu mountains of Fujian province and can only be created on a few days of the year and in very small quantities by an accomplished Tea Master. The 'Gongfu' hand processing which means to make with great skill and to impart a strong fiery spirit to the tea is very much in evidence in this heavyweight tea. It can be enjoyed with milk when made with 3g of tea per cup and brewed for six minutes or taken black where the infusion time should be two minutes but can be repeated three times. The tea is grown without the use of man-made fertilisers or pesticides. Sometimes known as Panyong teas.