Monkey Pick Oolong

Absolutely. The International Brotherhood of Tea Picking Monkeys (IBTPM) Locals 1475, 380 and 1873 recently renegotiated their contract with the tea plantations of China. In the new contract the monkeys were allowed to eat bananas while they worked, which they could not previously do. Foreseeably, this banana residue has been found on the actual tea leaves and must be washed off prior to infusion (unless you like banana taste in your tea.) This might be the "unusual element" you are tasting.

Does the IBTPM accept any new members?

JB

If you're a monkey I suppose.

I hear in the Australian town of Mersey, they use koala bears to pick tea. Unfortunately a lot of the koala hair winds up in the final product.

--scott

OK, you've seen the jokes, so I'll be the straight man. "Monkey picked" is traditional Chinese tea industry hype meant to imply that the tea is rare and picked from plants growing on some inaccessible crag that clumsier primates would have trouble reaching. If a vendor calls only *some* of its tea "monkey picked", you could consider that ethical marketing, I suppose.

/Lew

Oh yes. This is because the koala tea of Mersey is never strained.

--scott

HAHA you had me going for a sec!

::groan:: Good one!

Melinda

[Falky Foo on Monkey Picked Tea]

The tea to which this gentleman refers benefits from the banana residue, which is usually, but not always, provided by the actual handling of the bananas and the leaves. It is sometimes rather the result of a more complex digestive process. These teas are rare and costly, needless to say. It has been suggested that these latter teas be known as Monkey Business Teas, but the monkeys themselves consider this uncooth.

Michael

You'll never become a Man Without Koala-teas. ;)

(OK, it's early, I haven't slept, and I couldn't resist. Maybe I should read some Musil that might put me to sleep...)

Melinda

I have tried the Foojoy Monkey-Picked Ti Kuan Yin, and it was excellant. Almost as good as some I paid nearly $100.00/lb for. As has been noted, the Monkey-Picked business is supposed to indicate that it came from bushes growing in rather inaccessible areas of the mountainside.

Dave

"Dave" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Thanks Dave (& Lewis Perrin) -- that seems commercially sensible. Although the IBTPM does raise a smile...

Beginning Tea Student

That's it.

The IBTPM will be demanding an apology from Mr Lew Perin for trying to defame the monkeys' hard work on the cliffs, and a new contract agreement to Mr Falky Foo demanding that from now on, all primate employees be given 4 bananas for lunch and 3 bananas for dinner, instead of 3 bananas for lunch and 4 bananas for dinner under the old contract, and only plaintains are accepted.

Doooooh!

"Monkey Pick" tea is usally refers to a high mountain, high grade oolong. It is usally picked during the spring season and than during the fall season. Some uneducated tea merchants will tell people that the tea "is grown on cliffs so inaccessible, that only trained monkeys can harvest it." This is just a old Chinese legend. Today this does not exist. If anyone say this story is true, they are either hallucinating, uneducated or outright lying.

True Monkey Pick" is a brilliant oolong tea with fresh lively pallet. This tea is usually fermented 15-25 percent so the unsteep tea is still very green in color and has a hint of sweet aroma to it in the after taste. Authentic Monkey Pick is a super premium oolong tea, expect to pay $200-$250 USD per pound retail, but for the truely tea lover, this is a must have.

Because of the high price, I recommend to only buy it at a good tea merchant.

Ilona

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups. com5/23/05 02: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com

Conversely, "Monkey Picked" is merely a code for a merchant's proclamation that the designated TGY is of high quality. I don't think it has more significance than the uncontrolled GFOP sort of thing. My advice: Take it all with a grain of salt, and let your taste guide you.

Michael

[llona] "Monkey Pick" tea is usally refers to a high mountain, high grade oolong. It is usally picked during the spring season and than during the fall season. [seb] "Monkey pick" usually refers to Tie Guan Yin in mainland. It doesn't work with all the oolong teas.

It refers to the tea that is harvested from the high mountain. And, you can find Monkey Pick from mostly all seasons now. But of course, the quality and the price are much higher in spring and autumn. So, is the tea called *Monkey Pick* always synonym to *high quality* tea? That is something hard to tell.

[llona] True Monkey Pick" is a brilliant oolong tea with fresh lively pallet. [seb]

quality tea. There is a lot of things to make a tea good, location of the tea tree is only a little part of it.

[llona] This tea is usually fermented 15-25 percent so the unsteep tea is still very green in color and has a hint of sweet aroma to it in the after taste. [seb] According to the myths the Monkey Pick refers to the Tie Guan Yin. Then, the fermentation should be between 30% to 40%. The green color isn't the result of the level of fermentation but the level of baking. If a tea is lightly baked, even if the fermentation is like 45%, the color of the leaves will still be green.

Monkey Pick is said to be a tea that carries an even size and color appearance and still with stems. (This matches to the legend, monkeys won't clean the stems...lol). Some also say that it also carries a more fruity aroma, which in fact attracted the monkeys to pick the leaves (didn't know that the fresh tea leaves carry fruity or floral aroma before being picked...anyway).

For me, the Monkey Pick is more like a legend used as commercial purpose. So one thing should be remembered, the appelation "monkey pick" does not mean that the tea will be better than another tie guan yin.

"SEb" wrote in news:1116861201.250406.296730 @g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Thanks to all the people above for imparting serious information about monkey pick to a rank beginner, and thanks to SEb for the digest post.

BTW, I got the tea referred to in the root post at Kam Man Foods in NYC, not a reputable tea merchant The price was iirc around 38 USD/lb; by that alone it hardly qualifies as authentic Monkey Pick Ti Kuan Yin by llona's test, and in fact was sold just as "MP Oolong". I like it considerably less than the Ti Kuan Yin gotten from the same source--one of the two best oolongs I ever drank--but whether that is due to the quality, picking season, or processing differences between the two teas I don't know -- probably all of the above, plus personal taste.

I have a lot to learn -- is the latest version of the FAQ 1.7?

Begining Tea Student

If you're determined to buy your tea from bulk storage in New York's Chinatown, I think you can do better than Kam Man, which stores its teas in glass jars with loose-fitting lids. Several months ago I bought some Dancong - they may have spelled it "Danchung" - on the other side of Canal St. at Great Wall for about the price you mention, and it was surprisingly good.

/Lew

Lewis Perin wrote in news:pc73bscin2j.fsf_- snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com:

Not necessarily determined, just ignorant as to what's really in the area. I'll check Great Wall out next time I pass that way -- thanks. Would you be so kind as to recommend tea merchants there? All I know is Ten Ren, and I've heard that it's pricey.

Ozzy