Today I have received a tea lot from my mainland Chinese friend
includes Keemun Mao Feng(KMF), Hao Ya A and Golden Monkey(GM). No tea
sources satisfy me with this Golden monkey what my friend offers me.
Once I shared this GM with Holly and some other tea mailers. Holly
agreed this one was her best GM experience. Do you remember Holly?

Lately I have observed Keemun is loosing its unique character year
after year as well as Golden Monkey. Is it my imagination or the tea
processing is also facing the same fate as Darjeeling? Lately
Darjeeling is loosing is dark brown color and becoming more greenish.
I am talking about the top grade Darjeeling only. I know the mass
market Darjeeling is still dark brown.

Anyway, I brew and tasted KMF and GM side by side. I don't know why I
am getting so disappointed by the KMF compare to the GM. My friend is
not a vendor he is simply a tea lover as me. He supplied me this GM
after a year. I was pushing him last one year for this tea but he
always said he couldn't manage the quality I was looking for. My
personal opinion is a good GM is more subtle, balanced and full bodied
compare to KMF. The thick, malty, slight spicy, sweet liquor is so
sensual and intense in taste.

My question is did you observe Keemun is loosing its original taste?
My friend also informed me it is getting very difficult to collect
good Golden Monkey now a days. I am planning to try some other vendors
GM because I need 5-6 cups of GM a day. Could you please advice me
some American or European sources you like. I would like to do a
random tasting session on Golden Monkey. I am totally addicted with
this tea now.

Thank you advance,

Ripon
Arlington, VA

Thats similar to what the guys at Jing tea told me,

its getting hard to acquire good quality keemuns,
the processing gets rushed and you end up with less oxidation.

Hi Ripon,

I got some Golden Monkey from Specialteas...I can't say it's as good or not
as good as what you have but I liked it. It was more balanced and less sour
than the golden yunnans I've had lately. (Yunnans are kinda wearing on me,
I'm not caring for them as much as I once did). I agree about the Keemun but
I'm unsure as to whether it's the tea or my tastebuds that are changing...it
seems to me that I had a Keemun Mao Feng a couple of years ago from Upton
that was very chocolaty and rich to me at the time, but my latest order of
it from them doesn't strike me as much that way, I think its leaning more
towards the smokey yunnan-ish flavor. I am also enjoying Ying de hongs from
Jing's lately, strong "tea" taste and sort of fruity to me. Tasty but
different maybe than what you are looking for.

Melinda

My question is did you observe Keemun is loosing its original taste?
My friend also informed me it is getting very difficult to collect
good Golden Monkey now a days. I am planning to try some other vendors
GM because I need 5-6 cups of GM a day. Could you please advice me
some American or European sources you like. I would like to do a
random tasting session on Golden Monkey. I am totally addicted with
this tea now.

Thank you advance,

Ripon
Arlington, VA

My pragmatic answer:

Most people are moving away from drinking teas such as these. The tea
market in China is fickle and immature; it mostly follows fads and
speculation concerning where the most work will be put in tea
production. Qi Men for instance, you CAN NOT find down in these
parts, as well as most of the other most famous teas besides Pu'er and
Tie Guan Yin. There are but a few dealers that sell other teas. For
instance, in the city I live, the only place you could get Dancong was
to buy it off some people from Chaoshan like it were some kind of drug
or something. "Hey man, you got any good Dancong?" A few shops have
opened up sporadically and closed soon after around here, though.

It's just following the law of supply and demand. In Guangdong, you
can find tea shop owners driving cars into work, but in Anhui many
still ride bicycles. In Hangzhou, the farmers have 2 or 3 storey
houses and cars in the driveways, but in some more remote parts of the
country, people sleep in the storage areas of their shops. Shop
keepers and wholesellers are more interested in trying make money and
less interested in the ramifications of a tea losing it's power/
flavor. In China, integrity almost always bends down to cashflow.

That's what I see, at least.

As for myself, I bought a box of the pu'er Sheng tea that I enjoy;
have just enough Shu to go around if I want a change in palate; I get
fresh Sichuan greens from local friends n the tea trade in a few
different places; and I am really enjoying exploring teas from the
deep countryside locations in Guangdong which are turning out to have
fresher, nicer aspects that many famous brand greens I've seen in most
shops. I ain't doing so bad but I do miss good Longjing from time to
time.