Alright, alright, let’s talk about this monkey picked oolong tea, you know? Folks call it all sorts of fancy names, but to me, it’s just good tea. Good, strong tea.

Now, they say it comes from some place called Fujian province. Sounds far away, right? Way over there in China, mountains and all. They say the mountains are special, got that special dirt that makes the tea good. High up, you know, where the air is clean.

And the story goes, it’s called monkey picked ’cause, well, monkeys picked it. Can you believe that? Little monkeys climbin’ up them trees, grabbin’ the best tea leaves. Monks, they say, trained them monkeys. Smart monkeys, I guess.

• But lemme tell ya, that’s just a story. A tall tale, like my grandpa used to tell. Ain’t no monkeys pickin’ tea now, and I bet there never was. But it makes for a good story, don’t it? Makes the tea sound special.
• And that Englishman, Anderson his name was, he believed it. Went all the way to China, heard the story, and told everyone back home. That’s how the story spread, see? Folks love a good story, even if it ain’t true.

Now, this Tieguanyin tea, that’s what they call the special kind of plant. Grows in this Anxi county. That’s the good stuff, they say. The monkeys, they were supposed to pick it from the wild trees, way up in the Wuyi mountains. The best leaves, only the best.

But you know how it is, things change. They started growin’ the tea on farms, like corn or potatoes. No more wild trees, no more monkeys. But they still call it monkey picked. It’s just a name now, you understand?

And expensive! Lord, you wouldn’t believe how much they charge for this monkey tea. Says it’s the highest quality, the best you can get. Well, maybe it is, maybe it ain’t. I reckon good tea is good tea, no matter who picks it.

The tea itself? It’s oolong, which means it ain’t green tea and it ain’t black tea. It’s kinda in-between, you know? Got a good flavor, not too bitter, not too weak. Just right, like a good cup of coffee, but tea. They say it’s got all sorts of good stuff in it, makes you healthy and all. I don’t know about that, but it tastes good, and that’s good enough for me.

This whole “monkey picked” thing, it’s just a way to make it sound fancy, I think. Like puttin’ a bow on a pig. It’s good tea, sure, but monkeys got nothin’ to do with it anymore. It’s like them city folks, always gotta have a story, gotta make things sound more important than they are.

Still, people buy it. They pay big money for that name, for that story. Makes ‘em feel special, I guess. Like they’re drinkin’ something rare and precious. Well, I reckon as long as it tastes good, who am I to complain?

So, next time you see that monkey picked oolong on the shelf, you’ll know the story. You’ll know it ain’t really monkeys pickin’ it, but it’s still good tea. And maybe, just maybe, that little bit of story makes it taste a little bit better. Who knows? It’s all in your head, ain’t it?

But one thing’s for sure, it’s a popular tea, this monkey picked oolong. You see it everywhere now. They even got different kinds now, all sayin’ they’re the real monkey picked. It’s a whole big business, this tea business. Makes you think, don’t it?

So, yeah, that’s the story of monkey picked oolong, as best as I can tell it. A good story, a good tea, and a good price…for the folks sellin’ it, that is! Me? I’ll stick to my regular tea, thank you very much. Less fuss, less money, and it tastes just fine.

Tags: [oolong tea, monkey picked, Fujian, Tieguanyin, Wuyi Mountains, tea legend, Chinese tea, Anxi County, tea history, tea quality]