I seem to be craving Fujian black teas lately for their chocolate and fruity flavours. I’d noticed this tea on the White2Tea website and wondered what it was like, and fortunately, Daylon generously sent me a sample. On Daylon’s recommendation, I steeped 4 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 180, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of honey, malt, chocolate, and cherry. The first steep has notes of honey, caramel, malt, baked bread, and darker chocolate. The next steep carries hints of berry, though it’s mostly about the darker, almost fudgy chocolate and malt. (Can you tell I think this is good?) In the next couple steeps, the flavour has more in common with milk chocolate, with some citrus, berries, and drying bitterness. I get hints of florality (rose?) in steep five as the chocolate begins to fade. Weirdly, I also taste dill in the sixth steep, much as I did in What-Cha’s Jin Jun Mei. The tea loses its chocolate soon afterwards and ends with honey, tannins, and malt.
This tea doesn’t have much in the way of longevity, but the first five or six steeps are wonderful. I didn’t get much fruit, but the chocolate notes rival those I can get from a pricier tea like Laoshan Black. At around $30 for 250 g, this is a solid Jin Jun Mei, and it’s on my wish list for the next time White2Tea has free shipping.
Flavors: Berries, Bittersweet, Bread, Caramel, Cherry, Chocolate, Citrus, Dark Chocolate, Dill, Drying, Floral, Honey, Malt, Rose, Tannin
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Dill showed up in the wet leaf aroma of Old Ways Tea’s Jin Jun Mei but not in taste. Maybe that note is a result of not being fully oxidized and/or something inherent to Wuyi teas? It shows up for me frequently in yancha.
That’s interesting. I’m glad I’m not alone in tasting dill in some Wuyi teas. I wonder if this is considered a fault, as it’s kind of a weird flavour.
It shows up in most Jin Jun Mei. It’s like a savory herbal/vegetal.
Okay, glad I’m not completely off base. :)
Dill showed up in the wet leaf aroma of Old Ways Tea’s Jin Jun Mei but not in taste. Maybe that note is a result of not being fully oxidized and/or something inherent to Wuyi teas? It shows up for me frequently in yancha.
That’s interesting. I’m glad I’m not alone in tasting dill in some Wuyi teas. I wonder if this is considered a fault, as it’s kind of a weird flavour.
It shows up in most Jin Jun Mei. It’s like a savory herbal/vegetal.
Okay, glad I’m not completely off base. :)