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After enjoying a gongfu session with Wuyi Origin’s Meizhan Jin Jun Mei a few days ago, I thought I’d do an impromptu comparison with another JJM I had lying around. Following the vendor’s instructions, I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 200, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

True to the description, this tea has lots of fuzzy, silvery little buds mixed with the dark leaf. The dry aroma is of rye bread, cocoa, honey, florals, and malt. The first steep has notes of rye bread, honey, butter, orchid, lemon cake, herbs, malt, and sweet potato. Steep two adds a hint of cocoa, more sweet potato, rose, and some dryness in the mouth. The next couple steeps feature more malt and sweet potato, plus lavender, florals, lemon, minerals, and light tannins. Steeps five and six are very similar, with a little more bread and honey but with plenty of florals. The final few steeps have notes of malt, bread, honey, florals, earth, minerals, hay, and wood, with a nice honey aftertaste.

As someone who is fond of floral teas, I’m not surprised that I enjoyed this Jin Jun Mei. The long steep times were a bit unusual for me, but they produced strong, complex flavours and surprisingly little bitterness. I’m not sure I could detect that it was made from Huang Guan Yin material without having been told, though the florality does seem similar in my limited experience. I liked this more than the Meizhan JJM from Wuyi Origin, but the rose and other florals had a lot to do with that. I think these are both high-quality teas.

This is the other new unsmoked lapsang I bought from Wuyi Origin in my Black Friday order. The name intrigued me, though I honestly couldn’t tell you what a bamboo forest should smell like. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of honey, sweet potato, wood, florals, and something I’ll call bamboo. The first steep has notes of honey, malt, wood, sweet potato, bamboo, and lemon. The tea is a bit drying. The next steep has more sweet potato, lemon, orange, orchid, honey, bamboo, and tannins, with a squashy citrus feeling and some dryness. Steeps three and four give me ethereal orchid, lilac, and bamboo, plus honey, citrus, sweet potato, and tannins. There’s a lovely honey, floral aftertaste. The next few rounds are floral, a bit lemony, and full of honey, tannins, bamboo, and wood. The final steeps feature honey, malt, earth, minerals, grass, wood, and tannins, though they’re still pleasant enough to drink.

Like all of Wuyi Origin’s lapsangs, this is a high-quality tea that I enjoy. I like the citrus, florals, and that elusive taste of bamboo, though I’m not such a fan of the tannins. It won’t replace their Wild Lapsang in my heart, but that’s a high bar to jump over.

I received this tea as a sample with my 2023 Thunderbolt order. It was actually listed on the site a while after I made my purchase and I was sad I didn’t get to add it, so I was extra excited to see it in my box. I steeped my remaining 4 g of leaf in 150 ml of 190F water for 2, 3.5, 4.5, 6, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma of these large, silver-bud-decorated leaves is of apple, muscatel, nuts, honey, and florals. The first steep has strong notes of almond, milk chocolate, apple, muscatel, butter, honey, herbs, pineapple, spring flowers, malt, and tannins. The tea is a little drying, though that’s my fault for using so much leaf. It has a lush, thick texture and a fruity and nutty aftertaste. The next steep is a little more tanic, with nuts, wood, malt, apple, muscatel, butter, herbs, and caramel. The third steep smells like caramel apples, and has florals, bread, malt, wood, and tannins along with the persistent fruitiness. The final steeps are fairly tannic, though they’re still good enough to finish.

This is a complex, fruity second flush that was a pleasure to drink. My tasting notes were all over the place because the tea was hard to pin down. My only small complaint is the amount of tannins, both in this heavier session and in a lighter one I did a couple weeks ago. Still, this tea is well worth buying while it’s available.

I apparently bought this tea in 2021 when I was exploring Jin Jun Mei. Since then, I’ve decided that unsmoked lapsang is usually fruitier, not to mention a better value, although it’s nice to revisit JJM occasionally. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma of this fuzzy Jin Jun Mei is of honey, honeysuckle, sweet potato, malt, and cocoa. The first steep has notes of butter, honeysuckle, sweet potato, honey, and faint malt. The tea is fairly thick and has a sweet, lingering aftertaste. Steep two adds more florality, honey, and starchy sweet potato, with some hints of bread and cocoa. The next couple steeps are very floral, with honeysuckle and something I’ll call violet. There’s lots of sweet potato and honey, though the cocoa has disappeared. The next few steeps offer consistent honey, caramel, bread, sweet potato, malt, and honeysuckle/violet florals, with no bitterness and a very sweet profile. By steep nine or so, the tea fades into something that’s primarily sweet potato, caramel, and faint malt, still without any bitterness or tannins. A few tannins appear near the very end of the session, when the tea is generically bready, malty, and squashy.

This Jin Jun Mei isn’t particularly complex, but the flavours that are present are nice. I particularly like the heady florality and lack of bitterness. As Daylon mentioned, this tea is all about the sweet potato, although I wish there’d been a bit more cocoa as well. This isn’t my favourite tea from Wuyi Origin, but it is representative of the high quality of the hongcha this vendor offers.

Matcha is a taste that I haven’t yet acquired, but I’m trying again this morning. Thanks to Nio for the free sample. I cold brewed my entire 2 g in about 150 ml of water in a mason jar. I didn’t fill it to the top of the jar as I did last time, so maybe I’ll get some foam.

The dry aroma is nutty and grassy. I did get some foam when I shook the matcha! I taste notes of cream, nuts, grass, snow peas, asparagus, kale, and mild umami, with a creamy consistency and not too much dust. The matcha is sweet and has a grassy, vegetal aftertaste.

I found this tea to be lighter and sweeter than the matcha I tried last winter, although it’s still pretty intense. I think cold brewing also helps dial down the feeling that you’re drinking a spinach salad. .

For an unspecified amount of time, get a free chawan, whisk, and spoon with orders over $129. You can also get up to 69% off matcha. Take an additional 10% off with the code LEAFHOPPER10OFF (I get a small commission when you use this code). I’m not sure when any of these sales expire, so check the site to see if they’re still valid.

I bought a few Thunderbolt teas last summer at a deep discount, and as usual, I’m just getting to them. Their moonlight teas are among their more iconic offerings, so I was excited to try this version from Margaret’s Hope. I steeped 3.5 g of leaf in 150 ml of 180F water for 2.5, 3.5, 5, and 7 minutes, plus a couple uncounted steeps.

The leaves are very large and pretty and full of silver tips. The dry aroma is of white chocolate, cucumber, honey, and spring flowers. The first steep has notes of spring flowers, rose, herbs, coriander, honey, cucumber, green pepper, pine, citrus, and mango. There’s a touch of astringency and the tea is very aromatic and strong. The next steep is more piney, herbaceous, floral, and vegetal, with hints of grapefruit and mango and more pronounced tannins. The rose persists during some sessions, while others are more herbaceous. The final few steeps are herbaceous and vegetal, with more astringency and some remaining rose florality.

This is a lovely, complex tea that kept reminding me of alcohol, either gin or an IPA depending on the session. The citrus, pine, and florals are pronounced and fresh, especially since I’m drinking this a year after it was harvested. I have a feeling that Derk would get a lot more out of this tea than I can!

Wuyi Origin usually sources their Old Bush Lapsang from Gua Dun, but in 2023, they decided to get some leaves from Ma Su as well. They warned of some bitterness, but I’ve liked their lapsangs so much that I decided to give this one a try. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of oakwood, maple syrup, honey, florals, and malt. The first steep has notes of bread, sweet potato, lemon, maple syrup, soy sauce, honey, florals, malt, and wood. The next steep adds some minerals and light tannins, and the florals resolve into orchids and violets. Like the regular Old Bush Lapsang, this tea is smooth and has a viscous, silky texture. The next couple steeps seem more like squash than sweet potato, with a sweet, floral quality and very mild wood and tannins. Steeps five and six are still sweet and squashy, I’d say almost like pumpkin. I get minerals in the tea and the aftertaste, and the lemon is less bright. After a few more steeps, the tea does acquire some woody, tannic bitterness, but it’s still balanced by the squashy sweetness. The final steeps feature bread, malt, honey, squash, wood, earth, minerals, and tannins.

This Ma Su Old Bush Lapsang has the promised tannins, but they don’t distract too much from everything else that’s going on and serve to balance the sweetness. I haven’t had their regular OBLS for a while, but this one seems even more squashy and sweet. It also has great longevity. I generally like more florals and fruit in my lapsangs, but this is a very high-quality tea that I’ll miss. The rest of it is going to Daylon and I resisted the urge to buy more during their recent sale (and am regretting it after this last session).

Thanks to Ethan for this lovely sample, which he sent with my last big order. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The first couple steeps have notes of pastry, umami, orchid, honeysuckle, and pine. Steeps three and four add butter, hints of pineapple, grass, spring flowers, herbs, and misty mountain air. The tea is smooth, a bit brothy, and without any trace of bitterness. I get hints of anise in the next couple steeps, though that may be because Ethan mentioned it when talking about this tea. Subsequent steeps are sweet, herbaceous, grassy, and slightly floral, with a nice smoothness but no distinct flavours.

This tea is elegant and smooth, with flavours that are hard to pin down. It’s one of those ethereal Da Yu Lings with Ethan’s trademark emphasis on a lack of bitterness. I tend to like teas with more upfront flavours, but this was quite enjoyable in its own right.

Given my interest in any unsmoked lapsang that crosses my path, it’s no surprise this ended up in my cart. The low price made me pause, but didn’t deter me. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of honey, peach, hay, wood, and florals. The first steep has notes of grilled peach, honey, hay, malt, raisins, tannins, florals, and wood. The next steep adds orange, sweet potato, herbs, minerals, and more tannins, with a bit of that silky, viscous texture I associate with lapsang. In the next couple steeps, I get the earthy, forest floor notes I sometimes find in unsmoked lapsangs, along with less apparent fruit, honey, minerals, malt, and tannins. This lapsang is not particularly fruity, though the honey gives it some sweetness. Steeps five and six are more earthy, with honey, sweet potato, hints of peach and orange, tannins, and malt. Subsequent steeps have notes of honey, earth, malt, minerals, wood, and tannins.

This is a decent unsmoked lapsang, especially if you want something honeyed and earthy instead of fruity. However, I admit I’m kind of a lapsang snob, and I look for those upfront floral, fruity flavours. I also found the tea a bit tannic, particularly as the session progressed.

This is another green oolong that I received in my custom tasting set. I’ve had a few Chilai Shan oolongs, but none that I remember. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of lilac, honey, and orange. The first steep has notes of tangerine, honey, butter, orange blossom, lilac, other florals, and grass. The orange and orange peel are particularly prominent in the next steep, and the florals are a bit more like the wildflowers mentioned in the vendor’s description. In steeps three and four, I get delicate wildflowers, orange, orange blossom, herbs, and grass, and the aroma at the bottom of the cup is lovely. The next couple steeps feature soft orange, honey, butter, florals, and herbs (lavender?), plus spinach and grass as the tea starts to fade. The final few steeps have a nice floral aroma, but the taste is mainly of spinach and grass.

This tea gave me a few very nice steeps, but faded quickly. The honey, orange, and florals made for an ethereal combination in this unusually cold weather. It’s a little more subtle than the Shan Lin Shi, and I’d say I enjoyed that tea a bit more.