Jin Jun Mei

This tea while good overall is, unfortunately, not really Jin Jun Mei. Or is at least, of exceptionally poor quality for a Jin Jun Mei.

In both appearance (over-abundance of gold buds, excessive dust, and slightly too large) aroma, and taste this falls short of a genuine high-quality Jin Jun Mei. The difference is very great. This is unsurprising, given the very low cost of this tea (actual Jin Jun Mei would be at least 4 times as expensive). Still, Teasenz is generally an honest company and it is disappointing to see this product marketed as such.

The dry leaf smell like fresh bread, a light fruitiness reminiscent of cherry and apricot, and some wood and cocoa.
after settling in the warmed gaiwan, I get an aroma of sour cherries and/or sour peaches, hay, dark cooking chocolate and wine

First steeps have an aroma of barley, cocoa, wood, something that’s vaguely fishy, raspberry, there’s something leathery too.

There are notes of mango, hay, honey, the same kind of florals that you might find in a bai mu dan, but it has an enormous body, a really lovely mouthfeel, with very pleasant bitterness, a decent amount of astringency, and a slight metallic feeling (no metallic taste), with thickness. A wine-like aroma entering on the third steep, this really tastes a lot like white tea, it’s strange.
They astringency gets strong quickly, and becomes a bit overpowering around the middle of the session; I had to decrease my steeping time quite a bit to make it tolerable and at that point the rest of the mouthfeel is a bit emptier, I can’t find a nice balance anymore

It softens up a bit in the mid-late area, but the flavours get a bit bland around there, sweet honey, hay, and a bit of cocoa and a lingering taste,

It’s a tasty tea, nothing spectacular but it’s enjoyable

Backlog.
Fruity, earthy, smooth. Pretty consistent over 7 or 8 steeps. 100ml gaiwan, 195F, 5gish. I enjoyed this.

Finally picked up some of this and I’m pretty glad i did.

This is molasses brown bread with some mild peppery notes and honey notes. I let it steep a couple minutes too long so the honey is kind of a burnt honey. I don’t get any citrus in the aftertaste but the burnt honey and pepper do linger. Looking forward to another try paying more attention to the time. So silly, I measured the leaves, got the water temp according to recommendations, looked at the time then wandered off and got distracted. :)

August? What happened to July? For that matter where did spring and summer go? The first cold snap is probably only 7 weeks away. Oh well, maybe that will help get me moving drinking tea again.

Actually, I tell you what it takes to motivate me – Jin Jun Mei. I love Fujian tea. This is a really excellent one. I honestly can’t think of a single negative thing to say about this one. From the moment I opened the bag I was hooked. It has all the wonderful scent you expect from it. The leaf is beautiful. The brew color is dark, dark, ruby red. The aroma is intoxicating. Teasenz says it has notes of orange. Others mention this as well. To me it is like fruit wine, except better, cause its tea ;)

The taste is honey and sweet potato, malt and hay, along with the fruity wine vibe. Accompanying this mixed in with a pleasant bite is molasses and cocoa.

I made two mugs and the second was as excellent as the first. I know most of my reviews are positive – because I don’t drink stuff I don’t like. That said, this is really good. If I still rated teas, I would slide the bar way to the right.

Man, it is humid today! I am pretty sure the air is soup, it feels like living in the South! I have mixed feelings about humidity, on the one hand it means possible storms and rain, which I love, on the other hand it makes everything feel damp. I spent the entire night fussing with my pillows and sheets because they felt soggy, my clothes feel soggy, my paint is just not drying, and my hair is super poofy. I am enjoying the damp smell of earth and wood that is wafting through my window though, so I forgive most of the side effects, well except the soggy feeling bed.

When my box of samples from Teasenz arrived, I did a squee of joy over the Da Hong Pao, but I also let one out over today’s tea, Jin Jun Mei! Another tea I ran out of recently, so there is no surprise that this was the first tea I opened up and drank from the sample collection. From the Tongmu Village in Wuyi (same home of Lapsang Souchong) in a way this tea is considered the super fancy version of Lapsang Souchong. Picked as a Pre-Qingming tea and only collecting the delicate buds, these ‘golden eyebrows’ are super pretty, but I do love my fuzzy golden teas. The aroma of the delicately curling buds is super rich, with notes of malt, and different layers of woodiness. There are hints of sweet pine sap, cedar, and a pinch of sandalwood, it is very aromatic, not as sweet as some Jin Jun Meis I have experienced, but still pretty intense. The finishing note is a whiff of molasses and honey, with just a hint of roasted peanuts.

Tossing the leaves into my gaiwan and giving them a good short steeping (well shortish, long by puerh standards but short by western…ok it was 30 seconds, you be the judge!) and the aroma went super intense and sweet. Mixing honey and molasses with rich malt and just a hint of the previous woodiness in the form of delicate pine sap. The liquid is super sweet and creamy, with notes of malt, molasses, cocoa, roasted peanuts, and pine sap. Ben who was sitting on the other side of the room remarked at how good the tea smelled. He insisted on having a cup, which is understandable, he is a long time fan of Jin Jun Mei.

Ever had tea out of a pine cup? Me either, but I imagine it would taste like this, rich, sweet, and malty, with a distinct pine sap undertone. It is quite entertaining, the pine taste does not overwhelm any of the other notes, it compliments them. The finish is a blend of cocoa and molasses, which lingers for a while.

The aroma of the second steep is super heavy on the pine sap, giving is a woody sweetness, again reminding me of tea in a pine cup. The taste is not as sweet this time, but still super rich, starting off with a thick mouthfeel and heavy note of malt. Malt is definitely the defining taste, it is accompanied by molasses and just a hint of honey and cocoa at the finish.

Third steeping time! The pine notes have mellowed some, now it is distant pine and nice rich malt and molasses, much sweeter, similar to the first steeping. The taste also is super rich and sweet, starting off with honey and finishing with honey. The middle is a rich building malt and molasses that rolls across my tongue like a sultry wave, the taste gives it an almost thick feel, but that is mostly in my mind since the texture is very smooth. This feels like a more ‘grown up’ Jin Jun Mei, blending very rich notes with honey sweetness, I like its extra body in comparison to others I have had.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/teasenz-jin-jun-mei-tea-tea-review.html

ooh, how i have been WAITING for this day… especially since i have been about… a month without a Chinese black, since my black dragon pearls from another company were a bust. literally. opened the bag to find crumbled pearls, while the whole pearls, and the replacement package, were bland.

ANYWHOO. The leaves are a lovely black and gold, my bag is more black than the pic on here. The scent is of honey, straw, and cocoa. Mouth watering.

I use 1.5 tsp for 10 oz of water, 200 degrees for 3 min.

The liquor is a lovely, dark brown-red, and smells of honey and chocolate. The initial sips while still extremely hot are of Sweet potato and honey. Cooled enough to actually drink, the sweet potato takes a step back and shares the show with honey, chocolate and light notes of straw. There is a lovely honey aftertaste that builds with every sip, encouraging you to forget about whatever it was you were doing before you picked up the cup and started sipping, and focus entirely on the amazing tea in your hands. I love the taste of this tea, but to me, the aftertaste is even better! There is no astringency, this beauty is silky smooth in anticipation of your time together :)

This is everything i remembered about this tea, and im quite happy with it, and i cannot believe how inexpensive this company offers this tea for. If you like blacks, and like/dont mind a sweet potato taste in your tea, you cannot afford to pass this tea by.

Thank you Teasenz for the generous samples! This one was calling me this morning. My first Jinjunmei! I’m not sure what the difference between this one and a Golden Monkey is. They look very similar: golden and black, thin and twisted leaves. Even the dry leaves are intoxicating. The fragrance of the mug of tea itself is one of my favorites: honey sweet potato. Even the color of the mug is perfect — a coppery red. This Jinjunmei is perfect on many levels… and so so comforting. The taste is very tasty: hints of honey, sweet potato, tiny amount of chocolate. In flavor, I’d say the difference between a Jinjunmei and a Golden Monkey is that the Monkey has more chocolate flavor. The Jinjunmei is more sweet potato. I think every tea enthusiast needs a chocolate and sweet potato tea in the cupboard! The few samples I’ve tried from Teasenz are AMAZING. They have very nice variety.. they are a good shop to order from if you want to try out certain types of tea, but the quality is there if you are a tea drinker who has tried these types of teas before. This will not be my last Jinjunmei!
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 10 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // 5 min after boiling // 5 min

Oh my god. Oh. My. God.

Cameron B had such good things to say about this tea a few months ago that based on the strength of that recommendation, I requested 5 free samples from Teasenz. This baby was one of those. And oh boy, Cameron was spot-on.

You should have been there when I opened up the package and inhaled the first wafts of this stuff. “Oh my god. It smells like chocolate. Oh my god! It smells like cocoa powder!” I tried shoving the bag in my husband’s face so he could get a good whiff (and thus hopefully convert to Tea-ism) but he wasn’t game.

I can’t get over how good the dry leaf of this tea smells. I took about 2 tsp, brewed it Western-style in my lovely tiny Brown Betty pot, and poured it all out into a large mug.

Considering I only steeped the first steep for 3.5 minutes, the liquor was astonishingly dark and rich-looking. A lovely dark amber colour, like beer bottles. And the smell was good too! Slightly tart, but dark and sweet like prunes or honey.

The taste isn’t quite as good, but it’s still satisfying. Malty, rich, slightly sweet, no astringency, but it doesn’t quite slap me silly with flavour the way I hoped it would.

Now I’m off to have a second steep!

By the way, I woke up this morning with a bit of a sore throat, and I’m worried this may be the first sign of a cold. I better enjoy awesome tea like this now; I’ll save the crappy-tasting tea for when I can’t actually taste it.

From the Lewis and Clark TTB, put in specially for me from Cameron B.

Brewed in a glass test tube steeper. Steeping times: 15 sec, 15, 30, 60, 120.

The leaves different from other Jin Jun Mei’s I have seen. Instead a mix of shades of brown, these are all golden. They look like little dream caterpillars. Strangely, the leaves immediately sink to the bottom of the test tube steeper when I pour the water.

The dry aroma has honey and fudge. After the leaf is first steeped, an aroma of malt, chocolate, and some toast rises from the steeper. And after the later infusions, the aroma becomes decadent and mouthwatering – I can smell fudge brownie cake (the microwavable kind in a mug).

The liquor is golden brown. Fuzzies freely float around or up and down in the glass tumbler, like the goo in a lava lamp. Medium-bodied. The second and third infusions are the best, when the leaves a re fully awakened but not quite beginning to weaken. The notes are prominently malt, honey, and chocolate. The overall flavor profile is light, bordering gentle – not very strong, but could have been to better suite my tastes. Since it is not intense, this Jin Jun Mei is perfect for an early autumn day, when the sun is out and the temperature is not too low.