Mei Zhan Jin Wuyi Black Tea

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Fruity, Ginger, Herbaceous, Lychee, Mineral, Rose, Astringent, Cinnamon, Honey, Milk, Citrus, Floral, Peach, Sugar, Sweet
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Geoff
Average preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 7 oz / 196 ml

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6 Tasting Notes View all

  • “A delightful black tea for folks who may not traditionally love black tea. The tannins here are tame and make way for lovely fruity notes with honey and cream. I really enjoyed this one.” Read full tasting note
    88
  • “2021 Harvest. The dry leaves are akin to leaning down to tease your nostrils with that particular, rather picturesque rose you happened to notice out on your walk today. The unnecessary exposition...” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “Such interesting flavors going on with this tea! Definitely getting a steamed milk aroma that translates into an almost Samoa cookie experience. Not getting any of that in the flavor, though....” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “Sipdown 2020! 6/365 Picked this up recently, the Spring 2018 version, and it’s everything I could have hoped for. Kind of a spiced honey sweetness (this might be the first time i’ve ever noticed...” Read full tasting note
    95

From Verdant Tea

Mei Zhan is a varietal usually used for making aromatic oolongs. Li Xiangxi and her brother cultivate a small planting of Mei Zhan bushes, and have fallen in love in the last few years with the unique flavors the tea yields. They decided in recent years to use the large buds from their Mei Zhan bushes to make a bud-based Wuyi black tea processed just like Jin Jun Mei.

The result is thrilling, and we are lucky to get to share any at all. The family only makes about 20 kilos a year. It was exciting to be entrusted with enough to send to in December’s Tea of the Month Club, and even more excited for the opportunity to share it with everyone!

Unlike Jun Jun Mei, which is made from the tiniest little buds, Mei Zhan Jin is made from huge buds more like a Yunnan Black than anything else. In fact, the aroma is very reminiscent of a Wild-Picked large buds Yunnan Black. The aroma is like Golden Fleece in its thick creamy luscious body, but with a touch of malty Jin Jun Mei aroma, and some deep florals that lean more towards the world of oolongs.

The first steepings are sweet, floral and elegant like a very fine Jin Jun Mei, but instead of the malty thick texture of Jin Jun Mei we get the light, more perfumed texture of Mei Zhan oolong. As the tea continues to steep out, we get more and more of the beautiful nuanced mineral notes of Wuyi accenting the sweet honeyed florals that make this tea so unique.

About Verdant Tea View company

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6 Tasting Notes

88
7 tasting notes

A delightful black tea for folks who may not traditionally love black tea. The tannins here are tame and make way for lovely fruity notes with honey and cream. I really enjoyed this one.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 6 OZ / 180 ML

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85
4 tasting notes

2021 Harvest.

The dry leaves are akin to leaning down to tease your nostrils with that particular, rather picturesque rose you happened to notice out on your walk today. The unnecessary exposition felt justified; these leaves are just that fragrant. I’ve been delaying on my brewing to keep huffing them, admittedly.

Four steeps at 195 F. 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, and 20 seconds.

Rinsing the leaves brushed the scent of roses aside for something herbaceous and fruity with a zing of zest. Normally, I would have been disappointed and yearning for the roses, but this new scent is quite pleasant and hoppy. The soup’s smell is similar, albeit muted and with more of a focus on the fruitiness.

Steep number one does not disappoint. Notes of rose and lychee. Light on flavor but very cleansing on the palate, similar to a ginger leaf. Overall mouthfeel was juicy, faintly coating on the tongue, ending with a touch of mineral water. Not bad at all!

Steeps two, three, and four were almost indistinguishable from each other, and I don’t consider that to be a negative trait. This tea does not lose its steam across multiple steeps. Only the florals faded for me over subsequent brews, but the fruit-forwardness of this soup’s flavor was already quite desperate to be the star of the show. Heavy notes of lychee and zest with a hint of cream.

This is a great tea that I’d recommend to any tea lover, especially one that hasn’t dipped their tongue into fruity teas. I’m not usually a big fan of fruit-forward teas, but this one is fruity without tasting too … organic? It’s hard to assign words here, unfortunately. If you’re not a fan of fruity teas but really want to give one another shot, this is certainly a leaf to consider.

Flavors: Fruity, Ginger, Herbaceous, Lychee, Mineral, Rose

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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85
1789 tasting notes

Such interesting flavors going on with this tea! Definitely getting a steamed milk aroma that translates into an almost Samoa cookie experience. Not getting any of that in the flavor, though. Flavor-wise, I’m getting a bit of honey, some cinnamon, and an intense minerality. There is a fair amount of astringency that I could do without.

Flavors: Astringent, Cinnamon, Honey, Milk, Mineral

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95
6105 tasting notes

Sipdown 2020! 6/365

Picked this up recently, the Spring 2018 version, and it’s everything I could have hoped for. Kind of a spiced honey sweetness (this might be the first time i’ve ever noticed natural spice notes in a tea!) with a fairly delicate black base. It almost reminds me a bit of some spiced pear teas, although entirely non-artificial tasting. I only got a sample size, but this will probably make it onto a future list to at least pick up a sample of to enjoy from time to time.

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94
42 tasting notes

This is a Lovely tea. It is delicate and enticing from the moment you open the bag. The leaves are just Gorgeous: fine, silky, lustrous curls in a perfectly harmonious array of color. The scent of the dry leaf is wonderful too, I pick up floral and fruity notes. Tangerine, peach, sweet citrus. The liquor is well balanced with no bitterness or astringency. Its very soft and pleasantly delicious cup. I’m still getting great fruity notes with some flowers and honey on the background.
Wow the second cup is even stronger, fruitier and more vivid in its bouquet. Its lechee, its rose, its sugar and honey… with citrus notes. And again 0 bitterness or acidity. Delicious.
Third and fourth infusion are less floral and fruity with stronger woody, savory notes.
This is a lovely tea, I will definitely be ordering more.

Flavors: Citrus, Floral, Fruity, Honey, Lychee, Peach, Rose, Sugar

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 0 min, 30 sec 3 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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90
99 tasting notes

From their Tea of the Month Club (I’m allowed to splurg! :P)

I’m breaking in my gaiwan with this today! :D

The dry leaves smell like a musky flower; like a flower you’ve picked at the height of its pollen production, and it’s been sitting in a vase for a week. lol Smells a lot like Golden Needle, but not as floral.

The first steep is light and mostly vegetal with just a hint of that flower I picked earlier. A longer first steep starts to show it’s creamy side, and is sweeter. My favorite part! (Both the creamy and sweet.) Had to grab a third cup because, like I said, just meeting my new gaiwan—the longer of the first steeps went bitter. Oh, sad.

Second steep continues to be creamy and sweet. I’m going to try cooler water since that bitterness is trying to hang on. A bit astringent, too. Not terribly so, though. :) Hmm, the trick to pouring from a gaiwan without making a mess: Pour with confidence! Haha!

Third steep: I think this is the only way I like honey taste—saying hello from a plain tea leaf. With the honey comes a thicker brew, coats my mouth in the best way possible. It gets sweeter as it cools. Oh, could you IMAGINE ice tea with this! Brain explosion!

Steep 4: Did this one a bit long… such a PRETTY amber color. Squee! The leaves are really starting to unfold now. I’m exploring the idea of what “minerality” means in a tea taste. It’s not quite astringency, is it… but like when you taste hard water? Growing up, we had a deep well that tapped into an underground spring that ran through bedrock, and that water is what this tea reminds me of. :)

Steep 5: This tastes a lot like the Golden Needle I mentioned earlier, but it’s not quite so thick. And it’s floral, but not ridiculously so. It seems altogether balanced and an interesting combination of all the above tastes. Teehee! :) The later steeps go along the same lines as this one. Happiness!

Oh, my, I am messy. _ Thank goodness for tea towels. I decided not to get a full-blown tea table (yet?), but have a tea towel and bamboo bowl. :3

Flavors: Astringent, Floral, Honey, Mineral, Sweet

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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