Jin Jun Mei Black Tea

This tea has a lovely malty flavor. I wish I could pick out some additional aromas or flavors, but alas, I cannot.

I steeped this at 205 degrees for 5 minutes. I also did a 2nd steeping for 6 min. I wish this tea was a little sweeter, but it was good. The second steeping had less maltiness and tasted more like plain tea.

Next time, I may add a teensy bit of sugar, just to see how that goes.

Oh goodness this is softer than I expected, really sweet and creamy. There’s a touch of a floral or evergreen kind of taste that I’m having trouble pinning down, but it’s really familiar to me. There’s a wonderfully smooth honey sweetness, just a touch of smokiness and a hint of lingering bitterness. Perhaps the most wonderful quality of this tea is just how smooth the mouthfeel is. It really coats your mouth with such a velvety thick texture. There is just the slightest hint of smokiness inside my nose causing a little tingling feeling there still several moments after I’ve drank a cup. I think I have become a lion dragon.

On the second infusion, sniffing the underside of the gaiwan lid I get notes of orchid and chocolate. The scent of the brewed liquor has notes of camphor and cinnamon as well as orchid and chocolate. The taste is more dark and caramely, but still smooth, a bit more floral now. There are fruity notes in the background and a lingering chocolate taste.

The third and fourth infusions bring a more dark, malty flavor, less sweet than the first two. The scent is just as sweet though and there is a subtle sweetness in the background of the flavor. By the fifth infusion, it’s backing off into the sweet honey flavors again. I’ll continue to infuse this many more times, but I’ll end my review here.

I really enjoyed this tea. The smoothness and richness of it in the early infusions were remarkable. The only downsides to me are the sort of smoky bitterness that lingers and sort of stings the inside of my nose a little. It’s a little strange and new to me, that sensation, and might take some getting used to!

I could see myself purchasing this tea. It has a really great complexity. I may just do so because I’m curious to see how my red tea seasoned Yixing pot would handle it. It really cuts the edge off of red teas and mellows them out. Could be incredible!

From the Tan Yang Mountains, Fujian, China.
Yezi’s notes say that Jin Jun Mei grows at 4,500 feet above sea level, at which altitude there is very little agricultural land available to grow tea. This in large part explains why there is so little Jin Jun Mei to go around.
(From Wickipedia) Jin Jun Mei (金骏眉) (Golden Beautiful Eyebrow) is a Lapsang Souchong black tea from Wuyishan City, Fujian Province, China. It is made from two small shoots plucked in early spring from the plant’s stem which are subsequently fully oxidised to giving a tea that has a sweet, fruity and flowery flavour with a long lasting sweet after-taste. The brew is bright reddish in colour.

In China, this variety of tea is viewed as one of the most prestigious of all teas. Its price varies depending on the quality, ranging from US$60 to US$700 per ounce.

I brewed this tea Western style. The Yezi website suggested temps between 176F-185F,,,I brewed at 180F and tasting at every minute, I steeped for a total of 5 minutes.
The liquor is a gorgeous red amber jewel color and has scents of the dried apple and maybe some prune, there is a slight tamarind note as well.
The flavor is cooked red apple peels, there is a tamarind aspect of puckering your mouth. As the liquor cools, a dried apricot note is coming through strongly. Very different flavors to me and I might have to play with this one since I brewed it the way I did, Western with a low temp. I will be gong fu brewing.

6/16/14
Took this one down to 175F Western style this morning. Used 4 grams tea in 16 oz water. Steeped for 5 minutes.
Liquor is deep orange and the flavor is apple peel, a bit of toast. These buds benefit from a lower temperature Western style. Still gotta brew this one Gong Fu.
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7/5/14
Finally brewed this one Gong Fu style this morning. I haven’t had this in a while and the dry leaves smelled winey and had notes of bread today. I used 1 heaping tsp of tea in my little 100ml porcelain gong fu pot. Used 185F water.
Did an immediate rinse then
15"- thin and very subtle flavors
30" – more golden in color and has a subtle smoky and fruity flavor. This is a very refined Lapsang Souchong. The wet leaves are all buds.
30" – got sweeter as the smoke faded.
30" – nice but subtle flavors
45"- very subtle flavors.

Overall, I think more leaf would be fine for this tea to bring out even more flavor. I will have to try an extra tsp next time with gong fu.
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7/31/14
Having a cup Western style. Yezi just has such good tea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is smoky and has lots of flavors adding depth to it especially apple.

I woke up to awesome news, the Title Update 14 changelog has been released and it is going into cert testing, meaning we could have the update by the end of next week. This newest update has been months in the waiting and I have been stalking 4J Studios diligently, enjoying all the little snippets of info they posted on twitter. The Xbox 360 version is still pretty far behind the PC, but it is slowly catching up. In this update I think I am most excited about the carpet, Nether mobs wandering in through portals, and anvils.

Today’s tea is Jin Jun Mei by Yezi Tea, Jin Jun Mei, also known as Golden Eyebrows Tea , is a black (or red) tea from Fujian, China, and is fairly rare. Jin Jun Mei is one of those teas that make me immensely happy just from looking at the dry leaf. I am a sucker for the beautiful, fuzzy, golden leaves, they look like something from a fairy tale. The aroma of the dry leaves is sharply sweet and a bit fruity, specifically a bit muscatel, there are strong notes of cocoa, caramelized sugar, orchids, and oak wood. It is a rich and bright aroma that wafts from the leaves, and certainly quite sweet. I would say that the aroma is one of the more sweeter Chinese black teas that I have had the honor of sniffing.

And into the gaiwan it goes for a nice, short, steeping! The aroma of the wet (and no longer gold and fuzzy) leaves is not fruity and bright, but is all richness. The aroma evolved into an intense depth with strong notes of peanuts, cocoa, and a faint hint of oak wood. Even though the aroma is no longer fruity it does retain a bit of sweetness, but now it is more of a nutty sweetness. The poured off liquid is quite sweet, like cocoa and honey with a woody quality.

The first steeping is wonderfully sweet and rich, blending the taste of cocoa, honey, roasted peanuts, and a finish of oak wood. I feel I am not giving this tea the credit it deserves, it is one of those that when I sipped it I was lost in the delicious and incredible rich taste, if you would have asked me at the time I was sipping you probably would have just heard me contentedly sigh.

The second steeping, the aroma of the leaves and the liquid is much the same as the first but a bit stronger and richer. The same can be said for the taste, except it has an added smoothness from the mouthfeel, this steeping almost seems to coat the mouth in rich sweetness. The aftertaste on this steeping was a tiny bit metallic which seemed to knock me out of my tea fugue, not a bad thing. This is one of those teas that I could see myself becoming mildly addicted to, perfect for mornings and aftermeals, or just an afternoon pick-me-up. Or before bed, or with a book, or when crafting…really I could be content drinking this tea all day. It has this great quality of being both bold and flavorful while retaining a level of mellowness that does not overpower, it is a perfectly balanced tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/03/yezi-tea-jin-jun-mei-tea-review.html