Classic Robust Jin Jun Mei Black Tea of Fujian

Loose black tea leaves. Sugary smell from dry leaves, yam scent from wet leaves, this one does taste good when you flash steep it and ONLY when you flash steep it. Honey, malt, light fruit.

Problem: The tea isn’t made out of buds, and real Jin Jun Mei is an all buds tea. Most leaves are broken, majority at 0.5 – 0.75 inches, longest at 1 inch.

The tea is reminiscent of a Jin Jun Mei and tastes pretty good if you steeped it the right way, but it’s still not a Jin Jun Mei, like how a good salmon roe is not a caviar. For that reason points are deducted, but this is the better tea from Yunnan Sourcing’s Jin Jun Mei sampler.

sold for $7.50 / 50g

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/classic-robust-jin-jun-mei-black-tea-of-fujian?variant=32460494110823

Sipdown (203)

Thank you Sil for sharing this one with me. I made it hours ago and have slowly been drinking it while studying. It’s fruity and smooth and has a nice honey vibe to it. I wish I paid it more attention while I drank.

Wow. This is a unique tea, especially for a jin jun mei. Following a laoshan black that tasted like burnt pumpkinseeds, the roasted aroma of this when it’s hot set off my fight or flight, but it’s far more pleasant than that smoky catastrophe. Neatly twisted leaves the color of wet bark; dark, cool-toned liquor, and an initially pungent scent that mellows to unsweetened chocolate.

This somehow tastes more like chocolate than black blends with added cocoa powder. The mellow, dark black tea and raw chocolate notes are so perfectly melded together. There’s some bitterness, but it’s definitely not tannic in origin. A hint of dark berries, a bit of raisin, but nothing that adds sweetness.

Really impressed with this one. You can coax out the fruit notes by cold brewing it or lean on the dark chocolate with water just off a boil. Very diverse and polished for a tea in its price range. I’m used to jin jun mei price tags being…. eyewatering, to say the least.

Sipdown. Sad now as I’ve got 3? Teas left. I really need to find time to go place an order or two or pick up and drop off teas with variaTEA. That being said, even if I order it’ll take a while for things to get here. I’m sad to see this one go as it was quite nice, especially when steeped at a lower temperature. I’ll likely pick it up again the next time I order from YS.

Outside of tea…anyone else just stressed about the craziness that Covid-19 is causing? I’m much less worried about running out of toilet paper than I am about food. Grocery stores here have line ups to get in, low to no stock on shelves. I worry for the more senior folks in our area who won’t have access to basic things they might need to self quarantine. I hope this brings out the best in people as it continues. I know our mom group is already trying to make sure everyone has what they need to get through at least the next week or two.

Stay safe and helpful people.