🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦May 3, 2024
I caught myself a good one. This is a sampler of a tea so expensive there's basically no hope of me ever buying it as a regular drinking tea. This two-serving sampler cost me the equivalent of US$10 *on special*. (Ordinarily it would be $25). A half-pound of it (enough to last me maybe two months) would take up a full month's mad money.

So this is a special experience.

This is a genuine 金骏眉 (Jīn Jùnméi or "Fancy Golden Eyebrow", loosely translated). Real Jin Junmei is hand-picked from the first buds of the season and is horrifically expensive as a result. This batch was picked and processed on 2024-03-01, so not only is it a genuine Jin Junmei (a lot of stuff sold as Jin Junmei, as with everything in China, is fake), it's a very fresh genuine Jin Junmei!

The alt text explains the pictures and the sensations that went along with getting them.

#tea #BlackTea #红茶 #金骏眉 #JinJunmei #福建武夷山 #WuyiMountainsFujian
🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦Dec 18, 2023
Another day, another #tea.

I'm running out of my #庐山云雾茶 (#Lushan #CloudAndMist" tea, a green) at home and decided that for my once-in-a-blue-moon occasion I'd pick up my favourite black: #金丝滇红茶 (golden thread #Dianhong tea). (More specifically it's a 金丝滇红茶云南凤庆野生古树 which is a mouthful translating very roughly to "golden thread #Fengqing #Yunnan old growth uncultivated Dianhong tea".)

This is not that tea.

This is a tea I've heard of before, but never tried, so I picked up 250g of it on a whim as it crossed my screen while searching for the other. This is a #金骏眉红茶 (#JinJunMei black tea, where the name really translates to "golden excellent steed eyebrow" so, you know, it's just a name.) It was being sold at loss leader prices because it's a 2023 tea and the 2024 teas will be coming soon enough that some places are trying to get rid of stock.

This is a very nice tea. Like, almost as nice as my beloved golden thread Dianhong. It's very floral in its bouquet, is very sweet even with only a minuscule wash, and has an aftertaste that I swear reminds me of banana on the greener end that lasts FOREVER¹.

The deep colour of the liquor is also really nice (the photos don't do it justice: in person it's the *perfect* black tea liquor colour!).

Needless to say that this tea is now in my rotation.

@[email protected]

(Note: Mastodon users will have to click through to see all five pictures since by default it will only show four.)
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¹ OK, not forever, but it's still there a good 45 minutes after I finished the last sip of this batch, and only now beginning to fade.
Erik EllestadJun 16, 2023

Finishing off the Xia Mei Jin Jun Mei black tea from the Hoyum Tea winter blind tasting.

#BlackTea #RedTea #HongCha #JinJunMei #HoyumTea #Tea #Cha #DailyTea @tea

gemelenFeb 13, 2023

#Tea @tea

I fell sleepy few days in a row, but today I choose to drink tea instead of taking a nap, it's working day after all.

"Cocoa Malt Queen", #JinJunMei #HongCha [March '22, ML] - tippy red tea from Tong Mu village.

Despite what's in that tea's general profile, it's not too sweet by my taste. On the other hand, it's not as spicy as "Sweet Spice JJM" of ML. Something in between, but overall good for my current conditions.

gemelenFeb 2, 2023

#Tea @tea
"Souchong Liquor" [Spring `22, ML] - Tong Mu village area #Hongcha, unsmoked #Lapsang - ie one that didn't go into final smoking/firing stages.

Since it's not that smokey, it much closer to #JinJunMei in smell, taste and colour of the liquid. As it mentioned even by vendor themself, it's a very affordable approximation of top JJM variants (about 5 times cheaper).

Overall it's amazing #Hongcha to warm yourself and enjoy its spectrum of tasting notes.

I'd consider it a daily drinker

gemelenJan 26, 2023

#Tea @tea

"Bailu Gold" (vendor's name) or more generic "Golden Dew", Huang Jin Bai Lu #Hongcha [September '20, Meileaf].

This is Sichuanese rival to a top-grade #JinJunMei specimen, both in aspect of taste and price.

This tea in particular helps me to find a contrast to more sweet or more spicy tasting JJMs, cause Bai Lu is more floral, with notes of spiciness.

Besides that it's a delicate #Hongcha for the time when you don't know you want at the moment.

MarcusOct 22, 2020

Hey hey it's Day ten of 14 teas 🍵 !! 🥰

Today's tea is Jun Mei or Jin Jun Mei !

Wikipedia has a short article that tells us it "is a celebrated black tea from the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian Province, China developed in 2006. It is made exclusively from the buds plucked in early spring from the tea plant. The buds are subsequently fully oxidized and then roasted to yield a tea that has a sweet, fruity and flowery flavor with a long lasting sweet after-taste."

Brewing is straight forward. I did a 5 second rinse, but this is contentious online. Many feel it is a waste to rinse or awake black teas. Boiled water filtered from the tap (all teas so far are done with this water) and at 212 steeped 16 oz of water over 6g of tea for 3 minutes. Wonderfully colored tea, with a rich flavor and very pleasing after taste. One of my favorite teas. I have some other JinJunMei from another vendor and while it is flavorful the subtle notes on the finish feel like they're missing. Might just be me. Second steeping was equally as good. Same rich color and flavors.

4.5/5 #teatime #blacktea #jinjunmei