A brighter and more golden Jin Jun Mei than our usual offerings with lots of flowers and malt plus an intriguing and long-lasting cinnamon sweetness.
We have been obsessing over Jin Jun Mei for many years and it is one of the hardest teas to source because of its reputation. Jin Jun Mei is a modern Black tea that has fast become one of the most expensive teas on the globe.
This price tag is partly because of the intense labour to produce the tea with 100g of tea usually containing between 10,000 and 15,000hand picked and hand-rolled buds. It is partly because, when made properly from prime tea bushes, it is the most luxurious Black tea in the mouth.
But, the price is also driven by a demand for 'gift teas' in China and, unfortunately, in our experience, most JJM's don't live up to the price tag. We have made a couple of videos about what we look for in a JJM in terms of the look of the tea (fine dark and glossy) and the taste (chocolate, lychee and rose). When we find any JJM of this quality we stock it as Gleaming Brow.
So, when I saw this tea in amongst my Jin Jun Mei samples I was not expecting to select it - the buds look well picked and processed but are bigger than our usual Jin Jun Mei and are significantly lighter. But, we taste everything and I was shocked by the taste.
There are many Jin Jun Mei's which are flowery and malty (we do not buy them) but this one had something extra. Yes it has powdery flowers like violets and lilac, yes it has lots of yummy malted biscuits but it also has sweet and spicy depth redolent with cinnamon. I could not stop drinking the sample and so I had to add it to our shelves.