This is a very special tea. It is one of the most expensive teas in China and almost impossible to find outside of the most discerning tea circles. We have searched for 3 years for a true Jin Jun Mei after our previous batch sold out but it is so difficult to find the real deal worthy of its price.
The speciality tea market is flooded with 'competition' grade Jin Jun Mei and we have tasted so many batches without any success. They might look glistening and golden or well-produced but you can pretty much tell with one sniff that they will be good but not stellar.
The picking and processing of this tea is a little secretive. Buds are picked pre-qing ming from wild growing, primitive tea variety, possibly from the side of the stems. They are then hand rolled (yes every bud rolled between fingers) before allowing them to oxidise completely. Every 10g contains about 1000-1500 hand rolled buds picked from the Xing Cun Xiao Zhong Wuyi Lapsang tea plant. This is pinnacle quality black tea unlike any other tea being produced.
PLEASE BE AWARE that this Jin Jun Mei is absolutely authentic and highest quality. There are many fakes and low quality versions of this tea. If you see tea with many golden buds then this is, in our opinion, lower quality tea (despite what the supplier may write). True, high quality Jin Jun Mei should have much fewer golden buds and not have a great deal of tea fur on the leaves. Instead the leaves should be small, dark and glossy with less than 30% golden buds.
