Jin Jun Mei Black Tea

This is a sample tea I’m having from Yezi this morning. I am very tempted by their Black Friday sale!!!

I think I’ve only had one Jin Jun Mei before and that was Verdant’s version. This is a very smooth tea with an exceptional mouth feel. The dry leaf smells like cocoa but there is something floral about it too. As far as flavors go, it reminds me of orange & malt. I’m getting a bit of a kick in the finish with a slightly tannic, peppery note. This is definitely a nice, cozy tea for the blustery weather we hare having.

I am still more tempted by the Ming Hong than anything else I have tried so far… I am not sure how to rate this. I think it is an excellent tea but something about it doesn’t quite appeal to me as much as some of their other teas.

My second black tea of the morning came from KiwiDelight. I’ve had several Jin Jun Mei teas before and enjoyed them, so I requested this one in our swap. The leaves are familiar – small, thin, wiry, and mostly gold in color. Dry scent is strong malt with some sweetness and molasses tones. I steeped a heaping teaspoon for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once brewed, this tea smells rather savory with strong malt and grain aromas. This reminds me of another Jin Jun Mei I had in that it has a nice savory smoked meat flavor to it. However, it’s not the main flavor in this tea. I get a strong toasty grain note along with a nice creamy texture and together, they remind me of white tea. There’s an underlying richness that makes me think of molasses and it helps to deepen the overall flavor. I can taste a touch of sweet potato as well. Overall, a lovely savory tea with layers of flavor.

This is the only non-sample sized tea I got in my Yezi Tea order. Thought I’d like this one best. But gotta admit, kinda disappointed by this one.
It’s pretty earthy above all. Once you get past that you begin tasting sweet potatoes. But mostly just earthiness. It will probably grow on me since I have an ounce of it, but…it’s just alright for me right now.

I have never written a note on this tea! That is not good haha because I loveee this tea. Yesterday I was going through my cupboard and found this one and thought yeah, I want that tomorrow. So I made it for the morning at work today. Yes, the flavors are a bit muted from the travel mug, but this is a delicious light black tea just dripping with honey flavor. Like this is a HONEY tea. A favorite black tea of mine that I definitely do not drink often enough. This is fresh honey from the comb on toast with creamy butter underneath. Or a cup of cream mixed with honey. Whatever it is, honey is the dominant note and it is just so yummmm.

In other news, I am still ridiculously tired..I think my sleep schedule got messed up beyond repair with the long weekend (late nights, relatively early mornings) as well as the cat waking me up with his meowing at various times in the night (different each day, sometimes 2 am, 3 am, 4 am….ughhh). This weekend hopefully I can recuperate and fix up my body, I am zonked at work again.

Back to the tea briefly, overall, a delicious tea that I highly recommend!

I am having the same issues with Yezi samples as I had with Butiki samples ages ago….I’m making weak tea. waaaaaaaaaah!! This time the victim was Jin Jun Mei. I didn’t even post about my attempt with Ming Hong, because I was so disappointed with the outcome. But I’ve decided to forge ahead with this review because I even though weak, I can still pick up on some fascinating business happening in this cup of tea.
Yes, it looks like a Yunnan…a dian hong perhaps… but this tea has a few notes that certainly separate it from that crowd. There is a smoothness to this tea that holds a touch of astringency, which is different from most of the Yunnans it resembles. Bottom notes of chocolate and sweet potato skin form a solid base for the woodsy grainy smoothness that sits in the middle of this tea’s flavor profile. Top notes are a touch of orchid and perhaps a touch of grape skin, which is where I’m getting the touch of astringency from. All these notes are very subtle in my cup (due to a bad steep) but they are there, creating a layered intricate tea with much to offer the person holding the cup. Even if they do mess it up….

This was one of the samples I apparently ordered in my sleep one night. I did a good job! I didn’t really know much other than “black tea” but if I had to guess, given my limited experience, I would have guessed a Yunnan just from looking at the leaf. I love Yunnans so that’s good! I can’t say that it’s so very different from others that I have had, but it was a very enjoyable cup and obviously a high quality tea.

Tea-lephone

What a fun TTB! :D The idea behind it is so cute it makes me feel like I’m back in elementary school transforming “my dog is dark brown” to “it’s Dill’s deck now.” tehehe.

This tea is wonderful. Thank you Kiwidelight for choosing this tea. I never would have picked this out for myself but it is really delightful. It is a delicate black tea with luscious honey notes. Astringency does not exist in this tea’s vocabulary but smooth caramel does. And oh that malt…mmm.. making my mouth water… thank goodness it has given me four steeps..tehehe^.^

I’ve been drinking this tea at work for a couple of days now. The last time I wrote about it, I thought it was finicky and “white wine up you nose” odd.
It seems to have been behaving since then, and we are friends once again. While this is not my favorite Jin Jun Mei – it has been really pleasant the last couple of days.

I’ve been drinking green and herbal teas for weeks. I feel like I need a break and a good ol’ cozy Chinese black tea. Plus, it’s been chilly, overcast, and rainy here over the past couple days and it will be like that tomorrow. I don’t mind cold but where is the sun? :(

So I broke out Yezi’s Jin Jun Mei. Hands-down, one of my favorite Chinese blacks. The leaves are tiny, slightly twisty, hairy, and a mix of brown and tan (cute little things). I brewed them in Verdant’s test tube steeper, a perfect instrument to become acquainted with a tea’s nose and to smell this one’s wet leaf aroma, which so much like fudge brownies. The liquor is golden, fuzzy, silky, full-bodied, and flavorful; and is full of malt, chocolate, and honey goodness. Overall feel is a hug.

Backlog. Received in a swap with KiwiDelight!

It’s been a little while since I had this one, so I’ve only got my notes to go by.
This was my first Jin Jun Mei. It was light, woodsy, and a little drying on the tongue. Floral and grape-y like a Darjeeling. There was a malty feeling left in my mouth after swallowing. Hints of olive oil…and a little sweetness. A very pleasant, quiet and mellow tea! Enjoyable but not something I’ll likely be reaching for in the future. (: Still good.