Back in October when I went to London, I had a chat with Don Mei from Mei Leaf and during that conversation, we drank a Jin Jun Mei tea. Since then, I hadn’t drunk another one so it was time to give it another go. In the box of samples Tea Joint sent me, there was a Jin Jun Mei sample and that is the one I picked.
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Jin Jun Mei Golden Eyebrows
Jin Jun Mei is a red/black tea or hóng chá (红茶). It solely consists of small and delicate buds and is usually handpicked because a machine is unable to achieve the same level of precision required to pick the buds. It comes from Tong Mu Village and this one was grown at an altitude of around 1,500m.
The colours are black and gold. This tea only consists of small buds and the aroma has some berry notes to it as it’s quite fruity.
After infusing, the leaves have turned brown and the aroma isn’t as fruity anymore. There is still a tiny bit of fruitiness, but there is also a maltiness.
Tea Tasting
- Water 90°C
- 5g for a 150ml Zisha teapot
- 1 rinse
- 6 infusions
Infusion 1 (15 sec): this one started out pretty basic. There is a maltiness throughout the infusion and it’s a tiny bit sweet. I’m also getting some sharper notes that remind me of really dark chocolate.
Infusion 2 (15 sec): this one is a bit too intense so I’ll do another infusion of 15 seconds after this one. The flavours are still good, though. There is a maltiness, but there are also some hints of berries. The sourness from these berries really comes through in the aftertaste.
Infusion 3 (15 sec): this one is more to my liking as it isn’t as intense. The maltiness is still present and I feel the fruity notes have disappeared. Except for the maltiness, nothing much is going on. A very (very) light fruitiness peeks through in the aftertaste.
Infusion 4 (20 sec): maltiness is still dominant. Only very light traces of berries.
Infusion 5 (40 sec): malty with some light hints of sour berries. The berries add a nice touch to the maltiness. This one is astringent as well after swallowing.
Infusion 6 (60 sec): no big changes here, it still has a malty flavour profile. No berries or anything else, just a soft maltiness.
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Conclusion
I’m having mixed feelings about this one. I feel that I didn’t get everything out of the leaves because, after the third infusion, it didn’t change any more. It started out with a combination of malty and sweet, and even some dark chocolate. I also experienced some sour berries in the second infusion and after the third infusion. The final 3 infusions were pretty basic. A dominant maltiness with only some light hints of berries. I might try this one in the future to see if I can get more out of the leaves during another session. This one was dominated by a maltiness and not that much else was going on.
If you want to buy this tea, you can do so over here.
