TeaHQ

Jin Jun Mei

A bud-only Wuyi black tea created in 2005 and now among the most expensive and most imitated teas in China. Made from tiny unopened buds, it brews sweet, honeyed and almost entirely without astringency, and its short history is unusually well documented for a Chinese tea.

Black teaModerate intensityIntermediate to appreciate金駿眉
Brew at 85–90 °CUse 3–4 g per 100 mlFirst steep 8sGongfu brewing (gaiwan)Full schedule and equipment →

Character

Honeyed and soft, with essentially no grip. The interest is aromatic rather than structural, which is why it is usually drunk gongfu and rarely with food.

Flavour
Sweet, Floral, Chocolate
Aroma
Honeyed
Mouthfeel
Silky, Smooth
Complexity
Layered
Notes
honey, cocoa, flowers, dried apricot
Aftertaste
Sweet and long, with a cooling finish.

Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.

Provenance and production

Origin
China
Region
Wuyi Mountains
Oxidation
Fully oxidised
Harvest
Spring
Processing
Withering → Rolling and shaping → Oxidation → Drying

Authenticity: Genuine Jin Jun Mei uses buds from the Tongmu area of Wuyi and requires a very large number of them per kilogram. The overwhelming majority of tea sold under the name is made elsewhere from other material. Price alone does not establish authenticity, but a low price effectively rules it out.

History

Created in 2005 in Tongmu, using bud-only plucking of the local Cai Cha stock and a black-tea process. It became one of the most expensive and most counterfeited teas in China within a decade, which is remarkable for a tea younger than most people who drink it.

Brewing

No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.

Common mistakes

  • Using boiling water, which flattens the aromatics that justify the price
  • Buying on the name at a price that could not cover the plucking

If you like this

Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.

Editorially linked

Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.

  • Dian Hong

    Same direction, further along: both Chinese, both bud-forward and honeyed, with Jin Jun Mei bud-only, gongfu-brewed and considerably more expensive.

  • Bailin Gongfu

    Jin Jun Mei is among the most imitated teas in China. Bailin Gongfu is the same Fuding Da Bai material, honeyed and bud-forward, at a fraction of the price.

  • Tanyang Jin Hao

    Both bud-only Fujian black teas with a honeyed sweet-potato character. Jin Jun Mei carries an enormous premium and a Tongmu protected origin; Tanyang Jin Hao is the same idea from a neighbouring area at a fraction of the price.

Similar sensory profile

Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.

  • Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jin Jun Mei: sweet, floral, silky, smooth and honeyed.

  • Bai Mudan

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jin Jun Mei: sweet, floral, silky, smooth and honeyed.

  • Bai Mudan Wang

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jin Jun Mei: sweet, floral, silky, smooth and honeyed.

  • Fuding Silver Needle

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jin Jun Mei: sweet, floral, silky, smooth and honeyed.

  • Mi Xiang oolong

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jin Jun Mei: sweet, floral, silky, smooth and honeyed.

Compare this tea with another

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison.

  • Jin Jun Mei vs Golden Needle — Two bud-only Chinese black teas that look nearly identical and differ enormously in price. One is a protected Fujian origin, the other a Yunnan style.

Journeys featuring this tea

  • Exploring black tea — Someone who drinks black tea daily and wants to know how wide the category is.