Jin Jun Mei, or Beautiful Golden Eyebrow, is known for it’s abundant golden tips/buds and beautiful leaves. This tea is harvested and crafted on Cindy's family lands on Wuyishan, located at an elevation of 300-500m. Their tea is considered to be the highest grade since it is grown on the “zhenyan”, or rocky soils unique to this region. The tea trees here are also allowed to grow naturally in spacious groves instead of carefully planted estate-style. The trees can be up to 100 years old. Plucked meticulously by hand, the Chen Family uses traditional methods to maintain quality standards and produce stellar teas.

Provenance:

• Origin: Wuyishan Rock Tea Village, Fujian, China
• Grower/Teamaster: Zhou Shi Wu & Cindy Chen
• Harvest Date: 4/8/2014
• Cultivar: a small leaf cultivar (researching name)
• Cultivation: Natural (Organic, no cert.)
• Plucking Standard: Primarily bud plus some leaf
• Processing Notes:  handpicked, and then rolled briefly to begin oxidization. They are then allowed to oxidize over a period of 13-15 hours. After oxidation, the tea is baked to finish.
• Nickname: Beautiful Golden Eyebrow, or Eyebrow Tea (Mei Cha)
• History/Pedigree: Mei Cha, or Eyebrow Tea, has a long history in China

Brewing Suggestions¹:

• Water: 195-205˚F filtered water
• Tea: 2g per 4oz of water (about a level 2 tsp²)
• Steep: 2 minutes with 2-4 additional steepings. Or you can do more of a “western” steep of 3-5 minutes with less additional steepings.

Tasting Notes:

Rich, smooth, and reminiscent of dark chocolate and sweet potatoes. The texture is silky but medium-bodied, with a lingering finish.

¹ Brewing suggestions are just that. Try it as suggested, and then experiment. In this case I suggest first experimenting with the length and number of steepings. You could also experiment with the quantity of tea per oz of water. For temperature, 195˚ gives a sweeter, smoother profile while 205˚ is more complex and stronger. Some tea drinkers like to use slightly hotter and longer times for each subsequent steeping.

² Weighing your tea is always the best way to control your dosage. I provide approximate volume measures for convenience but they can be problematic due to the variance in tea leaf shape and size.