An elegantly light and well balanced tippier red tea (aka black tea in the West).  The session opens with a nose of buttered baked goods, rose, raspberry, and spice.  Cinnamon, chocolate and wet dog (in the best of ways) are present in the sip's profile.  A strong contender as crowd favorite of the lot given the feedback since its prerelease in the old world red tea boxes.

1 bud and 1 smaller clasping leaf pickings of Meizhan cultivar bushes grown using shengtai ecological farming practices near Tieshan Town in Zhenghe County were harvested on April 10th.

True Jin Jun Mei, a government commissioned boutique red tea first released in 2007, hails from the birthplace of red tea Tongmu Village, and can cost up to ten times the price of imitations like these.  While we leave it up to the individual to decide if such a price is worth it, similar higher grade tippy reds such as Qimen Gold Bud and this Zhenghe JJM are well worth consideration given their much more agreeable pricepoints.

ecologically managed Mei Zhan gardens in Zhenghe

Zhenghe County not only has a rich history of white tea production but also with red tea, namely with an almost forgotten varietal Zhenghe Gong Fu.  After connecting with Yang Feng, the UNESCO and Chinese government ordained 传承人 "Intangible Cultural Inheritor" of Zhenghe White Tea and trying his white tea, we were curious if he produced the region's once famous red tea.  As it turns out, he's likewise been knighted the cultural inheritor of Zhenghe Gong Fu Hong Cha, and produces several grades.  We were thrilled to learn that this master tea producer has also taken up the craft of Jin Jun Mei in the last few years.

Yang Feng in his facilities

A flex in its own right, producing a tea that's able to be called a Jin Jun Mei isn't easy.  From the meticulous timing when it comes to harvest, to exacting the correct amount of moisture loss during withering, to the multi-step delicate rolling phase (as to not compromise the structure of the delicate buds), then to the heat-moisture-time specific piling phase to ensure proper and even oxidation, to finally the light baking step to reduce the moisture content to 4%, every process must be managed with delicacy and skill.

This mindfulness is evident in the brew, and trying this one out is definitely recommended.

"Plum Flower"

梅占 Mei Zhan "Plum Flower" is another classical 闽南 Minnan Southern Fujian cultivar that's found its second home in the canon of Wuyi varietals up north, making a lovely Mei Zhan rock tea.  Proliferated in the 1960s alongside Shui Xian to many revered pockets and gardens in the core scenic area of Wuyi, Mei Zhan has become a respected name in Rock Oolong connoisseur circles.  With some folks being unable to distinguish the relatively larger leaves of Mei Zhan from that of the famously sizable leaves of Shui Xian, perhaps both teas' qualities of producing a tall, smooth, elegant mouthfeel with an ability to withstand a robust roast has some relation to their big leaves.

The Mei Zhan motherbush in 三洋 Sanyang Village in Anxi County. As one of the 安溪六大名茶 Anxi 6 famous cultivars, Mei Zhan has been propagated in many other provinces outside of Southern Fujian