Verdant Tea

2023 Tongmu Reserve Jin Jun Mei

2023 Tongmu Reserve Jin Jun Mei

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the Li Family's Reserve
Buddy Black Tea
Tiny golden buds, hand-picked in early spring and finished at the Li Family's Tongmu Workshop to bring out notes of pound cake, guava, nutmeg, honey. and a silky smooth texture.
April 2023 ♦ Tongmu, Fujian
the Li Family's Reserve
Buddy Black Tea
Tiny golden buds, hand-picked in early spring and finished at the Li Family's Tongmu Workshop to bring out notes of pound cake, guava, nutmeg, honey. and a silky smooth texture.
April 2023 ♦ Tongmu, Fujian
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Crafted by the Li Family

This tea is part of Li Xiangxi's Reserve Collection, selected by her family to best represent Tongmu and the heritage of Wuyishan.
Hand-picked and traditionally hand-finished within the true Wuyishan Ecological Preserve on forested biodiverse, rocky, mountainous land for distinct Wuyi minerality.
 
The Li Family is an award-winning, highly respected force for sustainability, hand-firing craft, rare varietal preservation, and tea education in Wuyishan.
    • DATE OF PICKINGApril 2023
    • TongmuWuyishan, Fujian
    • ELEVATION800 m
    • Xingcun Xiao ZhongTea Varietal

    Li Xiangxi’s old family home is in Tongmu, in a protected ravine with wild bamboo, orange trees and native flowers growing around old growth wild tea bushes. Once a year in the early spring, Li Xiangxi and her family pick the tiny golden buds off the cultivated tea bushes growing below her family home. The beautiful golden color and flavor of this carefully cultivated Jin Jun Mei (Golden Eyebrows) makes it one of the most prized teas in China. This tea is particularly precious as it takes expert hand-labor to harvest the thousands of tiny young buds that go into a single 5g package.

  • true
    100
    steamed bun, semolina, pound cake
    true
    50
    vanilla, honey
    true
    60
    guava
    true
    75
    cedar, nutmeg
    true
    tingling, cooling, velvety

    Tasting Profile

    • savory - steamed bun, semolina, pound cake
    • floral - vanilla, honey
    • fruit - guava
    • spice - cedar, nutmeg
    • texture - tingling, cooling, velvety

The Li Family also recommends:

  1. Tongmu Reserve Old Tree Shui Xian
    Tongmu Reserve Old Tree Shui Xian

    The Wuyishan Ecological Preserve was established to protect the unique biodiversity of one of the most beautiful natural environments in China. The steep volcanic cliff faces, the old-growth evergreen forests and the lush bamboo are full of bird life, while the sweet mountain spring water nourishes ferns, wild herbs and of course, tea. Within this Ecological Preserve is Tongmu, an even smaller and even more protected region generally closed to outside visitors. Tongmu’s microclimate makes tea from the are some of the most in demand in the world. While the Li Family home in Tongmu is nestled against a mountainside growing wild with Xingcun Xiaozhong varietal, they also inherited a small grove of old-growth Shui Xian trees deeper into the preserve that have been left untended to grow essentially wild for several generations. They are about one hundred years old now, and grow at least 16 feet tall, some closer to 20 feet. These trees have super deep roots, absorb all the crazy volcanic soil nutrients, and have wild Wuyi moss that grows over the branches adding a super unique mossy quality to the tea. When Mr. Li picks these trees, not only does he finish all the yaoqing by hand, but he fires the tea in traditional baskets over a special clean burning charcoal from local hardwoods. The firing process is done three to four times and takes sixteen hours each pass. So you have one of the best microclimates in the world, old trees, deep roots, crazy biodiversity and the most ridiculous craftsmanship all coming together in one tea. 

  • 'Wild tea bushes grow right out of the rocks, fed by deep natural springs higher up in the mountains. Simple bamboo aqueducts bring the water downhill, providing good fresh water to the bushes, the Li’s vegetable gardens, and the workshop below.'

  • 4
    6-8
    195
    30 seconds
    15-30
    4
    6
    190
    10 seconds
    10-30
    4
    12
    room temp
    8 hours

    Steeping Instructions

    Western

    4 g.6-8
    oz.
    use 195° watersteep 30 secondsresteep many times
    add 15-30 sec. each infusion

    Gongfu

    4 g.6 ozuse 190° watersteep 10 seconds
    add 10-30 sec. per steeping
    enjoy many steepings

    Iced/Cold

    4 g.12
    oz.
    use room temp. waterrefrigerate overnight
    8 hours
    add ice & enjoy

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