Jin Jun Mei
Jin Jun Mei is a modern luxury black, created in 2005 in Tongmu inside the Wuyi protected zone, the same village as Lapsang Souchong but unsmoked and made entirely from tiny early-spring buds. The all-bud picking gives a honey-sweet, fruity, gentle cup and golden-downy dry leaf. It is also one of the most counterfeited teas in China; most Jin Jun Mei on the market is neither all-bud nor from Tongmu.
Genuine material is mostly slender golden-tipped buds with fine down, and the cup is honey-sweet, fruity (longan, cocoa), and notably smooth with no smoke and no astringency. Coarse leaf, a low price, or any smokiness signals a cheaper black sold under the name, often Yunnan bud material. True Tongmu origin commands a steep premium and should be traceable to a named source.
Created in 2005 in Tongmu, Wuyishan, Fujian, inside the same nature-reserve zone that produces authentic Lapsang Souchong. It was a deliberate luxury reinvention of the region's black tea using only buds. Demand vastly exceeds genuine Tongmu supply, so the name is applied loosely across China, and Jin Jun Mei style all-bud blacks from Yunnan and elsewhere are common and far cheaper.
Gongfu: 4-5 g per 100 ml, 85-90°C (the buds are delicate, so avoid boiling), flash steeps of 8-12 seconds ascending, 8 or more infusions. Western: 3 g per 200 ml, 85-90°C, 2 minutes. Always drunk plain; milk would defeat the point.
Jin Jun Mei style all-bud blacks from outside Tongmu run €20-50 (about $22-54) per 100 g and are honest at that price. Genuine traceable Tongmu material starts around €80-200 (about $86-216) per 100 g and is a luxury purchase, so be skeptical of cheap claims.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Lapsang Souchong
The same Tongmu village, the smoked traditional sibling; together they show the region's two faces.
Golden Monkey (Jin Hou)
Another golden-tipped Chinese black, more accessible and often Fujian-sourced.
Yunnan Golden Tips
The Yunnan all-bud golden black that is frequently sold as a cheaper Jin Jun Mei stand-in.
Keemun
The older Chinese fine-black benchmark, aromatic and wine-like rather than honey-sweet.
Jin Jun Mei is less than two decades old yet became one of China's most prestigious and most faked black teas almost immediately. Industry estimates have suggested the volume sold under the name exceeds genuine Tongmu production many times over.