Jin Jun Mei 'Golden Eyebrow' Lapsang

This is one of the rarest and loveliest teas I have ever stocked. Its name, Jin Jun Mei, means "Golden Eyebrow," and one look at the leaf tells you why: tiny, slender and tightly curled into little arcs, flecked with gold and glossy with care. Getting a leaf to look like that takes real skill, and it is picked only in early spring, before the festival of Qing Ming, from wild tea plants high in the Wuyi Mountains of China. Jin Jun Mei is a modern classic, created as recently as 2005, and this one has been gently smoked, which makes it possibly the rarest Lapsang of all.

That word, Lapsang, may set off alarm bells if you have tried a traditional Lapsang Souchong, all bonfires and smoked-kipper intensity. Put those aside. The smoking here is a world apart: gentle, more a soft caramelisation than a campfire, so what you get is not smoke but sweetness. Think sticky molasses, honeysuckle, the smell of freshly baked pastries and a hint of cocoa, over a brew the colour of maple syrup. It is smooth and rounded but genuinely robust, and intensely aromatic; the sort of cup that makes you slow down and pay attention. And if it is the full campfire you are after, that is a wonderful thing too; my traditional Lapsang Souchong is exactly that.

It is a proper, loose-leaf black tea, so there is caffeine in it, and I would drink this one without milk, which would only bury all that lovely detail. It is a tea to sip and savour.

Ingredients || Black Tea (smoked)

Warning, packed in an environment that contains nuts

Caffeine || Yes

Tasting Notes || Smooth, robust and intensely aromatic; sticky molasses, honeysuckle, baked pastries and a hint of cocoa

Brewing Notes || 1 teaspoon per cup, 100ºC, brew for 2-3 minutes.