Jin Jun Mei at 20
From the first spring buds in Tongmu to the tea memories shared in 2025, a look back at twenty years of Jin Jun Mei.
Key points
- Milestone · 2005–2025
- Origin · Tongmu, Wuyi Mountain
- Tea · Spring-bud black tea
From Tongmu to Jin Jun Mei
In 2005, Jiang Yuanxun and his team developed Jin Jun Mei in Tongmu, Wuyi Mountain. Using spring tea buds, they adapted traditional Lapsang Souchong black-tea craftsmanship. The tea is known for a golden cup, a sweet taste and a lingering floral aroma.
The 2025 anniversary collection
For the twentieth anniversary, tea drinkers were invited to record a video greeting, share a photograph or write a personal tea memory. The original call listed June 30 as its submission deadline and featured tasting samplers and commemorative magnets for selected entries.
Tea memories through the years
The original anniversary page gathered recollections of first tastings, visits to Tongmu and gatherings with family or friends. Historic tins and photographs help tell how Jin Jun Mei became part of those everyday moments.
The story of Zheng Shan Tang founder Jiang Yuanxun
Keep exploring
Questions and answers
Why was 2025 the twentieth anniversary?
Jin Jun Mei was created in 2005. The 2025 anniversary marked twenty years since its creation.
Can I submit an anniversary entry today?
This page preserves the 2025 campaign as an archive. The original submission window has ended.
Three tea friends remember Jin Jun Mei
@潇洒哥 · Shantou to Tongmu
He first met Jiang Yuanxun in 2002, before Jin Jun Mei was introduced. In 2008 he opened a rock-tea shop in Shantou and brought in pine-smoked Souchong in 50 g green tins. Customers around him were still getting to know Lapsang Souchong, and few had tasted Jin Jun Mei.
On a 2009 sourcing trip he and his friends visited Jiang in Tongmu. Jiang showed them how Jin Jun Mei was made and brewed both Jin Jun Mei and old-bush black tea. What stayed with him was the delicate floral-fruity sweetness, different from the robust black teas he was used to. Later, friends often turned to him when they wanted to understand Jin Jun Mei and how it was made.
@正琪茗茶 · the five-colour tins
Born in Wuyi Mountain and later selling tea in Heilongjiang, this tea friend remembers the amber cup and honeyed aroma of the first Zheng Shan Tang Jin Jun Mei. On a visit to the Wuyi Mountain Tea Factory, they watched makers shake leaves by hand in bamboo trays. Seeing that work gave the craft a meaning beyond what could be read on a tin.
When spring tea came around again, they reopened the familiar five-colour tins. The scent of pine smoke carried them back to the mossy paths of Tongmu Pass and to picking leaves with farmers in the morning mist.
@胡萝卜 · from a first tasting pack
In 2009, sharing bitter kuding tea with their father became the starting point for a wider interest in tea. Black tea in winter, green tea in summer, and jasmine for guests gradually became part of the household’s routine.
In the winter of 2012, this reader started buying tasting packs of Zheng Shan Tang Jin Jun Mei on friends’ recommendations. They remember trying the tea named 1568 with a new teapot: a restrained fragrance, a fresh cup and a pleasant finish. Many early photos are gone, but images from the first days of discovering Jin Jun Mei were still there to mark how drinking tea became part of everyday life.
