Pawel wrote:I like Yunnan blacks a lot and stimulated by Stentor's post, I browsed TeaChat and the books I own, wrote a brief summary and started a new topic. I hope this will help us a bit.
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Tea makers harvest the leaves when the tips are as large as possible but before they have begun to form whole leaves. The tips ( sweet, as they are in white teas) contain extra sugars to help the bud grow into a full leaf.
Following that, Chinese black teas are more enticing with the incorporation of extra buds. With more tips, the teas are sweeter but also lighter, with less body.
I found in several same sources the best Yunnanese teas consist solely of buds or are comprised of large , brown- black leaves and only an appropriate quantity of juicy buds.
100 % golden tip tea is called Dianhong (Golden Buds), but the same pluck may be slightly or tightly spiraled and is called Golden Snail or Curly Golden Buds. Yunnan Buds are an early-plucked teas.
King of Yunnan Golden Needle is the finest leaf with the largest amount of long tip, another Chinese black - Golden Monkey – is a slightly larger leaf with less tip, but the most concentrated flavor.
The most well-known plucking standards are mao feng (bud and two leaves) and mao jian (bud and one leaf). Other standards require a bud and three or four leaves.
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Recently I tried:
1) Golden Needle from Le Palais des Thes
http://www.palaisdesthes.com/en/china-j ... -d-or.html
2) Golden Needle SFTGFOP1 from Mariage Freres
http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/U ... T2023.html
and
Golden Buds from Le Palais des Thes
http://www.palaisdesthes.com/en/china-j ... flush.html
3) Yunnan Black Special SGFOP1 from my local vendor Five o’clock
http://www.fiveoclock.eu/pl/produkt/41, ... GFOP1.html
I would rank the three above (1,2) subjectively by my taste as I can’t really differentiate the quality difference between them neither by taste nor by the appearance of the teas. I realize they may be a bit overpriced, I saw several very similar looking buds/leaves on ebay, but was a bit suspicious (I found almost nothing about the vendors there ) , thanks to browsing TeaChat I found interesting Yunnan Sourcing l ink and others which I probably try next time.
I will add photos later when drinking. I enjoy the Black Special (3) only if I overbrew it much – then to be honest I can’t see much difference and for me it’s also tasty in a different way.
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How to differentiate between various qualities of Yunnan blacks?
Is the Golden Needle and the Golden Buds really the same tea?
Could you please give any interesting links on the topic?
Which vendors do you recommend at the moment?
The "creator" of Jin Jun Mei tried to register it as a trade mark, but the application was rejected, partially because other people are making Jin Jun Mei too, and the applicant's technique is not considered distinguishable enough to get trademarked. 
