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This was the last of the three Wuyi Origin Shui Xian that I finished a little earlier in the month. Unfortunately, I did not know much of anything about this tea prior to working my way through what I had of it, and I still know virtually nothing about it. I know I purchased it sometime in 2017. I’m pretty certain it was part of my first order from Wuyi Origin. I do not recall whether this was a 2016 or 2017 tea, but I seem to recall it being sourced from Da Shui Keng. I could be wrong about that though. Anyway, this was an awesome Wuyi Shui Xian. I wish I knew more about it.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cinnamon, cedar, pine, straw, smoke, charcoal, and black raspberry. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted peanut, roasted almond, cannabis, mushroom, and earth. The first infusion introduced a clear aroma of roasted barley and subtler scents of orchid and dried blueberry. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cinnamon, malt, cedar, pine, straw, charcoal, smoke, baked bread, honey, and roasted almond that were balanced by hints of dried blueberry, black raspberry, cannabis, orchid, and roasted barley. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of plum, minerals, orange zest, baked bread, nutmeg, black cherry, honey, and blackberry. I also picked up a stronger and more clearly defined orchid fragrance and some fleeting hints of narcissus here and there. Notes of earth, mushroom, and roasted peanut came out in the mouth alongside slightly stronger impressions of roasted barley, orchid, and black raspberry. I also picked up on notes of pear, grass, nutmeg, black cherry, blackberry, minerals, caramel, orange zest, peach, lychee, plum, moss, hibiscus, and rock sugar as well as hints of narcissus pollen that were most noticeable in the aftertaste. As the tea faded, the liquor settled and emphasized notes of minerals, earth, malt, baked bread, roasted barley, grass, charcoal, mushroom, and roasted almond that were underscored by hints of cannabis, straw, pine, black cherry, moss, dried blueberry, hibiscus, pear, orchid, plum, and black raspberry before a cooling, somewhat herbal aftertaste that faded to reveal a subtle steamed rice impression.

This tea did not quite display the staying power of the 2017 Shui Xian (Narcissus), but it was a more consistently engaging and less predictable offering with a somewhat better afterglow. I ended up loving both, but honestly, I would pick this one over the other tea if I absolutely had to pick between the two. This one struck me as being more fun to drink.