Shui Xian (Verdant)

Today's Shui Xian comes from Verdant Tea. Unfortunately, this tea is no longer listed on their website, with the void apparently being filled by a new and comparably-priced Wu Yi Shui Jin Gui.  The Shui Xian was advertised as an autumn 2011 high-elevation, old-tree tea and sold for $16.75 for 2 oz. Anyway, here's what I think of it.

The dry leaf is a mix of compact near black and dark brown leaf.  The wet leaf is fairly small for Shui Xian, with much of it heavily bruised and processed, but also with some mid-process leaf, and a bit of the light-roasted green stuff.  It looks like a blend of several batches. 

The tea liquors up a dark amber and has an enticing, multidimensional aroma.  It's not a terribly strong aroma, but it's rather deep, dark, and sweet, with toasty notes, vanilla, coffee, honeysuckle, and some earthiness.

The tea is smooth and soft on entry, and fairly full on the palate for a Shui Xian.  It's quite flavorful, with some roast artifacts, some deep stone fruit, some honey, some wood, and some Da-Hong-Pao-like floral notes.  It grips on the swallow and coats the tongue and back of the throat nicely.

The aftertaste is long and tasty, with some chalkiness, a caramel-like sweetness, and a hint of coffee with cream.

The dry cup aroma is nice and sweet with the scent of toasted coconut.  

This tea can be brewed many times.  Later infusions have an impressive amount of color and a creamy fullness.  

I'm impressed that the producer was able to achieve this range and intensity of flavor from an autumn tea.  It makes you wonder what they do with their spring stuff.  In summary, this is a fine example of  a carefully produced, batch-blended genuine rock tea, marred only slightly by a bit of the autumn reticence.