As mentioned in a previous review, I discovered several What-Cha Zhangping Shui Xian mini cakes while doing some organizing and realized I needed to get them out of the way. There were five total, and I have now worked my way through three of them. I had two of these mini cakes, one from 2016 and the other from 2017. This review will deal exclusively with the 2016 offering. It wasn’t bad, but please keep in mind that Zhangping Shui Xian is not one of my things.
To brew this little beast, I simply dumped the entire cake in one of the largest gaiwans I have, an approximately 160 ml blue celadon gaiwan I bought from Yunnan Sourcing. It’s pretty cool. It took me a little while to adapt to using it since I rarely break it out, but it was fun to use. I rinsed the cake in 203 F water for about 10 seconds and then steeped it for 10 seconds to get the session started. This infusion was then followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for them were as follows: 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, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes. Note that I used the same water temperature (203 F) for the entirety of this session.
Prior to the rinse, the dry mini cake emitted aromas of cream, butter, custard, and gardenia. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of apple, grass, and vanilla. The first infusion introduced a stronger and more defined apple scent as well as new blueberry and raspberry aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of apple, blueberry, and raspberry chased by more delicate impressions of wood, cream, custard, and vanilla. Hints of cinnamon and grass were detectable in the aftertaste. The subsequent infusions introduced baked bread, wood, pear, and subtle cinnamon aromas. Butter came out in the mouth as did very subtle gardenia impressions. New notes of sour cherry, baked bread, pomegranate, rock sugar, cattail shoots, watercress, almond, pear, and banana leaf also showed themselves. The final few infusions offered mineral, cream, apple, butter, and vanilla notes that were underscored by hints of almond, grass, cattail shoots, cinnamon, and sour cherry. Interestingly, there was also a belatedly emerging, though very, very subtle, hint of honey in the mix too.
In terms of flavor, I enjoyed this Zhangping Shui Xian mini cake more than the last one I tried, but in terms of body and texture, I found it somewhat less appealing. I also did not like the way the vegetal notes lingered on the tongue after each swallow in the middle infusions. Overall, this offering was very hit or miss, possessing some clear strengths (complexity, unique mix of aromas and flavors, and longevity) and some equally obvious weaknesses (lack of body and texture, uneven expression of some flavor components over the course of the session). To be fair, however, there was more good than bad, and even though I did not find it to be a great tea, I would not caution anyone to avoid it either. This one gets a cautious recommendation from me.
Flavors: Almond, Apple, Blueberry, Bread, Butter, Cherry, Cinnamon, Cream, Custard, Fruity, Gardenias, Grass, Honey, Pear, Raspberry, Sugar, Vanilla, Vegetal, Wood
