Another oolong from the 3-bag sampler bought maybe in 2018.
Dry leaf smelled very sweet with something vanilla or caramel-like without the dairy tone. the smell of woody-cacao and charcoal backed that up, as well as a dill undertone. Despite being a very sweet scent, it was not much concentrated. Watery?
Warmed leaf had a big aroma of dark chocolate cake and thistle, cooked raspberry.
The taste was fine but nothing special to me. Delicate sweetness, blackberry, hint of mango. Kind of a creamy tropical fruit aftertaste like cherimoya. Cooling huigan. With the third infusion, it became thicker in body than the first two steeps. I picked up on notes of chyrsanthemum and a bright butterscotch. Swallowed tangy and mineral, some tongue tingling. By the fifth infusion, the tea became very mineral.
Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with this Shui Jin Gui. It had some alluring tastes but they always remained watery, lacking the intensity of character that is common in Wuyi oolong. Also with the tea changing gears into full-on minerality instead of releasing flavors in a slow fade, I was jarred out of what could have been a mellow experience. Clunky. Not a tea I’d care to drink again, but I will still keep my eye out for another Shui Jin Gui.
Flavors: Blackberry, Butterscotch, Cacao, Caramel, Charcoal, Chrysanthemum, Dark Chocolate, Dill, Herbaceous, Mango, Mineral, Mint, Tangy, Thistle, Tropical Fruit, Vanilla, Wood
Shui Jin Gui is very hit or miss for me. I’ve had a few that I loved, but I have also had one or two that were very meh. Surprisingly, I’ve had the best luck with Shui Jin Gui from Yunnan Sourcing and Verdant Tea. I tried one from Wuyi Origin a couple months ago that had some lovely aromas and flavors, but it thinned out quickly and displayed some awkward and poorly integrated vegetal qualities. It wasn’t terrible, but I was expecting so much more.
As a side note, I find that I am increasingly gravitating towards specific Wuyi oolong cultivars as I get older. When I first started seriously drinking Wuyi tea around five or six years ago, I was all about Shui Jin Gui, Shui Xian, and Qi Lan. I still love the latter two cultivars, but I have gotten very picky about Shui Jin Gui. I used to not care much for Huang Guan Yin and Rou Gui, but I have come around on both in the last couple of years. Bai Rui Xiang, Ban Tian Yao, Bai Ji Guan, Jin Mu Dan, and Fo Shou are my jams. I can dig a Wuyi Jin Guan Yin too. They’re often hard to find. I also like Da Hong Pao, Tie Luohan, Chun Lan, and Bei Dou. I find that I enjoy Qi Dan greatly when it is processed as a Da Hong Pao, but otherwise, I can take it or leave it. Try as I might, I cannot muster much of a reaction to Huang Mei Gui, Que She, Dan Gui, or Mei Zhan, though Mei Zhan can be used to make some awesome black tea.