Shui Jin Gui

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A hearthstone minerality textured in broth by some light astringency, quickly transforming into a warming lubricative sensation as the mouth’s tissues resalivate while the light charcoal roast lingers on the breath. Empty cup fragrance for days.

Gold Water Turtle is a translation of 水金龟 Shuǐ Jīn Guī, and is one of the 四大名丛 Sì Dà Míng Cóng, the 4 great bushes of Wuyi.

There’s a lot of creation mythology behind each of these famous teas that aren’t really worth relaying, but I find the main tale told of Shui Jin Gui to be a fun one:

This particular story tells of ancient Daoists high in the cliffs of Wuyi at one time cultivating special tea plants. One monsoon season the skies gave way to a deluge, soon flooding the land. These unabating cataclysmic conditions loosened even the crags that these special plants were nestled into high up in the cliffs, sliding them down into the flooding rivers below, still attached to their clumps of loosened cliffrock. Those who witnessed these plants bobbing up and down as they drifted with the flood’s currents remarked that they appeared as golden turtles of the water.

By the time the flood subsided, these special tea plants had washed all the way down to the lower farmlands, to be discovered and claimed by excited peasants and farmers. Appalled, the monks of the high cliffs demanded their tea plants back. Disagreements between the two parties heightened, and eventually had to be settled in the land’s courts. After a fervent legal battle, the courts eventually sided with the peasants and farmers, stating that Shui Jin Gui tea was given to them and all commoners as an act of God.