Brewing a 水金龜岩茶 Shuǐ Jīn Guī yánchá (lit. “Golden Water Turtle cliff tea”), from 武夷山 Wǔyíshān, in northern 福建 Fújiàn province, China.
This short video begins with the unboxing of a small white porcelain set of four 品茗杯 pǐn míng bēi (lit. “tea tasting cups”) and a white porcelain 蓋碗 gàiwǎn (lit. “lidded bowl”), part of a complete 1980s vintage white porcelain 潮州工夫茶 Cháozhōu gōngfū chá teaset, which includes a 潮州茶盤 Cháozhōu chápán (Cháozhōu tea tray). The cups and brewing vessel are kept safe in an old Japanese 桐箱 kiribako (wooden box made of Paulownia wood), wrapped inside with a Japanese 手拭いtenugui (lit. “hand towel”) with a brown cloud motif on a white field, wrapped along the exterior with a 風呂敷 furoshiki (wrapping cloth) with a motif of sharkskin on the front rendered in red and white, and a 麻の葉 asa no ha (“hemp/cannabis leaf”) pattern on the opposite side in green and white.
Once unboxed, a Korean bamboo tea scoop is placed atop a Japanese furoshiki (with a dark blue asa no ha pattern on white field), alongside with a twig as tea pick, and a Japanese paper-wrapped tea container. Finally, the Cháozhōu chápán is placed in the center of the tea table. This is one of the historical forerunners of the modern slotted tea trays that you’ll now find throughout much of China, around the internet, and in many tea shops.
In this tea sitting, I am attempting to brew the tea in what my teacher calls “farmer’s style”, using up almost all of the contents of the tea container. Once in the gàiwǎn, I quickly pour boiling water over the leaves, starting from the edge of the pile and working inward. Once the 碗 wǎn (“bowl”) of the gàiwǎn is completely filled, I carefully place the 蓋 gài (“lid”) on top. After several minutes pass, I decant the first steeping. After the tea is completely poured out from the gàiwǎn, I offer the tea to my (invisible) guests, and I sip one of the cups as well.
Shuǐ Jīn Guī is one of the 四大名欉 Sì Dà Míng Cóng (lit. “Four Great Tea Cultivars”) from Wǔyíshān. Its flavors are complex from bittersweet like dark chocolate, toasted biscuit, dark berries, and warming spices, and finish with a minerality unique to cliff teas. Classically speaking, as a Wǔyíshān yánchá, one looks for a specific quality in the tea, which goes beyond just flavor, known as 岩韻 yányùn (lit. “rock/cliff rhyme”). This is defined through five distinctive points: 活 huó (liveliness), 甘 gān (sweetness), 清 qīng (clarity, pertaining to the liqueur and taste), 香 xiāng (fragrance), and 岩骨 yángǔ (lit. “rock bones”, as if the tea has substance or the heartiness of eating meat).
While in this video all you will see is the warming of the porcelain tea wares and the first steeping of the tea, I can attest that given how much tea I used and given how short the high-heat brews were, I successfully was able to steep this tea well over 20 times. This approach, which my teacher calls “farmer’s style”, is believed to have originated from (as the name suggests) tea farmers, who, after processing the tea, assessed the tea leaves for their many qualities. Using so much tea (at times 3 to 5 times as much tea as one might typically use) is meant to create an intense, inescapably strong and complex tea liqueur. The color is deep. The aroma is all-encompassing, and the flavor is BIG, multi-layered, and long lasting. A single cup from this type of steeping feels like several. Since tea farmers typically have greater and more immediate access to their tea, using so much tea to get a clear idea of their tea’s quality was not deemed wasteful but, rather, an important and effective method to determine if the tea was flawed or if it was correctly made, and determine if the tea’s energy (茶氣 Chá Qì) was strong.
As with many methods of brewing tea, farmers’ approaches to making tea in such a manner probably went on to influence the various regional forms of brewing tea, such as (most notably) Cháozhōu gōngfū chá, which is known for its use of larger amounts of tea to produce a much more intense and complex-flavored pot/cup of tea.
If you want to learn more about this style of brewing, as well as the many other forms of brewing/steeping/whisking tea, I recommend you visit my tea blog, Scotttea, at scotttea.wordpress.com.
Regardless of what wares you have at your disposal, so long as you make the time to focus and practice, you can bring out the best flavors in any well-crafted tea. I hope this short video provides you a moment to pause, if not some insight into how a Shuǐ Jīn Guī yánchá can be brewed. In the meantime, share with me any thoughts, feedback or questions you might have.
Pause. Breathe. Savor.
Thank you.
🍃 🍵 ♥️
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