Red Water Shuixian - Song Tea

Notes of burnt brown sugar, charred toast, and a sweet campfire bbq.

Visual Notes

The dry tea leaf is a medium brown, and is actually quite saturated in color. The tea leaf is rolled into tiny nuggets, that is reminiscent of a very small tie guan yin. There are variations in color, some leaves darker than others, and some light brown spots from the tea leaf stem. Inside the pouch, there was a small amount of tea dust, but most of the tea leaf is uniform and intact. The main flaw is the very visible presence of stem, as they stand out with their lighter color. The color of the tea is a very rich and crystal clear amber red brown. Despite the tea dust, it is amazingly clear with no haze or bubbles at all. By the second infusion, the tea leaves have unrolled enough to be able to see the shape of the tea leaf. They have lightened in color, but it is not as light of a green as some other oolongs. The tea leaves take on a dark murky green.

Scent Notes

The smell of the dry tea leaf is amazingly sweet. I am getting notes of fruit leather and freeze dried apple. After the first infusion, you can very easily pick up on that charcoal roasted sweetness from the hot tea leaf. The tea has a very welcoming smell from the charcoal roasted tea leaf, that reminds me of warm frothy milk. The empty tea cup has notes of sugar glazed pastries. The smell of the hot tea leaf gives me the smell of a Smokey bbq, or the lingering scent of a camp fire. Not as sweet as at the beginning.

Tasting Notes

It is important to note that I am brewing this tea richer than the recommended settings, at 100mL instead of 150mL. I prefer a richer brew especially while tasting, as it allows me to really focus on the subtle notes and flavors. The initial texture is light across the tongue with not much thickness. The flavor is light on the front of the tongue, and takes its time to slowly spread to the edges of the tongue where you can taste most of the flavor. In the back of the mouth you can taste the delicious roasted note. There are very subtle cream notes, with a bit of fruitiness lended by the scent. There is no detectable bitterness on this infusion, and has a slight astringency on the sides of the tongue. The finish is incredible, and detectable even before finishing the first infusion. You get a warm smokiness in the back of the throat, and that rich smoky sweetness by breathing out the nose.
The second infusion appears to have more of an orange hue to the color, and really does a good job catching all of the light due to its clarity. The scent is closer matching to the hot tea leaf, that of smokey campfires. The texture is the same, slightly more rich than water, but still thins out quickly. The taste on-the-other-hand is quite different from the first infusion. You pick up many of the flavors right away at the front of the tongue, which is different than before. The roasted wood flavors, and notes of spices are immediately detectable. This rich smokiness now fully coats the entire tongue, and is fantastically delicious, especially for someone who loves a good charcoal roasted tea. While some of the sweeter fruity notes are no longer detectable, the tea still maintains a matured sweetness to it with no distasteful bitterness. The astringency is slightly increased from the first infusion, but by is no means strong. The finish now encapsulates the entire mouth front to back, leaving you wanting more. This is such a comforting tea that you could almost feel like you’re enjoying the fire that roasted this tea.
The third infusion maintains a richly saturated orange color. The scent, while not as strong, still gives off that rich burnt sugar and campfire, smokey note. The flavor of the second infusion was so rich, that this feels to have fallen off in comparison, but amongst other teas, is still flavorful. The flavors of this tea race to the center and back of the tongue, with slightly less grace as before. Along with the smokey overtones, I am picking up notes of baked apple and toasted bread. This infusion has more detectable bitterness, where it is now a present flavor. The astringency has increased alongside it. The finish is still strong, but the sweetness of it is fading, being replaced by the bitter astringency.
The tea to me appears to be taking on a lighter color. The hot leaf now gives me notes of ash, while most of the sweetness to the scent of the tea has faded. The texture of the tea remains unchanged, and the charcoal notes have thinned out, and give a weak performance on the edges of the tongue. I still haven’t been able to pick up on any of the underlying green or floral notes from the base, medium oxidized tea leaf. While this tea is still worth sipping, the intensity and complexity of the flavor has really dropped off. It feels more thin, and one dimensional in flavor and is weaker at providing that full body coziness.
The tea still maintains a light, but vibrant orange color. The flavor has entirely fallen off, and has a thin bitter astringency to it that you pick up on the sides of the tongue. Compared to before, I don’t think this tea is enjoyable anymore. Either through memories of time gone by, or due to its thin flavor profile with increasing bitterness. I assume that it can maintain this state for a few more infusions, but I don’t think it is worth it anyways.

Rating: 5/5

The description from Song Tea gives an excellent background into the manufacturing of the tea. It is obvious the care put into sourcing this tea, and the result is something to be impressed with. This tea leaf most resembles a charcoal roasted tie guan yin, both in appearance and flavor profile. The smell of the dry tea leaf is quite unbelievable, giving off such vibrant fruity notes that you’d be surprised this was even a dried tea leaf. Sadly, those fruity notes are not detectable in the actual tea, but instead a rich sweet burnt brown sugar smoky note dominates the flavor profile. This tea has notes of burnt brown sugar, hot frothed milk, charred toast, and the lingering scent of campfires. I absolutely adored the two infusions, and was fully ready to give this tea a 5.5, had it not fallen off so fast by the third and fourth infusion. The complexity in scent and flavor, combined with a gorgeous color and clarity to the tea was something truly special and indicative of a high quality tea. The tea quickly delivered a strong finish, encompassing all of your senses with that sweet smokiness, that you might depart a campfire feeling. The variation of scents everywhere was a true spectacle. From the differences in the dry tea leaf, hot tea leaf, scent of the tea, and the lingering scents in the empty cup. All of these were different, complex, and changing. The lengthy manufacturer process really gave personality to the scents of this tea, and I think that is where this tea shows its greatest depth.

Tea Seller’s Description

Notes of brown sugar, toast, and aged tangerine peel.

Oolong tea from Taiwan・May 2021・梨山紅水水仙・Unsprayed

Red Water Shuixian was crafted from 40+ year old tea trees grown at 2200m on Lishan. Once completed as a green oolong, the tea was charcoal roasted for over a week to enhance richness and complexity.

This tea’s extraordinary character is the result of the age and altitude of the source garden, the tea maker’s skill, and tea roaster’s finesse.

The old growth tea plants are loosely dispersed in a lush area carpeted by ferns. The high elevation translates into slow leaf development, while the root structure of the older trees reach deep into the nutrient rich soil. The combination of the two produces tea leaves that are rich in catechins and sugars, the building blocks of flavor, texture and aroma.

This tea was handpicked early May 2021. The leaves were then processed as a green style oolong with slightly higher oxidation. Total withering time was approximately 10 hours, interrupted halfway by careful bruising to further accelerate oxidation, and then finished with a series of firings and rolling. We purchased the tea from the grower at this stage, and sent it to our contract roaster for post-production roasting.

To achieve the sweetness and complexity of the finish tea, our contract roaster first baked the tea at low temperatures in a convection oven. Once thoroughly dry, the tea was transferred to baskets and set over higher temperature charcoal pits. The result is an even and gradual caramelization that enhances the sweetness and depth of the tea – creating notes of brown sugar, toast and aged tangerine peel.

Brew: 5 grams・150 ml・205° F・1 min

This tea has a really broad character range. Each infusion is dramatically different from the rest. Initial steeps are sweet with very distinct caramel notes, second infusions are rich and fruity and subsequent infusions produce aromatics of cedar. We prefer a strong and bracing steep for a more complex and intense finish.

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