Shui Jin Gui

shuǐjīnguī

水金龟

"Golden water turtle" — one of the famous Four Great Bushes of Wuyi. A heavily roasted rock oolong with chocolate, dried fruit and a long, sweet mineral aftertaste.

Region: Wuyi mountains, Fujian — 500–1000 m
Harvest: Late spring; roasted over the following months
Oxidation: Medium-high, heavily charcoal-roasted
Cultivar: Shui Jin Gui (one of the Four Great Bushes)

In the cup

Dark chocolate and dried fruit over a deep mineral base, with a smooth, full body and a long sweet finish.

What it gives

Warming and grounding — a heavy roast and oxidation give a soothing, low-astringency cup, gentle on the stomach.

Shui Jin Gui — golden water turtle — is one of the celebrated Four Great Bushes (Sì Dà Míng Cōng) of Wuyi, alongside Tie Luo Han, Bai Ji Guan and Ban Tian Yao. The name is said to come from an old story of a tea bush washed by rain down a slope, glinting like a turtle in the water — and from the rounded, shell-like sheen of the finished leaf.

It is made in the full rock-tea style — well oxidised and heavily charcoal-roasted — which gives it a dark, deep, dried-fruit and cocoa character over the Wuyi rock rhyme, yányùn. It is one of the richer, more chocolatey of the famous bushes.

In the cup

Rinse, then brew hot and brief. The roast leads at first, giving way to dark chocolate, dried fruit and a clean mineral depth as the leaf opens, finishing long and sweet. Like its cliff-grown kin, it rewards a seasoned clay pot and a patient run of many short steeps.

How to brew