Sanyang Peak Shuixian 2017

The magnificent Wuyi Mountains are home to some of the most treasured and highly sought after oolongs in China. An UNESCO World Heritage site, this region famously consists of 36 peaks, 72 caves and 99 cliffs.

Tea from this protected area is called yancha 岩茶, "cliff or rock oolong." True yanchas are rare, as they come from the limited number of tea trees located within the Nature Reserve that are harvested according to ancestral rites.

This particularly special yancha is from Sanyang Peak, the highest peak within the Wuyi Mountain Nature Reserve. The shuixian trees here are considered to be old grove, and have been harvested and crafted by Uncle Huang, a generational tea maker with over 4 decades of experience making yancha.

When describing the best yanchas, the Chinese use the phrase 岩骨花香, which loosely translates to "cliff bone, floral fragrance," meaning that the yancha has cliff and mineral notes as its skeleton, and a floral perfume.

This yancha achieves exactly this arrangement of rock and flowers. The liquor moves gently downwards, across the palate, and its taste extends for a long time. In this downward motion, we taste so many different inflections of cliff and stone, and with this erosion comes a cascading bouquet of flowers.

As it descends the aroma of this tea shifts with every inhalation: woody, musky, mineral, floral. It has a sweet, lingering aftertaste with notes of cocoa, tobacco, apricots and tree sap. Its complexity leaves a lasting impression, as it seems to reference the remarkable biodiversity of the place from which it came. This is a powerful tea, but one that leaves us feeling serene.