I have 2 version of Lao Cong Shui Xian on this site. Both versions are ‘Lao Cong’ or ‘old bush’ — but in this part of China (Wuyi mountains, Fujian) — old bush seems to mean above 60 years old. Your moms an old bush. While both teas are good in their own ways, if you’re in it for quality, the other version called ‘Terroir’ will take the cake and eat it too. It’s all around a better tea, objectively, subjectively, and better costs more. What happens if you spend less?

I’m not necessarily selling this to offer an accessible version of shui xian tea, I have no dog in that race. Actually, rock oolongs like shui xian are generally my least favorite oolongs. I am selling these teas to offer an objective spread of flavor in my shop, because subjectively I woulnd’t have much interest. This may not be as elegant or rock rhymey as ‘Terroir’ but it showcases the chaocoal roasting more prominently, and that might be reason enough for you to be interested.

These rock oolongs (aka Yancha), are famous for their rocky mineral taste and deep roasting. This one has both, distinctively, and has a special place in my life for a completely unpredictable reason.
I dream a lot, I actually found a way to almost ‘dream on command’ which is to take a shot of whiskey just before sleeping. I sometimes write my dreams down, especially when they’re interesting. 10 years ago I had a dream where I was asleep in a dark arabian tower. The sun was setting, and a black monster was crawling up the side of the tower, into a window at the top. The dream-camera switched to inside the room — there I was, asleep in the bed. The monster watched me sleep for a short time before it rapidly approched me and whispered something into my ear. I woke up and grabbed my voice recorder, I mimiced the sounds the best I could, it wasn’t in english, and then I laid there with a rapidly beating heart for a while before going back to sleep.
10 years later I was smelling this tea brewed at a 11g:330mL ratio, steeped for 3 minutes from rolling boil. I thought the aroma was so interesting. Sweet but not necessarily fruity, more like fire roasted orange peppers mixed with fire roasted green tomatoes, perhaps with some spices, and maybe a hint of mango in the end. I thought it might be like a chutney.

It also smells like fire — not smoke, fire. Like when you have a fireplace going, the smoke is not a part of the experience, that goes up through the chimney. The heat has a smell, and this has the same smell.

Finally, there is a rocky-ness to it. I could imagine it as sandy and brown, maybe like sandstone.

As all of this came together, there was a beautiful lord of the rings helms deep sandstone castle being seiged by little faceless humanoids firing flaming chutney from catapults, some of it sticking to the walls and burning while it slides down. What an imagination! I mused with this idea for a while before opening up chatgpt and asking it ‘are there any sandstone castles in India?’ to which it replied yes, there are many.

First on the list is a fortress called Jaisalmer. I checked it out on google images. Cool place. As I was swiping through the images a familiar tower appeared. My eyes squinted ‘what the hell’ I thought as I clicked the tower. ‘It’s like that tower from that dream…”
Next I was looking at images of the tower, some of the rooms inside, etc etc. I swiped through a couple of times and then goosebumps flushed over my body. It’s the room! The room with the bed! What the FUCK, I said to myself, out loud. “What is this place?”

I read through the wikipedia article, Jaisalmer was host to a horrible event in Indian history. The Jauhar of Jaisalmer. Jauhar (pronounced Joe-Harr) is mass-self-immolation.
Back in 1290, the people in charge of Jaisalmer fortress saw a caravan of goods passing by, from Persia towards Dehli. They raided the caravan and took all the goods inside the fortress walls. When the sultan of Dehli heard about his, he amassed an army to approach and seige the fort. It was no use, the fortress is too well built to be seiged. It is however, a fortress in the desert. They don’t have supplies to last forever.

The sultans army surrounded the fort for 9 years, when eventually the residents had to accept that this was the end. There was no way forward for them, and it was 9 years too late to surrender. If the army would fight, they would lose. If(when) they lost, they could only assume horrible things would happen to the women and children of the fortress. With that being said, they couldn’t fight without first solving the issue of their families. They had to die first.

They evoked Jauhar — everything burnable was stacked into rooms, covered in ghee and lit ablaze. The women and children marched into the flames to their deaths. With the women and children out of the picture, the men opened the fortress doors and fought to the death. The fortress was then considered cursed and abandoned for hundreds of years. Now it’s a unesco heritage site, and a place I definitely feel I have to visit one day.

This tea, despite being inferior to ‘Terroir’ in every tangible and measurable way, didn’t connect a potential past life – current life bridge. It didn’t let my mind wander quite as much as this, and while it’s not as beaituful, the rustic nature of this seems very appropriate for the flavor profile.

It’s much cheaper too. Both are good to try, it’s a good year for rock oolong I guess.