Shui Xian

A man in the Kangxi years found a tea tree pressed up against a temple wall, its trunk bent sideways by the stone. He dug it out, trained the crooked wood, and made a fragrant tea from it.

In the Fujian tongue the word for water also means beautiful, which is how the name works in two directions at once.

Wuyi farmers describe the way this tea is made as lazy. The leaves are big and soft, so they are rested longer and handled less than anything else on the mountain. Orchid over cedar, dark and honeyed, with mineral sitting underneath it.