Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

Owes its flavors to oxidation levels between green & black tea.


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Feb 8th, '11, 21:31
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Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by Herb_Master » Feb 8th, '11, 21:31

Yesterday was great fun in Jing Dian at 59 Tengkat Ton Shin just below Jalan Alor

started with a Qi Lan just the teamaster L M Chong and her friend Sally who was doing the translating, smiling, laughing and merriment.

The first infusion was very fruity and fragrant and far too so for me, but as the infusions went by the flowery fragrance faded and mineral flavours come I was going to buy some until the next 2 knocked me out.

Bei Do Ye Hou was sold out, as were a couple of others I asked for - the new Yan Chas will arrive after April and will be sold out by October unless L M Chong buys them for aging. I was wandering around the large canisters asking for a translation of all the names - as well as the varietal were characters depicting the cliff, ledge or rock peak where the tea grew.

First up was Lan Gu Yen Shui Jin Gui the mother tree for Golden Water Turtle many hundred years old. High fired into the bargain.
First roasting over Bamboo Charcoal 8 hours and the next day a 2nd roasting of 14 hours on a leaf of 70% oxidisation. Vintage 2010 the charcoal though very present was pleasantly enjoyable as the strong mineral flavour shone through with some very light fruitiness and great vibrancy. It was still going strong after 6 infusions but I needed a quick break and when I came back we had switched to another tea as another customer had come in.

he spoke almost fluent English and replaced Sally as my translator, soon we were on to another Shui Jin Gui a first generation cutting planted on a cliff called Niu Lan Keng about 125 years ago. This was vintage 2008 had almost maximum oxidisation in excess of 80% and even longer roasting - so though 2 years older than the mother tree was still fiercer yet still manageable - but will probably be at it's best many years down the line.

The Tea House has been going for over 50 years, has a loyal band of customers and does not need any fancy sales gimmicks, nor do they seek to make vast profits. Every vintage of a varietal is sold at the same price when it has gone, it has gone, no mark up for aging.

I bought 100gm Lan Gu Yen Shui Jin Gui 120RM
and 100gm Niu Lan Keng Shui Jin Gui 120RM

Feb 10th, '11, 18:59
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Re: Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by shah82 » Feb 10th, '11, 18:59

That's...cheap

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Feb 10th, '11, 19:59
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Re: Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by Herb_Master » Feb 10th, '11, 19:59

Teamaster L M Chong has been in the business for over 50 years, she came from a poor family who put her to work in a nearby teahouse when she was 7 years old. She never went to school, but did get trained by a visiting Chinese Teamaster, eventually she became the first (and still only) Female Teamaster in Malaysia. The current tea shop which has been there over 35 years is run by herself and fellow owner Annie whom I have never seen in the Teashop.

They have their basic margins and make a comfortable living off a very loyal customer base, their pricing strategy does not seem to have changed over the decades, whilst all around are cashing in on the last 15 years boom in high end teas. They even sell all vintages of a tea at the same price, and do not increase the price as it ages.

She visits china annually and checks the bushes in situ, and sometimes oversees tea manufacture but does not as rumoured round some tea shops here and erroneously reported by me in September ever make thetea herself.

My 3 visits this week I have had some very personal conversations with her through whichever person present could best translate, but sometimes the translator is not up to the task so I still have a lot to learn.

One joy for me is to see her animatedly pointing at the Wuyi map to show where the next tea we were drinking comes from.

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Feb 11th, '11, 08:09
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Re: Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by David R. » Feb 11th, '11, 08:09

That sounds really wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

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Feb 11th, '11, 19:39
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Re: Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by brad4419 » Feb 11th, '11, 19:39

Herb that sounds like such a great experience. shui jin gui is awsome anyways but to have such a wonderful environment and good people to enjoy it with sounds spectacular. The Lan Gu Yen Shui Jin Gui sounds so delicious, I've only tried one shui gin gui from jing but I would bet the mother tree for shui jin gui would be even tastier and thats saying a lot considering how good jings is already.

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Jun 12th, '12, 10:53
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Re: Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by odarwin » Jun 12th, '12, 10:53

This is an old thread, but was browsing and saw this and am familiar with the shop... Ive visited this shop about 2-3 weeks ago during a visit to kl... Unfortunately, i went on a wrong time cause they are about to renovate the shop to put up a bubble tea in front of the shop and so almost all their stuff was in boxes. I ended up buying a shui xian.
I was there a few years back and i did meet the lady teamaster, unfortunately, i was told during my recent visit that the lady tea master passed away early this year... Its really sad news.

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Jun 12th, '12, 17:54
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Re: Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by Herb_Master » Jun 12th, '12, 17:54

odarwin wrote: I was there a few years back and i did meet the lady teamaster, unfortunately, i was told during my recent visit that the lady tea master passed away early this year... Its really sad news.
Very sad, she died the day before I arrived this year.
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16965
Annie told me she was hoping to continue business as close as possible to before.

Your news of the bubble tea is slightly worrying.

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Jun 12th, '12, 22:12
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Re: Shui Jin Gui at Jing Dian teashop

by odarwin » Jun 12th, '12, 22:12

Herb_Master wrote:
Your news of the bubble tea is slightly worrying.
i hope it wont affect the stuff they sell, cause after all, they might just be cashing in on their location... its bukit bintang after all, and ive checked in to one of the hotels along the same street before and it does get quite an activity during the night... so they might just be trying to hit 2 birds with 1 stone...

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