Black Water Ridge is a rare tea, it is a single-origin tea cake made exclusively from Guafeng Zhai material in Yiwu. Yiwu is well renown for its gentle character of tea, their welcoming depths, and for their incredible ability to age magnificently. Highly sought, endlessly copied, this region has been meticulously divided down to micro regions with their different flavors, terroirs, villages, ethnic groups, mountains, and even sides of mountains and different garden plots on a single mountain side. Thus, we are proud to say that all the tea leaves in this tea cake come from one particular mountain, Hei Shui Liangzi, or Black Water Ridge, and from one specific garden we first visted in April 2025 and again in late March 2026. Heishui Liangzi is the second tallest mountain in Xishuang Banna, second only to Huazhu Liangzi, and it is the crowning jewel of what many puer drinkers refer to as the 'wild flavor' of Guafeng Zhai tea.
Gua Feng Zhai is one of the most remote tea growing regions in Yiwu. The first dirt road into the village was hewn from forest in 2001, electricity was first connected in 2008, and its tea has been fanatically coveted since the early 2010s. This region is renown for its wild jungles, the minimal human intervention, and the richly wild taste of the teas. Our time out in Guafeng Zhai this spring really impressed upon us just how special this region is, the teas, the mountains, the people, and the culture. We are honored to be able to offer this tea from such a beautiful mountain garden made by such wonderful people.
The dry leaves in the warmed gaiwan give off an incredible fragrance of fruit and cream mixed with honey. This tea is much more fragrant than the 2025 version with more floral notes rising out of the cup to remind us of the truly wild fragrances of the deep Jungle cradling Guafengzhai. When infused with hot water, some of the fruit fades into a more pronounced floral bouquet, but the honey fragrances remain.
The gentle sweetness of floral honey comes right though in the brew. There is very little astringency in the brew, even when steeped a little long, the mouthfeel is thick and coats the tongue very pleasantly. One of the most remarkable things about this tea is the calming and blissful chaqi that we feel as we drink a few infusions, its really a tea that keeps us locked to the table, afraid to miss an infusion. This tea gets softer and creamier as the infusions increase and the duration of the brews lengthen.
