Ya Shi Xiang (Duck Shit) 鴨屎香

Ya Shi Xiang is an aromatic varietal with prominent grassy floral notes such as jasmine and tangerine fruitiness. What makes Ya Shi Xiang prized is its smooth body and buttery mouthfeel. A well-made Ya Shi Xiang balances fruitiness with floweriness and produces a yellow liquor. A pot-still Irish-whiskey association and yolky finish can emerge beneath the tangerine, jasmine, and buttery texture.

Dan Cong from very big trees are processed into Dan Zhu (single tree), which means that the entire batch comes from a single tree, and they are never blended; other teas, either old big trees or young trees, are picked and blended together before processing, which gives us single varietals, but not Dan Cong. Out of all Wu Long categories, Dan Cong picks the youngest leaves when the bud has just fully opened up or become frontal, called Xiao Kai Mian (small opening). The freshly picked leaves need to be sun wilted first. Once the leaves are silky and soft, they are moved inside to continue to wilt under shade and gently flipped occasionally. The shaking step is the signature step to making Wu Long, where the tea maker really shows their skill by regulating how the water travels from the stems to the leaves and out. It is traditionally done by shaking the leaves on a bamboo tray, but now commonly done with a tumbling machine. This step varies by tea and by the weather; it takes a thoroughly experienced tea maker to decide how soon and often to shake the tea. This usually takes tea makers all night to complete. After resting for a few hours to ferment, high temperature is applied early in the morning to lock the tea in the desired fermentation stage. During shape making, the leaves are rolled into string shape, then spread evenly on baking trays to dry. After the tea season, the refining process of tea making starts with the tedious step of picking out old stems and leaves, usually taking months to finish. Then the “cleaned” teas are charcoal roasted over very dim ash fire for 6-10 hours. Many teas need to repeat this step, with at least three weeks' resting time in between each roasting.

With its increased popularity there is a lot of fake (non-Ya Shi Xiang varietal) or poorly made Ya Shi Xiang that are greener with an overall grassy note. Ya Shi Xiang leaves are large, dark, and meaty which means they demand a more mature fermentation and can take on higher roasts. Local authorities later tried to rename the cultivar Yin Hua Xiang (“silver flower fragrance”), but Ya Shi Xiang remained.