Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Green Terrace Teas
Tea Description:
While most Bi Luo Chun is grown in Jiangsu Province, China, this unique cultivar grown in Taiwan has bigger leaves and is picked slightly earlier in the year. As a non-fermented green tea, it is rich in antioxidants and other natural chemicals that promote various health benefits, including reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Bi Luo Chun is sweet and fruity in flavor, with notes of peach and a mildly vegetal aftertaste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh this is lovely!
When I think “Bi Luo Chun” – I think of the tiny conchin shell shaped leaves from China. These leaves are larger, not as curly and darker in color.
It tastes different too. This has a sweet, buttery and vegetal taste. The buttery tones are profound and lend a soft, almost creamy texture to the cup. The vegetal tones are slightly grassy, somewhere between grass and lima bean. No sharpness to the grassy notes and no bitterness. This is a sweet grassy taste.
The sweetness is somewhat fruity, although I find myself struggling with trying to pinpoint what kind of fruit notes I’m tasting … melon, perhaps? It’s got the juicy sweetness of a melon but not the flavor of one. Perhaps a melon that’s been pressed for the juice and then that juice was mixed with rainwater and dew drops, enough so that the flavor of the melon becomes obscured but the sweetness of it remains.
There is some astringency to this. I feel a slightly dry sensation toward the tail. But it is very slight. I noticed a little more astringency in the second cup (second infusion) than I did in the first, but in both infusions, the astringency was very light.
To brew this tea, I measured a bamboo scoop of the leaf into the basket of my Kati tumbler and poured 12 ounces of water heated to 180°F. I let it steep for 2 minutes. The liquid is a pale golden-green and has a very faint vegetal aroma.
These leaves resteep well. I brewed a second cup much the way I brewed the first (adding 30 seconds onto the steep time) and sipped the second cup with just as much enjoyment as I experienced with the first cup. Still sweet and delicious. The texture is a little lighter in the second cup. The first cup was a little creamier than the second, although the second did have lighter creamy notes. I found that the second one felt more refreshing because it was a little crisper and lighter. Both infusions were delicious and it’s well worth the resteep!
