Bi Lo Chun
I wrote a blog post about Bi Lo Chun the other day (here,http://teahousekuanyin.wordpress.com/20 ... i-lo-chun/) like the history and stuff. I was really just working with the information floating around the internet, which was mostly consistent and informative so I felt ok with it. But I was having trouble finding out how old this kind of tea is, which I was really curious about. I found one site that said it's attested to in the Sui Dynasty, but no one else backed that up. Do any of you know?
Re: Bi Lo Chun
I did some looking around and haven't found a definitive answer for you but can draw some rough conclusions.
According to Kam at fun alliance " Bi Luo Chun was born during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) (so that is close to your Sui dynasty 581–618) and gain popularity during the Song Dynasty . By the Ming and Qing Dynasty , it's presence was found all over southern China"
According to Chinese Tea Culture Museum "BiLuoChun was discovered as a wild tea in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD)"
Another website says "According to the Qing Dynasty chronicle Ye Shi Da Guan, Emperor Kangxi visited Great Lake (Tai Hu) in the 38th years of his rule. At that time, because of its rich aroma, local people called it Xia Sha Ren Xiang or Scary Fragrance."
Then there is this from wiki..."In the Song Dynasty (960–1279) tea was a major export good, through the Silk Road on land and Silk Road on the sea, tea spread to Arab countries and Africa."
So from all of this and a couple other sources I would roughly say that.........
Bi Lo Chun was officially named bi Lo Chun during the later mid of the Qing (1682 ad ish) dynasty, But existed as Sha Ren Xiang and other names well before then (originating during early Tang or late Sui dynasty 581-700 ish). I imagine that it did not reach loose leaf form until Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Before and during Song my guess was that it was 99% in cake form (I bet there were a couple of farmers though that experimented with loose leaf for personal consumption) and not called bi luo chun but shared very similar if not identical processing.
I'm pretty sure these conclusions I have drawn are close to the mark.
Its been fun brushing up on a little tea history hope this helps.
According to Kam at fun alliance " Bi Luo Chun was born during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) (so that is close to your Sui dynasty 581–618) and gain popularity during the Song Dynasty . By the Ming and Qing Dynasty , it's presence was found all over southern China"
According to Chinese Tea Culture Museum "BiLuoChun was discovered as a wild tea in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD)"
Another website says "According to the Qing Dynasty chronicle Ye Shi Da Guan, Emperor Kangxi visited Great Lake (Tai Hu) in the 38th years of his rule. At that time, because of its rich aroma, local people called it Xia Sha Ren Xiang or Scary Fragrance."
Then there is this from wiki..."In the Song Dynasty (960–1279) tea was a major export good, through the Silk Road on land and Silk Road on the sea, tea spread to Arab countries and Africa."
So from all of this and a couple other sources I would roughly say that.........
Bi Lo Chun was officially named bi Lo Chun during the later mid of the Qing (1682 ad ish) dynasty, But existed as Sha Ren Xiang and other names well before then (originating during early Tang or late Sui dynasty 581-700 ish). I imagine that it did not reach loose leaf form until Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Before and during Song my guess was that it was 99% in cake form (I bet there were a couple of farmers though that experimented with loose leaf for personal consumption) and not called bi luo chun but shared very similar if not identical processing.
I'm pretty sure these conclusions I have drawn are close to the mark.
Its been fun brushing up on a little tea history hope this helps.
Re: Bi Lo Chun
Wow Churng thanks for the tea history and your time researching. Its so interesting how much tea has changed over the centuries 
Re: Bi Lo Chun
That is some awesome information, thank you so much for finding it! Your conjecture makes a lot of sense to me.