My first Bi Luo Chun

[fire_snake]

I picked up another great gaiwan from the Tea Gallery and Michael was kind enough to send me a sample of Bi Luo Chun. I threw caution to the winds and decided to go the tall glass route. Since I had some nice glassware for Dragonwell, why not. Water first, leaves second - dropped in and allowed to make their way to the bottom.

Now I find most Chinese greens aside from Dragonwell rather uninspiring - or maybe I just haven't tried enough good ones - but this Bi Luo Chun really impressed me. Very little bitterness, if any, even right to the bottom, and it managed to maintain a certain creamy toasty sweetness from start to finish.

Any other Bi Luo Chun lovers out there? Where do you get yours?

Cheers,


Christian

[thomas909]

Bi Luo Chun is one of my favorite green teas.
but there is a lot of difference between grades and other regions.

I make it about the same way, low water temp, water first than leaves.
I find it gives the best results.

best one I've tried so far is the imperial grade of seven cups.
but the one you have seems to be a close contender, must try.

[fire_snake]

Bi Luo Chun is one of my favorite green teas.
but there is a lot of difference between grades and other regions.

I make it about the same way, low water temp, water first than leaves.
I find it gives the best results.

best one I've tried so far is the imperial grade of seven cups.
but the one you have seems to be a close contender, must try.

Seven Cups looks like a great source, I'll be placing an order with them for some of the Bi Luo Chun you mentioned. It's on sale, too.

I find that it's best to drink this one leaf and all. That is, not decanting it like one would do gong fu style. I find that brewing in a gaiwan for a minute or two and then pouring out results in a brea that is too watery. Is this your experience as well? Or am I just not brewing it correctly in my gaiwan?

[thomas909]

it is a bit difficult to brew,the leaves don't handle heat very well.
and to my experience leaving the lid of f the gaiwan when it steeps it turns out more fragant. also if you decant it use a filter the tea is going to taste cleaner but miss something compared to glass brewing.

I do get multiple good steeps out of it in the gaiwan but I do youse more leave then and shorten the steeping time.

hope it helps. thomas

[brlarson]

My first good bi lo chun was the one from Tea Gallery and it was one of my great tea experiences. For some reason I didn't record my brewing parameters, but I remember brewing it in a porcelain houhin, probably at 160F, probably with a 1:1 ratio, but I forget for how long -- it could have been very short infusions. Anyway, this tea was a mind-blower.

[tenuki]

Agree on the lower water temp in general, although some of the higher grades can surprise you. I source mine from a local shop here in Seattle (NCTG) and buy it in season and drink immediately for best results. I use an eggshell gaiwan and can get many infusions if I'm careful. This is one of the teas that seems to like to be 'brewed from a root'. To
brew from a root' leave a bit of water in the gaiwan after every decanting, ie maybe 10% or so. I also avoid pouring the water directly on the leaves, I pour high but against the side of the gaiwan. Anyway, that's how I roll.

But ya, high grade Bi Luo Chun is awesome, easily my favorite green tea.

[fire_snake]

Nice to see someone else who has had a nice Bi Luo Chun experience courtesy of The Tea Gallery. Looks mine was from a good source.

Time to order more, I'm fresh out. It was a big hit at the office.

[brlarson]

I found the brewing parameters that I used by searching previous posts,
``either 4 or 5 grams in 100ml [porcelain hohin] at 158F for 15secs (1st steep)''

5 grams in 100ml tasted the BEST, but I found that I could get pretty close to the same experience using only 4 grams -- trying to be thrifty.

One last note, TG's Suzhou BiloChun was my tea of the year for 2010.