BiLuoChun What's a snail?

There are mainly two types of Bi Luo Chun that are sold on the market nowadays, one is the "snail shell" that you bought, another one is the "long thin twisted". In fact, the "long thin twisted" one is more traditional, according to the local tea farmers from Jiangsu province, the way they describe the Bi Luo Chun is "brass wires stripe, screwy, full of fine hairs, floral fragrance and fruity taste, refreshing." The color of the original harvesting area Bi Luo Chun is much whiter than those are harvested outside Jiangsu province.

About the "snail shell" one is a sort of new technique green tea, it is pretty close to the gunpowder but much less tight, and it used lower grade of leaves. Compare these two Bi Luo Chun, the price of the "long thin twisted" is way higher than the "snail shell". But of course, the "snail shell" also has its own character and it is indeed a good daily tea.

Jing

Thanks, Jing. The all Chinese commercial brand is YanXiang packed in Jiangsu with a date of 2005-01(Jan). It was $7/200g cheap compared to the much more expensive brass wire versions. I wished there was white tip on the snail's tail(shell+trailing curlycue). I also suspect the pack date doesn't represent this year's harvest which I understand is March, April. The snails open almost immediately and I get a nice infusion after a minute which can handle another infusion. You drop them into the water. Each one will float and unfurl on the top, some full single leaf and some two leaves with a stem making a nice bushy pot. These are the longest, thinnest leaves I've seen. The infusion is green with a slight golden hue and a light green mellow taste with no overtones of any other kind. If I drank green tea daily this would be it.

Jim

SEb wrote:

province,

I was reading, and I found this little bit of information of the tea..

Bi Luo Chun - Green Snail Spring

For centuries this very famous aromatic light green tea was known by the name Xia Sha Ren Xiang (Astounding Fragrance). A legend explains why. Once in the distant past, some pickers of a particularly good crop filled their baskets before they were ready to go home. Wanting to carry more leaves, they stuffed the excess inside their tunics. By another version they were stealing the tea. Warmed by body heat, the leaves began to give off a rich aroma. "I was astounded," many pickers said, and the name stuck. Sometime in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century while on an inspection of his realm, Emperor Kang Xi visited the Lake Taihu area in Zhejiang province and his host, the governor of Jiangsu, presented him with this tea. Striking the Emperor as a tea of purity he asked the name. "Astounding Fragrance" was his host's reply. The Emperor, with disdain, replied that such a name for this treasure was vulgar and an insult. Ordering the unused leaves brought for his examination, the Emperor declared that a more fitting name would be Green Snail Spring because the rolled shape looked like a snail shell. The original name is most popular, however.

Peach, apricot and plum trees are planted among the bushes. When these fruit trees bloom, the tender spouts and buds of tea absorb the aromas to be passed on to those who drink their infusion. The name is now known all over the world, for this is one of China's famous rare teas. Its home is two mountains known as East and West Dongting which poke up out of Taihu, the great lake not far west of Shanghai, and where the garden city of Suzhou is located. One mountain is an island in the lake and the other a peninsula. The water evaporating from the lake keeps them overhung with clouds and mist, thus the young leaves stay moist. The prime time to pick the tea leaves is during the Pure Brightness festival when the buds are jade-green tinged with white. Bi Luo Chun is picked during the spring until April when the spring rains begin. Only one leaf and the bud are plucked. Harvesting is done completely by hand and great skill is required to roll and fire the leaves. Bi Luo Chun was selected as the offering of local government to the emperor in Qing Dynasty.

Hey teadrinker,

Could you tell me where you got that story because it looks very much like the one we have on our website except that the trees planted around are not fruit trees but bamboo, roses, pine trees, osmanthus bushes, or Yulan (Magnolia heptapeta, only found in China).

by the way, our source for the story is the Cha Jing.

Seb

teadr> I was reading, and I found this little bit of information of the tea..

pickers

Emperor

aromas

Sure, it was on a site about the history of tea. I've seen a lot of sites that have copies (or similar) descriptions.

I just happened to be reading it, when I noticed that it was the same type of tea mentioned earlier.

I noticed you were from France. Have you ever heard of a famous Tea shop, called Frere Marie?