Bi Luo Chun tea

Biluochun

Type:	Green
Other names:	Simplified Chinese: 碧螺春, Traditional Chinese: 碧螺春, Biluochun, Pi lo chun
Origin:	Jiangsu Province, China
Quick description:	A green tea with a strong aroma.

Bi Luo Chun (碧螺春) is a famous green tea originally grown in the Dong Ting mountain of Tai Hu, Jiangsu Province, China. Also known as Pi Lo Chun, it is renowned for its delicate appearance, fruity taste, floral aroma, showy white hairs and early cropping.

Bi Luo Chun literally means "Green Snail Spring".

It is called so because it is a green tea that is rolled into a tight spiral, resembling snail meat, and is cropped early spring.

Its original name is 嚇煞人香 or "scarily fragrant". Legend tells of its discovery by a tea picker who ran out of space in her basket, and put the tea between her breasts instead. The tea, warmed by her body heat, emitted a strong aroma that surprised the girl.

According to the Qing Dynasty chronicle Ye Shi Da Guan, Emperor Kangxi visited TaiHu in the 38th year of his rule. At that time, because of its rich aroma, local people called it Xia Sha Ren Xiang or Scary Fragrance.^[1]

Kangxi decided to give it a more civilised name - Bi Luo Chun.

Chinese tea experts regard it very highly. Zhen Jun (1857 to 1918 A.D.), author of tea encyclopedia Cha Shuo, ranked it first among Chinese green tea. Longjing tea came second, Liu An Gua Pian came third.^[1]

It is so delicate and tender that one kilogram of Dong Ting Bi Luo Chun has 14,000 to 15,000 tea shoots.

Today, Bi Luo Chun is cultivated in Dong Ting, Jiangsu Province. Bi Luo Chun from Dong Shan (East Mountain) is considered the best. Bi Luo Chun tea is also grown in Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces. These are fake teas that are produced from other tea plant species^[2]. Their leaves are larger and less uniform (may contain yellow leaves). They taste more nutty than fruity and smooth.

Bi Luo Chun is divided into seven grades: Supreme, SupremeⅠ,GradeⅠ,Grade Ⅱ,Grade Ⅲ, Chao QingⅠ & Chao QingⅡ, and the quality vary from Supreme down to Chao Qing.

References

The references in this article or section may not meet Wikipedia's guidelines for reliable sources. Please help by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. Further discussion may be found on the talk page. This article has been tagged since November 2009.