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Biluochun
Biluochun
Biluochun
Biluochun
Biluochun
Biluochun
Biluochun

Biluochun

One River Tea

Regular price $23.00 Sale

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Tea: Biluochun (bìluóchūn 碧螺春)
Type: Wok-made Green Tea
Harvest: Pre-rains (Guyu) April 2023
Region: Xishandao, Jiangsu, China
Producers: Master Shen
Tasting Notes:  buttered toast, roasted chestnut, micro greens, alfalfa, orange zest.

The original Biluochun from the source: Xishandao in Lake Tai.  This is the birthplace of this well-loved Chinese green tea and it is made entirely by hand by a master that’s been growing tea on the island for 60 years and making it for 30.  This tea is a treasured find of ours, as every part of it’s growth, harvest, and production are wholesome and tended to with care.  

While less tightly furled than their Mingqian counterpart, and with noticeably less visible downy buds, the leaves of the Guyu Biluochun are slender, twisted, and gently curled.  This tea is entirely handmade in a wood-fired wok by master Shen and his Wife who have lived on Xishan Island in the middle of Lake Tai for the past 60 years.  The aroma of the leaves is a vegetal alfalfa with a sharp citrus note behind.  While the brewed tea is rich like buttered toast with a notes of radish micro greens.  This tea brews up a rich gold and is very savory and full on the tongue.  A wonderful tea for long hot summer days.

This kind of quality is difficult to find even inside of China.  Since Biluochun is so popular, there are many fakes, and the only way to be sure of the authenticity of place and producer is to visit the farm, or with with trusted sources.  We visited this farm in summer 2020.  Our Biluochun comes from an independent household on Suzhou’s West Dongting Mountain.  The large amount of fruit trees on the island and its slightly acidic soil are said to give this tea its floral and fruity notes.  This tea is entirely made in a wood-fired wok, from killing the green, to rolling, to drying.  Each wok full of tea only yields about 1/3 a pound, thus the quantity produced by a single master every spring is extremely limited.

The brewing style recommendation is a top-down brewing style: Fill a glass with 80 degree water (Celsius) and add 3-4 grams of tea on top.  This allows the tea to warm up, release its fragrance and slowly sink to the bottom of the glass to steep.  The brew should be a pale green filled with swirling down.  Let steep for 2 - 3 minutes before decanting or drinking directly from the glass.  The Top-down brewing method can be repeated 3 - 4 times with the same leaves.
 
 

 

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A
05/26/2023
Adrián
Mexico Mexico

First Look Into It

I just had the first session with this tea. It was something pretty, really comfortable and delightful to watch. I did it in a glass cup. I can´t really compare it with others I've had. I liked the others I've tried before from other brands and places, I like this one. I cannot say I can assess quality comparatively, they look pretty similar to me. I can say that I did like it and that the greenness and overall dance of fuzzies, leaves, liquid densities and colors inside the glass is mesmerizingly beautiful. I did experiment last year home-roasting a two-year-old BiLuoChun I had, I liked it before, I loved it afterwards. I am tempted to do that to this one too, let it sit a few years, roast it in the process, if I can afford a bit more and it is available as well later on. Truly liked the overall profile, would definitely buy it again after this first taste. Maybe I will discover new sides to it as I further brew it and add onto this review.

A
06/11/2022
Abby
United States United States

Delicious

A wonderful experience with a green tea from someone who isn't into green tea - or so I thought! Delicious, light, but with a nice depth. It brewed up a thick soft soup. I got that intense citrus character and for me it was quite lime, very interesting and unusual. It lent a refreshing aspect that I'm sure would also be incredible iced. Underneath the tangy citrus was much like a field of wildflowers in the afternoon sun, and faintly buttered popcorn. Really lovely tea, thank you to its makers and to the One River team.

NH
06/07/2022
Neldon H.
United States United States

Best Green I've Ever Had

This green tea is phenomenal. Despite being "less downy" than the Mingqian BLC, it's still incredibly downy. When I opened the bag, it was a cloud of trichome-y goodness. I used 4g of leaf and brewed it in a glass cup with 80°C water (around 176°F). The first steep, at 2 minutes, left me speechless. There are strong notes of orange/citrus and a pleasant, strong sweetness, similar to a clover honey. True to the description, it is a rich golden colored brew with a pleasant, full bodied feel on the tongue. The subsequent steeps (2nd steep 3mins, 3rd steep 4mins, 4th steep 4mins 30 seconds) yielded similar flavors, with the tasting notes of micro-greens, buttered toast, and alfalfa being surprisingly accurate. I would say that the clover-honey sweetness and the orange/citrusy notes are the most dominant flavors I got from this tea, and it was very enjoyable to drink. Definitely steep this one up using their top-down method described above. It makes for a pleasantly sweet brew that will leave you wanting more. As someone who typically doesn't like green teas, this was phenomenal. It's floral, sweet, fruity and vegetal, each of which is noticeable in the brew. It truly is the best example of a biluochun I've yet had.