Biluochun, Ganlu: curly green teas. A comparison.

In writing the blog i tried to be objective but, frankly speaking, I like ganlu more than buluochun.
Biluochun is pretentious; if you do just a tiny mistake in preparation it’s over. And it seems to me like it changes mood from one day to the next :)

Ganlu, at least the one we are featuring, is consistent and despite the pale color and fresh aroma it is very mouth-filling.

I haven’t had a problem brewing Bi Luo Chun but maybe we are talking about different Bi Luo Chun’s here. I’ve seen the type rolled up like little snails and there there’s the silvery green one in little narrow twists (like your picture). I prefer the one with the little narrow twists but have always wondered why there’s the two unless it just the same thing and one is rolled.

You got it right, there are two Bi Luo Chun in China!
The ancient one is originally produced on the Dongting mountain, near the city of Suzhou. This is the tea described in the blog. Curly and downy.
The second Bi Luo Chun is a green tea produced since about 50 years in Taiwan. This Bi Luo Chun is produced with Oolong leaves and therefore the leaves are larger. It doesn’t taste as fruity as the Dongting Bi Luo Chun and it is less heavy and less astringent; easier to brew.

Said that, not all Bi Luo Chun from mainland China are handmade on the Dongting Mountain. Even on the Dongting Mountain there are producers using machine to fire bigger quantity of leaves with less effort. As you can see on the blog’s video, the original wok-firing is time demanding and allows processing only a small batch of leaves at a time.
Bi Luo Chun is so famous in China, that producers in other provinces started to imitate the original one. So you can find on the market also unauthentic Bi Luo Chun from Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. They are not grown together with fruit trees and do not taste fruity. Nevertheless they are cheaper and, in some cases, I would say of lower price/quality ratio.

Thanks for all that info! Now I know what to look for and what I have in my collection. Currently I have the Taiwan tea along with the unauthentic one (which is very different tasting). I’ve had the ancient one before and it was amazing but have gone through all that. Before, it was just a hit and miss of me trying to find my favourite Bi Luo Chun but with this knowledge I can make better decisions.