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“Once again, I wildly overbought green tea this year so I could do some educational comparison sessions. This time, I’m focusing on three kinds of Anji Bai Cha, two from Seven Cups and one from...” Read full tasting note
A high-end green tea with very pale green leaves, rich in nutrients with unusually high levels of amino acids. The one bud and one leaf pluckings from the early spring harvest have a mild smooth flavor and complex floral aroma.
2025’s Ming Qian harvest of Anji Baicha shows persistent bountiful white florals, sweet broth, and creamy pastry richness.
Anji Baicha’s pale white-jade leaves are unique in their high amino acid content, which contributes to the sweetness and calming effect of their infusion. Some studies have estimated that teas made with Baicha leaves contain approximately three to five times the amount of amino acid found in any other green tea. The liquor is a clean, pale green with a high floral fragrance.
The leaves of this albino cultivar, Baiye #1, are lightest in color and richest in amino acids in the early spring, before temperatures climb above 25°C (77°F). Once the temperature warms beyond this point, the leaves of Anji Baicha bushes are noticeably greener and have changed in flavor. Ming Qian Anji Baicha is from the earliest harvest period of the year, with a young plucking standard of one bud and one leaf. It represents the most pure and distinctive expression of this Anji green tea cultivar’s character.
Seven Cups is an American tea company based in Tucson, Arizona. We source traditional, handmade Chinese teas directly from the growers and tea masters who make them, and we bring those teas back from China to share with people everywhere.
Once again, I wildly overbought green tea this year so I could do some educational comparison sessions. This time, I’m focusing on three kinds of Anji Bai Cha, two from Seven Cups and one from Camellia Sinensis.
Tea bush: Baiye #1 (White Leaf #1)
Location: Anji County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Picking date: Early April 2025
Price in USD/g: $1.19
For the side-by-side comparison, I steeped 2.4 g of leaf in 120 ml of 185F water for 4 minutes, resteeping as needed until the tea faded. I also did a more normal session with 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water, with times as above.
The dry aroma of this tea featured honey, green beans, pastry, and soft florals. In the first session, I got initial notes of green beans, snow peas, pastry, honey, lilac, and other florals. Subsequent steeps were consistent, revealing green beans, asparagus, grass, pastry, and lilac florals. The tea never got overly bitter, though at a 2:1 leaf/water ratio, it was potent!
The first steep in the normal session had notes of green beans, asparagus, honey, pastry, nuts, lemon, and florals, maybe lilac. Subsequent steeps were more vegetal, with some cucumber, although the nutty, pastry goodness persisted. The tea got a bit drying when forgotten about. The final steeps faded into grass, green beans, and some floral hints.
As expected, this was an excellent, if pricy, Anji Bai Cha. There wasn’t a lot of citrus, but the florals and lack of bitterness made up for that. The sweet, pastry notes were a nice bonus. You could tell that this tea was picked sooner than the others while the leaves were sweeter and less vegetal.
Flavors: Asparagus, Cucumber, Floral, Grass, Green Bean, Honey, Lemon, Lilac, Nuts, Pastries, Snow Pea, Sweet, Vegetal
