Bi Luo Chun Green Tea (Pi Lo Chun)

Another from Lala’s package. Decided this morning, before I head to the University to see Robyn, would be a good time to try out a straight green tea! Honestly, I just picked one of them at random. I have some cold brewed tea that I plan on taking with me later today, so I’ll review that later today.

This is DEFINITELY not something I would have bought myself, so it’s kind of interesting to get a chance to try it (and other teas) that are so out of my comfort zone. Visually, the dry leaf is really pretty – it reminds me of yarn, sort of. However, I find the aroma really off putting. Yes, it’s sweet (just like the description says) but there’s also a really unappealing vegetal smell.

1 tsp steeped for about 1 min and 30 seconds. The smell is really off putting and unappetizing. First few sips? I almost spat it back in the cup…

I can’t really explain WHY I dislike it – it’s for sure sweeter than other straight green teas that I’ve tried and I usually like sweet teas. But there’s something just not sitting right about this one. The aftertaste is really funky too…

I think I’m going to give the remainder of this to Robyn today.

Unrelated, this (http://jonathanmangum.tumblr.com/post/61788079605/whimsical-autumn-teapot-fully-functional-clay) is what I’m going to enter into Stacy’s contest – the art one that is. It’s fully functional, and I do make tea in it occasionally! It’s kind of fitting, I think, that this contest is starting as Autumn is and I’ve got a fun, whimsical autumn teapot!

THis was my first time trying Pi Lo Chun and although it’s good it’s not exactly my cup of tea ;P. It holds up really nicely to several infusions and reminds me a lot of gunpowder tea. Be careful though because it can turn astringent fast. The dry leaves are very pretty and have a nice smokiness to them which translates over to the cup. If you like smokiness to your greens by all means you’ll love this! I simply prefer something a little sweeter and floral.

I have to admit that I was disappointed with this tea. I tried it at least four times, and the result was always the same. Maybe the flavor was just too subtle for me. I like my Pi Lo Chun to be a little more robust. It also had a slight smokey flavor—almost like Dragonwell. Don’t get me wrong, this tea is not horrible. It just is not quite the chun I like.

This tea is sweet and salty. It has a thick texture to it, like a soup broth. I get a seaweed and vegetal taste. It is an interesting tea, I have not had anything like it before.

Sipdown! This is number 3 for today! (As I finish writing this in the morning, oops!)

This is a really lovely green tea. The tea itself is gorgeous. Little curly, downy leaves that smell delicious! The liquor is a very very light green, a bit vegetal and a bit sweet, and very smooth. As far as particular notes go I’m actually kind of forget because I didn’t get that far in my notes while sipping. I guess I’ll have to just get some more the next time I order from Teavivre!

Tea: ~2 tsp
Water: ~2 cups
Additives: none
Brewing method: A lovely DT teapot

I feel like a lot of the subtlety of some teas, this one in particular, is lost on me. I didn’t really like this one. I mean, the leaves smelled wonderful, and the infusion smelled just as awesome and fresh, but when I drank it, I was overwhelmed by the taste of smoky leather. I would have liked to have liked it, but I can’t say that I did.

I remember getting samples of this tea in the past, but I don’t have a note for it. Maybe they’re still in the vaults. I steeped around 4 g of tea in an 85 ml teapot at 185F for 15, 15, 20, 30, 50, 70, 90, 120, and 240 seconds. I also grandpa steeped slightly less than a teaspoon of leaf in a 200 ml cup for 4 minutes, adding hot water as needed.

The dry aroma is of green beans, nuts, corn, spring flowers, and grass. The first gongfu steep has notes of green beans, asparagus, nuts, lilac, narcissus, and grass. The second adds corn and is slightly bitter. The next couple steeps are beany, buttery, and floral, with faint hints of melon. The body of this tea is pleasantly thick. The melon and florals persist into the next couple steeps, but the tea becomes increasingly bitter, with asparagus, kale, and grassy notes. The end of the session is all bitter veggies.

Surprisingly, steeping this tea grandpa style decreased the bitterness and brought out the corn, florals, and melon. Maybe this is because I used substantially less tea. It never got overwhelmingly bitter, instead fading to a grassy, saline finish.

This tea has many of the flavours I enjoy in high mountain oolong, though it’s definitely more vegetal. I was surprised that grandpa steeping didn’t increase the bitterness, but instead highlighted the fruit and florals. I may need to try this method with the other Teavivre greens.

Happy National Eat Your Vegetables Day! Today the prompt is to drink a tea with vegetal flavor notes!

This is an old (likely 2017 harvest) sampler pack from Path of Cha, which sources several Chinese teas from TeaVivre (with very reasonable size options, too!) I had a little left in this sampler (I don’t remember when I opened it, but it was opened) and since I love cold brew green tea, I dumped what was left of the sampler into a mason jar and let it brew in the fridge overnight.

It’s very refreshing! The beany flavor I tend to taste first and foremost in Bi Luo Chun isn’t as strong here (not sure if that’s due to the old age of the sample or the cold preparation) but I do still taste it. I think the strongest note I’m tasting is garden peas, followed by green beans and fresh grass, with a very mild florality that pops toward the end of the sip. It isn’t as nuanced as other Bi Luo Chuns I’ve tried, and looking through my past notes, it seems I felt the same of this one previously, logged under Dazzle Deer, who also sources from TeaVivre. The Yunnan Sourcing Bi Luo Chuns I’ve sampled were a bit more complex in flavor.

That said, this is still so smooth and easy to down the whole liter so quickly, as this makes for a very quinching cold brew.

12/4/2020 Late morning bowl tea using a pitcher to cool down water that is just off boil.
Early impression is the dry smell is pleasant almost fruity. The tea is curly and fun to take a pinch of.
First bowl, the tea sank readily to bottom of bowl – very nice! Flavor is light but gaining strength toward end of bowl. Suddenly hit with taste or fresh corn? I wish aroma identification came easier to me!
Bowl three is a stand out – very smooth liquor. A joy to arrive here.
I’ll be taking a break for lunch and coming back to this later.

This was another of my Adagio mini tin residents. I find those tiny tins useful for storing opened sample packets without worrying about taping them or something. It doesn’t say what year the harvest was, but the “best by” date is in late 2018, so I’m guessing it was a 2017 harvest? This was the end of the sample, so I only steeped it for 2 minutes because of the more broken leaves.

Such a yummy and comforting green tea! It has a very creamy, sweet, and smooth flavor with corn and edamame notes. There’s also a lovely grainy quality that makes me think of raw oats. At the end of the sip, a little apricot pokes its head out, and there’s a very slight astringency that accentuates it with a feeling of fuzzy skin on my tongue.

This is a great green tea to keep around, and I’m sure it was that much tastier when it was fresh. I’ll be sure to add it to my wishlist to be restocked at a later date! I’m being a bit conservative on the rating for now, since I’m just coming back to tea and this isn’t fresh.