The Chai Walla

In class last week we had a tasting of Bi Luo Chun, also known as Green Spring Snail Tea due to the appearance of the leaves before steeping. The tea looks like tightly rolled pieces of string, twisted and wrapped around itself with a dark green color and some white tips. It smelled a little like sweet henna and was stiff and brittle.

We managed to have three infusions of the tea, which were steeped for about 1 minute to 1 minute and 40 seconds in a bout 170 degree Fahrenheit water. The water temperature used is lower than it is for most green teas because if Bi Luo Chun is not prepared at that very specific temperature it will become too bitter. 

The first infusion had a spinach scent with a slight hint of seaweed, and looked like a blonde yellow color. The initial flavor of the tea was almost too bitter but not quite, transitioning into an unusually oxidized flavor for a green tea and ending with a distinctive buttery flavor which Bi Luo Chun tea is known for. It was also fairly astringent making your mouth feel almost dry.

The second infusion was my least favorite of the three simply because it had the least depth of the three. It smelled vaguely of spinach and was a pale yellow like before, slightly darker than the blonde yellow of the first infusion. The flavor itself was vaguely like cut grass, vaguely oxidized and was less astringent than the previous infusion. The final taste was more buttery-sweet than before as well.

The last infusion was the my favorite of the three infusion I got to taste. It smelled like spinach but had some sweeter notes which were not present in other infusions. The color of this infusion was the deepest yellow, seeming almost like honey dissolved in water. This infusion’s flavor was the least astringent of the three and was very smooth. It tasted slightly of cut grass and was the most buttery-sweet of the three. Because the last infusion was the best of the three, it made me wonder if the flavor would develop more in further infusions, but unfortunately I did not get the chance.

The tea leaves after steeping opened up and were a light yellow-green color, looking very similar to the Longjing tea I had tried earlier in the week. It smelled slightly sweet, as well as like spinach and were very soft and silky to touch. 

All in all, Bi Luo Chun is an excellent tea which I highly recommend. The buttery notes were excellent and my favorite part of the tea. The bitterness of the tea was not overwhelming as it can be in many green teas, and instead added an interesting dimension to the overall flavor profile.

I recently was able to sample the “best green tea in the world”. Longjing green tea is also known as “Dragonwell” green tea and is from Zhejiang province. The version that I had was made by Mrs. Li, and is of shi fung quality, or the highest quality that is made. All of Mrs. Li’s teas are organic and handmade. This particular tea is so coveted so that people even make counterfeit versions of the tea. 

Due to the shape of its leaves this particular type of tea is also sometimes known as “swallow’s tongue” or “sparrow’s tongue”. 

I was able to taste three infusions of Longjing tea all of which were steeped for 1 minute or 1 minute and 30 seconds in 175-176 degree Fahrenheit water. 

The first infusion had an aroma of steamed palak, which is a type of Indian spinach. It had a pale yellow color with the slightest hint of green. The flavor of the tea itself was pretty bitter at the beginning, making it hard to taste any other flavors, but then it mellowed out to a mild palak flavor, followed by a grassy flavor that almost tasted like matcha, with the aftertaste being subtly sweet, with an almost creamy flavor. 

The second infusion was near identical to the first save for the fact that it was slightly less bitter than the first infusion, and that the ending sweet taste was slightly stronger than the first infusion. The aroma and color were also the same.

The last infusion of tea was the most bitter of the three, with it starting bitter, transitioning into a very subtle palak flavor, then another intense bitter flavor and finally ending with the gently sweet creamy flavor. The aroma of this tea was less palak, and was more like grassy matcha, and the color was slightly greener than before. 

The tea leaves before steeping did not have any aroma. They were slightly crumbly and long and flattened, much like a bird’s tongue, and a green color with slightly blackened edges from the parching that the tea undergoes while in processing. It was very dry and brittle. After steeping, the leaves smelled faintly of palak, and were a light yellow-green, the same exact color of the dry leaves in fact. The texture was very soft, and almost silky.

The entire time I was drinking the Longjing tea I was having recollections of when I was little, eating one of my favorite dishes that my mother makes, called palak paneer. It is made by steaming spinach and then pureeing it and mixing in a measure of cream, with chunks of cottage cheese, called paneer floating in it. The spinach and cream notes in the tea were really reminiscent of this dish, and made me a bit nostalgic. All in all, Longjing #43 is not my favorite tea thatI have ever sampled, but still excellent, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves green tea.