Anji Bai Cha (安吉白茶)
archetype: White boy in spring
A white youth walking through young grass: high amino-acid content gives a clean sweetness, like that of the first shoots.
History
An Ji Bai Cha is formally a green tea but is called 'white' because of its unique cultivar: in cool spring days the leaf is almost colourless — pale green, almost white — and turns sharply green in the warmth. The phenomenon was already described by the emperor Huizong in his 'Daguan cha lun' in 1107. The cultivar itself was only restored in the 1980s: a single old bush was found on the slope of Mount Tianhuang, and from its cuttings the entire plantation of Anji county was raised.
Terroir
The standard is leaf from Mount Tianhuang, near the place where the 'ancestral' bush was found. The harvest is only the first 3–4 weeks of spring, while the leaf is still pale.
Leaf
sweet broth, boiled corn, young greenery, minimal bitterness long, clean, without bitterness; the aftertaste is sweet greenery in the throat
Properties
the highest theanine content among Chinese green teas (up to 6 %) — hence the sweet baseline note and gentle tone; good for the brain and sleep very light, rising; felt as 'opening the first window of spring' low to moderate (20–35 mg)
Brewing ritual
a glass of 200 ml; 80 °C; 4 g / 200 ml. 35s — the sweet broth wakes; 55s — the peak: boiled corn, young greenery; 85s — a thin clean sweetness, a long echo.
When to drink
morning and early day. early spring. when long winter sits in the blood; for the joy of beginnings; before something important