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.

There once lived a boy named An, so light of face that the neighbours called him 'the white youth'. In a hungry winter he went into the mountains and did not return. In spring on the slope at that place a bush appeared with leaves as pale as the boy's. The leaf was sweet — as if it fed itself. Ever since, the tea is drunk when one wants the cleanness of beginnings.

Terroir

300–800 m. weathered shale with bamboo-forest organic matter. dense mists, cold early springs, a long flowering. 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

dry leaf: thin elongated pale-green needles, almost translucent

warmed: the warmed leaf — sweet broth, boiled corn, young greenery, a light flower

after pour: after the infusion — white asparagus, boiled peas, young greenery, a faint creamy note

taste: sweet broth, boiled corn, young greenery, minimal bitterness

finish: long, clean, without bitterness; the aftertaste is sweet greenery in the throat

Properties

TCM: cool, yin; clears heat, nourishes yin, moistens the lungs, gently supports the stomach

Modern: 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

Cha qi: very light, rising; felt as 'opening the first window of spring'

Caffeine: 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. white asparagus, young peas, white cheese, fresh bread, light broth. a quiet morning, the start of a meeting, a child in the family

Tea meditation

This sweetness asks for no understanding.
Drink it the way one drinks the first snow.
Youth does not justify itself.

Questions and answers

How do you brew Anji Bai Cha?

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.

What does Anji Bai Cha taste like?

sweet broth, boiled corn, young greenery, minimal bitterness

How much caffeine is in Anji Bai Cha?

low to moderate (20–35 mg)

What are the effects of Anji Bai Cha?

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