# Bi Luo Chun (碧螺春)

*Bì Luó Chūn · Green · Wood*

**archetype:** Spring girl with fruits

A young girl with a basket of the first fruits: spiral leaves, a fruity tenderness, the scent of peaches from the orchard next door.

## History

Bi Luo Chun — 'emerald spring spiral' — is one of the ten famous teas of China. It grows on Mount Dongtingshan above Lake Taihu (Jiangsu), shoulder to shoulder with fruit trees — peach, apricot, loquat. The tea bush's roots and the fruit trees' roots share the same soil, and the leaf gathers their pollen and fruity esters. Each leaf is rolled by hand into a tight half-centimetre spiral.

> Before the Qing era the tea was called 'frightful fragrance' (Xia sha ren xiang, 嚇煞人香) — so strong, they said, that it scared people. The Kangxi emperor, resting by Lake Taihu, tasted it and asked its name. He disliked the name — too rough — and renamed it 'Bi Luo Chun', 'emerald spring spiral', looking at the leaf's curled shape.

## Terroir

50–300 m — relatively low, but in sheltered gorges. loose red clay with the organic matter of fruit trees. humid subtropics; the lake softens both winter and summer; abundant mists. The leaf is gathered exclusively by hand, before the Qingming festival (5 April). Some 60–80 thousand young buds go into 500 g of finished leaf.

## Leaf

- **dry leaf:** tight jade-green spirals covered with thin white down
- **warmed:** the warmed leaf — ripe peach, apricot, floral pollen, a light nutty-sweet base
- **after pour:** after the infusion — peach, loquat, acacia, a thin green freshness
- **taste:** peach, apricot, floral pollen, a light nutty-sweet base; in the middle infusions a honeyed tenderness
- **finish:** thin, sweet, long for a green tea; the aftertaste is a fruit trail in the throat

## Properties

- **TCM:** cool, yin; clears heat, brightens the head, nourishes the skin, gently supports the stomach
- **Modern:** rich in catechins and the natural volatile esters of fruit trees; gentle stimulation
- **Cha qi:** light, rising, warm in the upper chest; felt as the first spring
- **Caffeine:** moderate (25–40 mg)

## Brewing ritual

a glass of 200 ml — pour water first, leaf after; 75 °C, very soft; 4 g / 200 ml. 30s — the first opening — peach, floral pollen; 50s — the peak: apricot, light honey; 80s — a nutty base, a long soft note.

## When to drink

morning and early day — for a fresh mood. early spring — when you want fruit to wake in the blood. when winter sits in the blood, after a long grey stretch. peach, apricot, white curd, light shortbread, fruit salads. morning for two; a conversation with a young friend

## Tea meditation

1. Pour water into the cup first. Only then the leaf.
2. The spiral will open by itself.
3. Don't hurry — spring keeps no schedule.

## Questions and answers

### How do you brew Bi Luo Chun?

a glass of 200 ml — pour water first, leaf after; 75 °C, very soft; 4 g / 200 ml. 30s — the first opening — peach, floral pollen; 50s — the peak: apricot, light honey; 80s — a nutty base, a long soft note.

### What does Bi Luo Chun taste like?

peach, apricot, floral pollen, a light nutty-sweet base; in the middle infusions a honeyed tenderness

### How much caffeine is in Bi Luo Chun?

moderate (25–40 mg)

### What are the effects of Bi Luo Chun?

rich in catechins and the natural volatile esters of fruit trees; gentle stimulation

## Related teas

- [Long Jing](https://www.dao-cha.info/en/tea/long-jing)
- [Anji Bai Cha](https://www.dao-cha.info/en/tea/an-ji-bai-cha)
- [Huangshan Mao Feng](https://www.dao-cha.info/en/tea/huang-shan-mao-feng)
- [Green](https://www.dao-cha.info/en/class/green)