This is a sipdown, however I don’t get the satisfaction of removing this tea from my cupboard since it never made it into my cupboard in the first place.
What is this a sipdown of? Well, back in January I spent some time at my mother’s for a late Christmas and I stole a small sample of a mystery Bi Luo Chun that she got from China a few years ago when she was visiting. I had totally forgotten about the sample until today when, while looking for something to drink, I found the unmarked tin I had put it in a shoved way into the back of my sipdown/sample drawer.
Unfortunately I don’t really have any information about this tea other than that it’s Bi Luo Chun and also probably significantly old. Back in January, when I asked my Mom about it, she said she didn’t really know much but was served it at a restaurant or cafe or something and bought it ‘cause she thought it was decent. Apparently, it didn’t cost much; like a dollar or two for a giant, probably close to 250g bag – I don’t know if that’s because it’s cheap quality or because she actually bought it in China or…?
The entire bag is written in Chinese with Chinese characters except for “Bi Luo Chun” scrawled across it. I wish I’d taken a picture back in January, but I didn’t think to. Visually, the leaf is a darker emerald/forest green colour and kind of formed into very loose balls? It smells fresher than I’d expect given its age (probably like three years old).
Since I took enough leaf for about a pot of tea, that’s what I made it as today. For someone who isn’t really a big fan of green tea but who has been significantly more open to it this year and who is, slowly, learning to appreciate it I thought it was pretty good. It had a very, very nutty flavour – more so than I’ve experienced with most straight/non-genmaicha green teas. This was supported by some buttery and spinach like notes and some crisp sweetness that reminds me of snap peas and flowers.
Unfortunately, there was some bitterness that cut into the otherwise nice flavour profile. It was especially apparent in the last two of five tiny cups that I enjoyed. It also began to pick up an increasingly grassy borderline “bug spray” like flavour? In the end I had enough in my pot left for ‘half’ of a sixth cup but I just decided it wasn’t worth drinking it.
Never the less, I appreciated getting to learn from this mystery tea! I do wish I knew more about it, but it comes from a time where I had virtually no interest in tea at all (my how that’s changed) so the last thing on my mind when my mom went to China was to make sure she brought tea home and learned as much about it as possible…
