Bi Luo Chun Green Tea (Pi Lo Chun)

Another sample that was generously provided by the Teavivre team! Thanks!

I’ll be honest – I have not had good luck with Chinese green teas. However, I wanted to give them another try so I requested this tea in my last box of samples. The dry tea is so pretty with little curly pieces of light and dark green and there was a very clean smell. I brewed this tea up for about a minute and was greeted with a very pale (almost clear) yet shimmery liquid that smelled very sweet. Wow, this is actually good. It reminds me a bit of Silver Needles, but a bit of a greener taste. There is a bit of a fruity aftertaste that lasts long after the sip. I’m looking forward to several infusions of this beauty.

Many thanks to TeaVivre, my samples arrived today!

I was at a lost for which to try first so I flash-quized my dad and he chose this one. As many have raved before me, the packaging is genius-TWO DIFFERENT BAGS! Ingenious! I’ve made a mental note that if I ever start my own tea company, that’s how I’ll package everything.

The dry leaves are a mint-green color. They smell very savory, kind of like seaweed.

First steep- ~175 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 1 minute and 15 seconds. It’s VERY light, and when it’s in direct sunlight, it almost looks clear. The brewed tea smells the same as the leaves but not as strong. It’s very light, and has a savory taste. It has a slightly salty taste, and it’s very vegetal. Not really what I look for in a tea, but good for what it is. I’m not going to resteep these, but I will enjoy drinking this cup while it lasts.

I’m not too too big on savory teas, but I did enjoy the vegetal saltiness of this one, and I thank TeaVivre again for graciously sending me some samples! I’m excited to try the rest!

Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review

Decided to make this a green tea morning by trying my next Teavivire sample: Bi Luo Chun.

The dry leaf scent is nice, but I can’t quite describe it. There is nothing else I can think of that fits the profile. It’s a very nice smell and not what I expected.

Moving on to drinking the liquor. The first steep tasted sweet, a bit smoky, with spice notes, overall very interesting flavours to experience. The tea body has a nice deep flavour, not too vegetal. And I felt a warm fuzzy peach texture in my mouth

Second steep was still nice but a bit weaker. I agree with some of the people on here that this tastes much like a white tea, and I’m getting more of that “tea” flavour I experience with white tea.

Third steep felt soft, sweet, warm, and fuzzy. Still tasting a bit of the spice notes, but the tea body is weakening.

I ended on the fourth cup, which while weak was still pleasant and satisfying.

I’ve never tried this type of tea before but I like Teavivre’s offering. Out of the other green tea samples from this company, I prefer the Premium Dragon Well (which I have purchased) but Bi Luo Chun would have to be my second favourite. This was my second time brewing it (first time reviewing), so I still have plenty of leaf to experiment with and find an ideal steeping method.

235ml water in a glass mug, 1 tsp, 4 steeps (1min, +30s resteeps)

Free sample generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thanks so much!

Preparation notes: 3 heaping tsp. leaf to 500 ml. water in Breville. No additives.

Dry leaf: Dark dullish green, gnarled and twisted, fluffy looking (kind of reminded me of a white tea. Scents of grain/bread, but also a musty note that I found kind of off putting.

Steeped tea: The liquor appears faintly yellow/green tinged. Very light, but not surprising given a short steeping time.

Still a musty smell, though fainter, and less offensive to my nose – it has become a grassier mustiness. I agree with the Cheerios description – think Cheerios infused green tea. It has a slight musty taste that fades as the tea cools.

This is not a particularly vegetal green tea, in fact it seems to me to almost be a hybrid between white and green teas. It has that wonderful grainy mouthfeel and yet a grassy taste. I like greens in general, and this one in particular speaks to how versatile they can be.

I’m playing Skyrim today, which means I’ve forgotten to eat or drink anything. I had a light lunch, so now it’s time for some tea!

I’m very excited to try this one! I was digging through my tea stash trying to figure out what I wanted. As I reached for the Teavivre boxes, I could have sworn that I had another plain green tea and here it is! The aroma of the dry leaves is heavenly. I know I’m going to love this one. Just sniffing the leaves is the confirmation that green tea was what I was craving.

The leaves are very interesting. Green curly little things with white tips. As others have mentioned, this tea reminds me of silver needle as well. There’s just a hint of dry hay and sunshine in the aroma that lingers like white tea.

I followed the steeping instructions on the package. The aroma of the brewed tea is…strange. It’s a subtle aroma, but it reminds me of something. Squash maybe? Or perhaps zucchini. Not what I was expecting from the dry leaf smell. EDIT: After 6 months more experience tasting teas, it turns out that subtle aroma is smoke! I usually detest smokey teas, but this one is subtle enough that it doesn’t bother me.

Mmmm, the taste is really good! It does taste remarkably similar to a white tea. In fact, I’m hard pressed to find much of a difference. I’m not detecting any green grassiness. That strange quality in the aroma (i.e. the smoke) has made its way into the taste. But it’s not off-putting, just unexpected. This is a complex cup of tea with layered, subtle flavors.

Long after the sip, there’s a hint of green tea grassiness. But not much, only a hint to remind me that this is a green tea and not a white. How interesting! This tea is just full of surprises. I highly recommend.

The last of my free samples from Teavivre. Thank you.

I have high expectations of Teavivre, because the quality of their teas always seems high, even when it is teas that are not to my personal taste, so I approached this tea with pleasure.

The silver and dark green leaves are a pleasant aesthetic change from the flat leaves of the Long Jings that I have had recently. They smell vegetal, or of beans perhaps. There seems to be a bit of hay in there too. When steeped the wet leaf has a slightly savoury aroma, and the liquor, which is a dark yellow, transmutes that aroma to a thick, buttery, beany one.

Tasting the tea, I am struck by the thickness of the liquor too. It feels more like eating than drinking the tea. It is definitely buttery, the beans disappear from the taste and a new fruitiness emerges with a spicy aftertaste that lingers on the tongue. The sweetness lasts for a good while and I can feel myself calming down and de-stressing as I drink it. This is a ‘whole body’ tea. I just wish I could place what type of fruit it is. My expectations have been met and this is another splendid tea from Teavivre.

The texture for this tea’s dry leaf is so interesting. As far as greens go, it’s dark and chunky. The leaves are rolled up in a way that reminds me of oolong, but not done as tightly. And there are also lots of light colored, fluffy new leaves mixed in, too. The smell is very strong and a little intimidating to a green tea newbie.

Anyway, this is a smooth and nutty green. It’s satisfying in a way I’m beginning to appreciate, finally. Something also reminds me of sweet wheat bread, but it’s also fresh and veggie-like. And as usual, something like hay or dried grass. It smells much more pungent than it actually is, especially if you sniff the leaves themselves after steeping. And by pungent, I mean strongly of seaweed and the ocean.

Another offering from Angel at Teavivre. A start to a short week so that already makes for happiness. I’m finding it true in what Jim Marks said in another review that there is a point where it gets tough to differentiate between Chinese greens. However there is a large difference in the actual dry leaf. This one’s fuzzy. Reminds me a bit of the Monkey Picked White that I have sampled from Dr. Tea. Brewed there’s not a whole lot of difference either. Very light and pale liquor. Vegetal and slightly nutty. It’s held up to 3 good steeps. It even reminds me a bit of a yellow tea like a Hou Shan Huang.

Such a beautiful tea! I love opening the tin I have this in and taking a deep breath. It is bright smells of lychee, melon, and somehow, something akin to springwater.
Flavor wise, it is also excellent with lots of melon notes. I normally steep this 3 times. I really have enjoyed this tea.

Although I usually follow Teavivre’s brewing instructions exactly as recommended, today I deviated from them for this green tea. Teavivre states on the packet that you should brew this tea for one minute at 176 degrees. I didn’t have a problem with the temperature but I knew one minute of brewing was not going to produce flavor strong enough for my tastebuds to tune in. So, I brewed the tea for two minutes instead.

I am very glad that I added an extra minute of brewing for this selection. Even with the additional steeping, this tea does not have a lot of flavor. What is there is pleasant, light, and grassy, but there just isn’t enough taste to rouse me or make me count the minutes until I try it again.

If you prefer green teas over the bolder and more robust black teas, this tea may be just fine for you. Personally, the teas that get me most excited are the ones that flood my senses with flavor and linger on my tastebuds after each sip.