Familiarise yourself with Dongting Biluochun

This story begins in the Dongting Mountains. Dongting Mountains comprise of Dongting East Mountain and Dongting West Mountain, which is located on the shore of Taihu Lake.

The temperature is mild, the air is comfortable and fresh, the winter is mild and the summer is cool, an ideal environment for the growth of high-quality tea trees. Due to careful picking and extensive tea making trial and error, Biluochun is produced to a very unique and high standard.

In terms of shape, the slender, curly arc is like a snail-shaped Biluochun tea leaf, covered with downy hairs and is bright green in colour. After brewing, the aroma is fresh and fragrant, and top Biluochun can even be brewed with cold mineral water or mountain spring water, unmatched by any other tea.

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Process 1: harvested from the Spring Equinox

Basically, Biluochun tea is harvested from the Spring Equinox to Grain Rain. Buds and leaves are combinedly picked, and later sorted to exclude old and deteriorated particles.

Process 2: harvested from early morning

Biluochun is picked in the early morning, and anything lacking in quality will be done around noon, and the remaining good quality tea is fried from the afternoon to the evening. At present, most people still maintain the manual method of frying.

Process 3: Process Practice

Biluochun green tea is a pan-fried green tea and does not require fermentation. Its production process is as follows:
Fresh leaves →Fixation →Rolling →Initial drying→Deblocking→Drying
First let the fresh leaves stand for several hours for the flavour of the tea leaves to improve, and then the fixation, rolling and drying processes respectively, are carried out together in the same pot. In addition, the hairy pekoe of Biluochun lies in the process of trimming & tipping, which is a rolling and drying technique, rubbed and fried until the pekoe stands up, forming the unique appearance of Biluochun.

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What are the allusions and stories of Biluochun?

Biluochun tea sticks are tightly knotted and curled into snails, densely silver-green in colour, covered in white fluff . Known as “three fresh”, it is fragrant, rich in flavour, and bright in colour.

We can go back to the “liǔ nán suíbǐ” written by Wang Yingkui of the Qing Dynasty. The author has a story about the origin of the name “Biluochun”. At that time, several wild tea trees were planted on the stone wall of Biluo Peak in the Dongting Mountains, and the local people had become accustomed to picking tea in the mountains for decades.

In the spring of the thirty-eighth year of Kangxi, Emperor Kangxi visited the south and arrived at Dongting Mountain in the Taihu Lake region. Song Luo, the governor of Wu County, bought “Xià Shā Rén” tea produced by Zhu’s family as an offering. Kangxi thought that the name – “Xià Shā Rén” was not elegant, so he renamed it “Biluochun”. Since then, local officials have purchased Biluochun as an annual tribute. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, there was a great harvest of tea, and local women went to the mountains to pick tea leaves, often stuffing the excess tea leaves in their chests once picking baskets were full. The tea gains body temperature instantly, and the aroma of the tea also surges up which is why the tea-picking women used “xià shā rén fragrance” to describe Biluochun.

Biluochun’s “xià shā rén fragrance” actually derived from the unique tree planting model of “fruit tea interplanting” in this area. People plant fruit trees and tea trees interspersed because the flower fragrance of the local mountain plum and loquat trees are easily absorbed by the tea trees. With thousands of years of genetic optimization cycles, it can be cultivated into excellent scented tea species. In addition, the unique local red soil has excellent air permeability, even if it is soaked in water and squeezed into a ball, it can still breathe. The adjacent Taihu Lake is rich in moisture, forming a unique and suitable climate for planting Biluochun. Combining the above characteristics, Dongting Biluochun tea has a unique fragrance.

3 Primary Benefits of Biluochun

1. High antioxidant capacity – Biluochun Benefit

Biluochun is basically an unfermented green tea. Among the six major teas, green tea is the one that can most successfully retain large amounts of “catechins“, but what are the uses of catechins? The higher the catechin content, the better the antioxidant capacity, so we can directly map the efficacy of green tea to Biluochun.

2. Reduce the risk of cancer – Biluochun Benefit

Biluochun’s antioxidant function is very powerful as it can help re-purify free radicals in the human body, reducing the risk of cancer, improving blood lipids and blood sugar levels, which can minimise the risk of high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.

3. Reduce the absorption of carbohydrates and fats in the body – Biluochun Benefit

Biluochun is also a low-caffeinated drink that not only reduces the absorption of sugar and fatty food, but can also promote metabolism and lower blood cholesterol levels. Therefore, it is often used as a bubble tea replacement to achieve weight loss and to bypass potential health risks.

However, even though drinking Biluochun has many benefits, proper consumption is still necessary along with sufficient amounts of water. Daily tea intake should not exceed 600C.C. if water intake is 2000C.C. or equivalent.

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Recommended brewing the method of Biluochun

Recommended brewing the method of hot Biluochun

Using 100 ml of 80 degree water and 7 grams of tea leaves, brew for 40 seconds for the first time to reach maximum sweetness and richness of theanine and tea polyphenols. Since the strand-shaped tea leaves are not resistant to brewing, it will be bitter and astringent when soaked at high temperatures for a period of long time, therefore, temperature control and time of brewing are key.

Biluochun Tea can be brewed about 4-5 times, with the second brew being the strongest after 30 seconds of brewing, each brew that follows will become lighter, this requires an added 10 seconds to each brew.

Biluochun Cold Brew Suggestion

Approx 1 gram of tea: Add the tea leaves directly to 100ml of cold water and let them cool down. After about 2-3 hours, the tea will become brown, ready to enjoy! If you wish to speed up the infusion process, you can alternatively shake it up by hand.

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ABoxTik, enjoys the precious products of Biluochun Tea with you.

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