How to Brew the Famous Chinese Bi Luo Chun Green Tea

Bi luochun green tea is one of the 10 famous Chinese teas. Bi luochunis produced in Dongting mountains, Taihu Lake, Wuxian, Jiangsu. Bi luochun is always known in China by the saying “one tender three fresh”.

Bi luochun green tea is one of the 10 famous Chinese teas.  Bi luochun is produced in Dongting mountains, Taihu Lake, Wuxian, Jiangsu.  Bi luochun is always known in China by the saying “one tender three fresh”.  This phrase means the bud is very tender, the color is bright, the taste is mellow, while aroma is strong.  Bi luochun which is produced in Dongting, the strips are slimy and in the shape like spiral, and its full of cilia.  White tips are exposed while the rest looks aquamarine bearing a strong aroma.  After it is brewed the bi luochun will stay on the bottom of the cup, while it has a bright olive color.  Bi luochun does not have a fermentation process, so it keeps the natural antioxidants and vitamins that are found in tea.  Bi luochun has many health care benefits for those old and young. Green tea health benefits are known throughout different cultures, but for more in depth information please check Teavivre’s article Green Tea Health Benefits.

Standard western method: brewing bi luochun with a teapot

Choosing the Ideal Teapot: Brewing bi luochun, you can choose a glass teapot or ceramic teapot.  In this picture we are using a ceramic teapot to brew bi luochun.

Adding it to Your Teapot: Add approximately 3-4 teaspoons of bi luochun into the teapot. Depending on how you like your tea, you can add more or less.

Add Water to Your Teapot: Pour water that is 80 ºC into the teapot, and wait for 3-5 minutes. Bi luo chun use One-leaf bud to make sure the temperature is not too high or you will burn the bi luo chun: If this happens it will be yellow, and taste bitter with an acidic taste, all beneficial antioxidants will also be destroyed.

Pour Liquor: Finally, after 3-5 minutes you can pour the tea of the bi luochun via strainer. You don’t want to drink any off the buds, or tea leaves. Then you can enjoy the elegant aroma and mellow sweet aftertaste bi luochun.

Flavored Bi Luo Chun: If you like to add a little flavor to your tea, then you can sweeten it with a bit of honey.  Honey will enhance the natural flavors of the tea without overtaking the natural flavor.

Chinese tea brewing method—-brewing bi luochun with glass

For tea lovers, we introduce to you the traditional Chinese brew bi luochun method.  Since green tea like bi luochun is so tender and fragile, we use “Shang Tou Fa” to brew it.  In order to view the bi luochun “tea dancing” so we use glass to brew it.

Prepare tea sets: Tea tray, tea holder, glass, fair cup, Pinming cup, filter, shelf, tea ceremony sets (tea pin, tea tongs, tea spoon, tea scoop, tea funnel, tea container).

Take tea: Use a tea scoop to take 2-3 grams Bi luochun from your tea canister (or bag), then put it into tea holder.

Warm and clean the tea sets: Pour the boiling water into glass to clean, sterilize and warm it, then repeat these steps on the fair cup and Pinming cup.

Pour water: Pour water that is no warmer than 80ºC into the glass.  If the water is too hot, you will burn the tea making it taste bitter and acidic.  Take care to just fill about 70% of the glass full of water.

Cast the tea: Use tea spoon to place Bi luochun which is in the tea holder into the glass.  Brew it for 1-2 minutes.  During this time, you will see bi luochun which is covered with white tips, sinking to the bottom of the glass.

Pour the tea of bi luochun leaves into fair cup via filter, then divide the tea into each Pinming cup averagely.  When pouring the tea from glass to the fair cup, make sure you don’t pour all of the tea out, save 1/3 of the tea so you can brew again.

Brew times: Bi luochun, is usually brewed 2-3 times.  Every time the aroma and the taste is different.  The first time, the smell will be quite delicate, and the taste is fresh; the second time, you will find that the aroma is stronger from the cup and the taste is quitemellow; the third time, you will find strong fragrance that smells sweet and makes your mouth water, it has a delicate sweet aftertaste.  Absolutely, when you brew the top grade bi luochun then you choose different types, for more information about how to choose authentic dongting bi luo chun please check Teavivre’s article.

  • Hello

    I usually brew this tea in a 180 ml Gaiwan. I use 3g of tea leaves, 80 ° temperature and let it brew about 2 minutes. Is this correct? What do you recommend? And what about further infusions?

    • TeaVivre

      HI Stéphane,

      Thank you for our question.
      I’ve tried your method, I brewed 3g biluochun green tea 2 mintues. And the taste is a little bit light for me. Then after I shared the tea liquid with my colleagues, I refill the water, and brew the tea 2 mins. And this time, the liquid is tasty than before.
      Then I brewed the another two 2mins. The last 2 mins, the liquid is very very light.
      And everyone has different preference, for me, 4 times steeps is ok.
      And if you want to get more details about the breing method, you can also refer the information on our product page:
      https://www.teavivre.com/bi-luo-chun-green-tea-pi-lo-chun/
      If you just brew the tea yourself, you can refill the water in gaiwan after you finish the liquid in your pircher.
      Hope this is helpful to your concern.

  • Thank you! I just got a bunch of this tea from a local store, but no directions came with it. I even though it was a black tea at first and burnt it! ><;

    • TeaVivre

      Thank you too. If you meet any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.:)

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