An Ji Bai Pian

Made my first pot (gaiwan actually) of An Ji Bai Pian today.  Anji refers to the county in the northwest area of Zhejiang province (area famous for bamboo and the location of much of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon film).  Despite the term 'white' (Bai), this is a green tea.  The white refers to the pale colour of the infusion and the minimal processing the leaves undergo, usually being half baked and half fried.

Whilst I have bought Anji Bai Cha before, this is the first Pian variety I have ever tasted, and so was interested to try it out.  The harvest of this tea occurs in late April to early May and so this is a great time of year for this tea (and indeed most Chinese and Japanese green teas).

DRY LEAF:
The freshness of this tea was evident as soon as I opened the packet.  Bright green leaves and a fresh, grassy aroma.

The first thing I noticed was that the leaves were not completely uniform in style or colour.  As you can see on the photo above (although until I invest in a decent camera, rather than using the one on my phone, the photo quality will be limited), some of the leaves are twisted quite thinly, whilst others are almost entirely open.  Also, the colour range is from bright, light green through to an almost purple at times.  To some extent I expected this as I ordered the regular quality as opposed to the premium or supreme.  One would expect these two higher quality cousins to have greater uniformity in leaf/bud shape and colour.  This being said, however, most of the leaf/bud pairs are in tact and do not show signs of poor handling or damage.

WET LEAF:

The first infusion brought out much of what one looks for in a spring Chinese green tea, including a pronounced vegetal and fresh grassy aroma off the wet leaves.  It is always worth taking a moment to watch the leaves floating in the pot or gaiwan as they unfurl and release their magic...

After the second infusion, most of the leaves had unfurled, giving me the opportunity to examine them in more detail.  The photo below shows one of the many two leaf-one bud sets that I found in this batch, which is what is sought after in this tea style, often (somewhat erroneously) referred to as mao feng. 

The two leaves are completely in tact, and the bud is still unopened, thus being picked at the optimal time.  There were also single leaves and twin leaves without a bud present as you can probably make out from this photo:

CUP:

The colour in the cup was pale yellow, with just a hint of green. The aroma of the tea liquid is reminiscent of a field of tall, new season grass.  Sweet floral aromas are also prominent.   The taste matched this in many regards, with an initial vegetal briskness evident but with very little astringency. I kept the water temperature down to around 70-75 degrees Celsius as this style of new harvest green tea can become quite astringent if the water is too hot.  I prefer my teas quite strong and therefore try to bring out some astringency in most of the teas I brew - it's just a matter of controlling the water temperature, amount of leaf and infusion time to draw out all the desired flavours (which will vary from one person to another).  I increased the water temperature on the second infusion and much of the sweetness still came through.

CONCLUSION:

So, overall, I was pleased with this tea.  As the lowest quality of the three An Ji Bai Pian's on offer at Dragon Tea House (selling for around $20 Australian per 100grams) this is a very decent tea.  It has the sought-after spring-freshness and clarity of a good quality Chinese green and its considerably sweetness (which lingers for some time) is a highlight.  It held up well to three infusions - the fourth lost much of its sweetness and started to taste a bit thin.  As noted earlier, the leaves lacked some  uniformity in colour and style - the effect of this on the aroma and taste is difficult to discern, although with a higher percentage of brighter-green leaves, one would expect an even fresher flavour.

I hope to write up my tasting of the Lu Shan Yun Wu (Mount Lu, Cloud and Mist) soon, as having just finished my second tasting of this tea (after sort of ruining the first one yesterday with too much leaf and heat) I am excited to share my findings...

Not to mention two amazing new-season gyokuro teas I had today, thanks to Chado - the way of tea!  Too many teas, not enough time...