Fo Xiang Bai Cha3CFX Harvest: April 2023
Origin: China / Zhejiang / Shengzhou / Xibaishan
Height: 700 m.a.s.l
Tea plant varietal: Bai Ye 1 Hao
Fo Xiang, Buddha Scent, is a very high quality tea produced in the form of Gunpowder or Chinese Zhu Cha, pearl tea. Just like An Ji Bai Cha it is produced with the leaves of the white leaved tea plant. A really beautiful example for the influence of the tea's form on its taste. Plucked by hand and produced by machine, however artisanally.The producer, who is known in his town as a tea freak, crazy for tea, owns vast tea gardens in the hills around Xinchang and produces a diversity of teas from diverse varietals in good quality.The tea is called Bai Cha, white tea, because the leaves are of a pale green, almost white, when they are plucked, as this tea plant has very little chlorophyll. However, it is produced in the manner of green tea. These tea plants with the whitish leaves had already been described during the Song-dynasty (960-1279), and were ever since thought to be a myth. At the end of the 20th century, however, a wild tea tree of this kind was (re-?)discovered. Teas from this tea varietal are very smooth and incredibly sweet in aroma. Because of the high degree of a certain amino acid in the tea plant these teas have a pronounced umami-taste.
Character:
Intense, powerful and slightly tart this tea awakens the senses, sweetish, fruity, fresh and pampering with the most beautiful clarity.
Category:
Zhu Cha (Gunpowder) Zhu Cha teas, known in the West as Gunpowder, are usually very simple teas, for which large leaves from the summer harvest are rolled into balls. The spring harvests, on the other hand, are often used for teas of greater quality. These green teas are formed to balls in a wok with a rotating shovel. The Chinese term Zhu Cha refers to the form of the tea, meaning pearl tea, just as the term Gunpowder also refers to the shape. Zhu Cha teas are rather strong, tart, and smoky in taste, but they can also be sweet, dense and soft.