Biluochun / Bi Luo Chun Chinese. Literally, Green Spring Spiral. One of Chinas 10 Most Famous Teas, a green first grown on Dongting Mountain around Lake Taihu in Jiangsu. (Today, alas, Biluochun grown on Dongting Mountain suffers the ravages of industrial pollution.) Biluochun has a history of over a thousand years. The leaf looks like downy fluff and is made from the earliest springtime plucking of a single leaf attached to an unopened bud - some one hundred twenty thousand such sets go into each kilo of high grade Biluochun! The best Biluochun is made from a small leaf varietal and is processed entirely by hand, skillfully pan fired over charcoalnot electricheat. Because of the leafs delicacy, steeping Biluochun requires skill. The water should be cooler than the 175 F that is generally ideal for other greens, and should not be poured onto the leaf. Instead, the leaf is added to the water, either in cup or in a glass, for the sake of observing the agony of the leaves. As they unfurl, they spiral to the bottom, possibly accounting for the teas peculiar name, which can also be translated Green Spring Snail or Green Spring Conchshell. (Pratt 2010)
