2008 Bailu

Within a recent order from Taiwanese specialist Tea Masters, though, I ordered a small pack of a local green tea. Taiwan produces several types: Biluochun is common (an emulation of the Chinese classic from Jiangsu), as well as some greens from the qingxin tea cultivar (widely used in Taiwanese mountain oolongs). This tea, the 2008 Bailu, is made from a recently developed cultivar with the irresistibly romantic name of No. 17, also know as Bailu, meaning white crane.

Brewed in: gaiwan
Dosage: 3.5g / 100ml
Dry leaf: A nice looking tea, with about 20% furry tips, and lots of bright green leaves alongside the more usual dark greens. Smells of summer meadow and toasted bread.
Wet leaf: Impressive quality, with no damage to the carefully selected leaves. They take quite a number of brewings to fully open. I remain impressed by the consistently high quality of the Tea Masters selections. Tasting notes:
60s: A very pale, white-coloured infusion. I find Stéphane’s description of this tea quite spot-on. Nose at first is dominated by citrusy, grapefruity notes, later calming down into vaguer but nonetheless pleasant ‘green tea’ aromas. Flavour is a bit different, mildly grainy, with good length but not enormous intensity.
60s: I like to boost this slightly by brewing in hotter water than I normally would a green tea: there is more citrusy intensity and spritz. At mid-palate it lacks a bit of body and oomph but this is a frequent impression with green tea.
5m with boiling water: Finally some astringency appearing but not distorting the natural expression, and still fairly drinkable.
3m: Still pretty flavourful and good, this tea can go quite far.

Overall this tea has quite a distinctive, grapefruity profile that I find quite unvegetal for a green tea. Original, enjoyable and fairly priced (22€ / 100g).