I was reading, and I found this little bit of information of the tea..
Bi Luo Chun - Green Snail Spring
For centuries this very famous aromatic light green tea was known by
the name Xia Sha Ren Xiang (Astounding Fragrance). A legend explains
why. Once in the distant past, some pickers of a particularly good crop
filled their baskets before they were ready to go home. Wanting to
carry more leaves, they stuffed the excess inside their tunics. By
another version they were stealing the tea. Warmed by body heat, the
leaves began to give off a rich aroma. "I was astounded," many pickers
said, and the name stuck. Sometime in the late seventeenth or early
eighteenth century while on an inspection of his realm, Emperor Kang Xi
visited the Lake Taihu area in Zhejiang province and his host, the
governor of Jiangsu, presented him with this tea. Striking the Emperor
as a tea of purity he asked the name. "Astounding Fragrance" was his
host's reply. The Emperor, with disdain, replied that such a name for
this treasure was vulgar and an insult. Ordering the unused leaves
brought for his examination, the Emperor declared that a more fitting
name would be Green Snail Spring because the rolled shape looked like a
snail shell. The original name is most popular, however.
Peach, apricot and plum trees are planted among the bushes. When these
fruit trees bloom, the tender spouts and buds of tea absorb the aromas
to be passed on to those who drink their infusion. The name is now
known all over the world, for this is one of China's famous rare teas.
Its home is two mountains known as East and West Dongting which poke up
out of Taihu, the great lake not far west of Shanghai, and where the
garden city of Suzhou is located. One mountain is an island in the lake
and the other a peninsula. The water evaporating from the lake keeps
them overhung with clouds and mist, thus the young leaves stay moist.
The prime time to pick the tea leaves is during the Pure Brightness
festival when the buds are jade-green tinged with white. Bi Luo Chun is
picked during the spring until April when the spring rains begin. Only
one leaf and the bud are plucked. Harvesting is done completely by hand
and great skill is required to roll and fire the leaves. Bi Luo Chun
was selected as the offering of local government to the emperor in Qing
Dynasty.
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