I often speak about the distinct differences between drinking a wild tea or ancient tree tea vs. a traditionally mass farmed tea. Today I took a quality organic green tea and compared it to our own Ancient Artisan Bi Luo Chun.
Liquor Color Difference: Organic vs. Wild Tea
As you can see clearly the Bi Luo Chun is much darker than the Sichuan green tea. The Sichuan green tea looks extremely delicate and that is exactly what it is, delicate. Where as the Ancient Artisan Bi Luo Chun looks a hearty dark green.
Now after we brew the two teas we can see how the Ancient Artisan Bi Luo Chun holds its color and shape nicely. The Sichuan green tea on the other hand becomes a more pale green, easily losing it’s color and it also loses the shape distinction. The tea, leaves almost become soggy like. I can only brew the Sichuan green tea 3 times before it becomes too bland to drink. The Ancient Artisan Bi Luo Chun is on it’s 6 brew and still going strong! I am getting much more complex flavors and changes of flavors out of the Bi Luo Chun on each brew, from nutty flavors, to tangy and even some flowery flavors.The Sichuan green tea on the other hand had some nice flavors the first 2 cups and the third cup began to taper off into the 4th cup, which I don’t consider worth drinking.
About the Qi
The Ancient Artisan Bi Luo Chun had a nice drive to it, refreshing and waking me up. It had that springy enlivening feeling I love from a good cup of green tea.
Drinking the Sichuan green tea second probably did not help to notice the Qi as it melded into the feeling of the Bi Luo Chun. One thing I can say for sure is that the Qi from it reflected the look of it, pale, bland and melding into the ancient tree green tea. Ancient tree green tea is number one hard to find. Number two, ancient tree teas always have a more complex flavor than a standard farmed tea, that can be brewed many more times.
Now let’s compare the liquor of the two teas.
How to Read the Liquor
Notice the one on the left has a more distinct, bright, clean green liquor where as the other is a more pale, foggy green. This tells us a lot. A more clean liquor is a sign of a more pure tea. In addition it can also be an indicator of a more clean processing method. Also the color of the liquor on the left is a bright, strong green color which to me suggests a better Qi quality. I prefer teas with strong, distinct colors, not pale foggy colors.
Winner: Ancient Artisan Bi Luo Chun Tea
Loser: Sichuan Organic (find name of Sichuan tea)
Believe it or not the Sichuan green tea is significantly more expensive than the Artisan Bi Luo Chun. Why? Simply because the company that sells the Sichuan green tea spends a fortune on marketing, has a major tea factory, has expensive packaging which adds to the cost. The Bi Luo Chun is simply from a family of tea farmers passing down an age old tradition of hand harvesting from their ancient tea trees.
Wanna try your own test? Send us your results or post them here, I love to do my own little tea competitions at home.
Until next time,
JT Hunter
