Anji Bai Cha supreme
The earliest picking of Anji Bai Cha, taken during the few days when the albino cultivar’s shoots are at their palest. The harvest window is measured in days because the leaves green as temperatures rise, and the price reflects that rather than any processing difference.
Character
Among the sweetest and least bitter green teas made anywhere, with a savoury depth that comes from unusually high amino-acid content.
- Flavour
- Sweet, Vegetal, Umami
- Aroma
- Fresh
- Mouthfeel
- Light, Silky, Smooth
- Complexity
- Layered
- Notes
- sweet pea, bamboo, light cream
- Aftertaste
- Sweet, savoury and very clean.
Delicate intensity: light in the mouth with little grip. forgiving of a long steep.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- China
- Cultivar
- Bai Ye Yi Hao
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Kill-green (fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Huang Jin Ya
Two pale-leaf mutant cultivars with the same cause and different behaviour — one stays golden all season, the other greens within days.
- Anji Bai Cha
Standard and earliest-picking grades of the same albino cultivar. The harvest window for the supreme grade is days, which is what the price reflects.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Mizudashi sencha
Shares 7 descriptors with Anji Bai Cha supreme: sweet, vegetal, umami, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Junshan Yinzhen
Shares 6 descriptors with Anji Bai Cha supreme: sweet, vegetal, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Karigane
Shares 6 descriptors with Anji Bai Cha supreme: sweet, umami, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)
Shares 5 descriptors with Anji Bai Cha supreme: sweet, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Bai Ji Guan
Shares 5 descriptors with Anji Bai Cha supreme: sweet, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Enshi Yu Lu
Shares 5 descriptors with Anji Bai Cha supreme: umami, vegetal, sweet, silky and fresh.