Fo Xiang Bai Cha

Fo Xiang, "Buddha Scent", is a very high quality tea produced in the form of Gunpowder or Chinese Zhu Cha, "pearl tea". Just like An Ji Bai Cha it is produced with the leaves of the white leaved tea plant. A really beautiful example for the influence of the tea's form on its taste. Plucked by hand and produced by machine, however artisanally.

The producer, who is known in his town as a "tea freak", crazy for tea, owns vast tea gardens in the hills around Xinchang and produces a diversity of teas from diverse varietals in good quality.

The tea is called Bai Cha, "white tea", because the leaves are of a pale green, almost white, when they are plucked, as this tea plant has very little chlorophyll. However, it is produced in the manner of green tea. These tea plants with the whitish leaves had already been described during the Song-dynasty (960-1279), and were ever since thought to be a myth. At the end of the 20th century, however, a wild tea tree of this kind was (re-?)discovered. Teas from this tea varietal are very smooth and incredibly sweet in aroma. Because of the high degree of a certain amino acid in the tea plant these teas have a pronounced umami-taste.