Golden Bi Luo

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Brown Sugar, Cocoa, Malt, Mocha, Molasses, Pepper, Chocolate, Plum, Raisins, Wood
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by __Morgana__
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 253 oz / 7493 ml

Currently unavailable

We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

1 Image

12 Want it Want it

18 Own it Own it

  • +3

42 Tasting Notes View all

  • “This has become my go-to black tea when I feel like I need something strong to start the day, but I can’t decide which tea I want to drink. It has that wonderful toastiness — almost chewiness — and...” Read full tasting note
    87
  • “I was very close to having CTG’s Keemun again this morning (it’s that good) but I decided that I really should try my other teas, so I grabbed this one. The dry leaf smells malty-bakey-sweet and...” Read full tasting note
    82
  • “Wow, my first thought was this is so smooth and full of flavor. Slightly sweet, a bit chewy, and kind of meaty. Not that it tastes like meat but it has a quality I imagine meaty it to be. I know...” Read full tasting note
    96
  • “I received this very nice sample from Chicago Tea Garden last night but since it was late by the time I checked the mail, I waited until today to give it a try. The dry tea consists of brown and...” Read full tasting note
    81

From Chicago Tea Garden

David Lee Hoffman has been traveling China for over 20 years. His work has led to vast improvements in the quality of tea available to the West. David is especially proud of this tea. Golden Bi Luo is a high-grade black tea made in Yunnan Province in the style of Jiangsu Province’s Green Bi Luo Chun. The name means “snail spring” — spring because this tea is harvested in the spring; snail because the two leaves and down-covered tips are carefully rolled into tight spirals that slowly unfurl to release more flavor during steeping. The spirals are formed using three different hand movements in a heated wok. This tea produces a golden, creamy-tasting liquor with sweet notes of vanilla.

This tea is a master at producing multiple infusions, you can easily get 8 infusions from one serving of this tea. If you buy 50grams and steep 3grams each time, steeping the 3gram serving 8 times will bring the price of this tea to $0.11 a cup.

Golden Bi Luo is a great re-introduction to great, loose black tea. Whether you are looking for an alternative to coffee, or are just getting started with loose leaf and are ready to ditch your tea bags, Golden Bi Luo is a wonderful choice for an everyday tea. This tea is also known as Hong Bi Luo.

About Chicago Tea Garden View company

Chicago Tea Garden is an online tea shop committed to providing extraordinary teas and tea education to tea lovers and those new to the leaf. Chicago Tea Garden's co-owner Tony Gebely also runs the World of Tea Blog [http://www.worldoftea.org] and Tweets at @WorldofTea.

42 Tasting Notes

83
7 tasting notes

This is the first of my sample order from Chicago Tea Garden. How could I resist a black tea that looks yellow and is curled up like snails? It’s a dark, rainy morning, I’ve got the whole day at home ahead of me, and my IngenuiTEA is longing to be broken in. Let’s try a nice malty tea that I can keep infusing all day long.

Thanks to SoccerMom for pointing out the recommended brewing time of 1 minute with boiling water.

The first infusion is a nice orange color. There are light floral notes in the nose; this tea might be a waste if you have a cold. The nose also carries a subtle vanilla, giving the tea a rich and creamy character, balanced by a delicate taste—not at all bitter or astringent. The mouthfeel itself is quite balanced: substantial, but not heavy. Overall, the perfect complement to my wet, dark day.

For the second infusion, I extended the time to 2 minutes. Now the floral wisps have disappeared as a full, malty character emerges. This is a complex and adventuresome tea, and I’m glad that I took the day to explore it. Next time, I’d extend the first infusion to at least 1:30.

The third infusion at another 2 minutes is less spectacular, but no less satisfactory. Everything has quieted down a bit, but the floral malt still lingers.

A good tea, and a good day.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92
100 tasting notes

Lightly earthy but mellow. Touch of dry but so mellow you don’t notice it. It has a brightness to it that is unexpected. Call me crazy but there is a bit of fresh snapped green bean taste at the very beginning and end.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
17 tasting notes

The first time I brewed this tea, I was incredibly careful with temperatures, preheating, etc, and it was unlike any tea I’ve ever had. The next time, I didn’t bother as much, and it still came out good, but lacking a lot of the complexity. So this review is for the first time. You’ll want to set aside a good chunk of time to enjoy this tea properly. I think ‘scrumptious’ gets at the whole experience the best.

1st infusion (75 sec): Tasty, creamy, vanilla and malt notes, but not overpoweringly malty like many black teas can be. It reminds me a bit of sweet potato baked with marshmellows, but more savory. Incredibly smooth mouthfeel, even though it’s paradoxically a bit astringent.

2nd infusion (2 min): Slightly sweeter than the 1st, otherwise the same.

3rd infusion (3 min): Oops, may have oversteeped. This infusion is too astringent. It’s starting to get weak.

4th infusion (lost track; 3-5 min): Distinctly reminds me of gyokuro for some reason, but with mellow and savory substituted for grassy.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 15 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

73
54 tasting notes

12 oz water
4 g tea

dark amber steep in color. The aroma is sweet. The flavor does have a bit of malt, but overall i’m not getting a real strong overwhelming flavor out of the tea. Not bitter.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93
328 tasting notes

Prepared with the recommended short steeps—1 min., 1 min., 1.5 min., 1.5 min., etc. Very fresh, creamy, definite sweet, vanilla notes. About the 3rd steep, a toasty nuttiness emerges. Tea remains smooth throughout—a very good anytime cup.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

50
89 tasting notes

A little disapointing. Flavor was mild. Slightly sweet. Didn’t detect the vanilla notes. As the tea cooled, more flavor became apparent, but still very mild.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
89 tasting notes

Really nice, spicy black tea, beautiful in dry leaf form.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

89
2036 tasting notes

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US!

I have started my morning in a depressing fashion. The BF is being a particular pain today. He doesn’t work, so he had all week to take the kids (who were out of school) shopping for food for us to make for Thanksgiving. But he refused to buy the Turkey without me. So now he wants me to spend one of my few mornings off on his timetable which isn’t setting well with me.

Here I am writing tea notes, so guess who is winning?

Chicago Tea Garden is, I believe, defunct. I have a few tins of tea from them that I’ve never opened, this being one. I love the way the tea looks. Little golden ampersands. Snails, whatever curly thing you want to call them. They have a mild, bready smell in the tin.

The tin, BTW, was only half full when I removed the seal. It looks like it would contain 4 oz tea, but it only had half of that. Strange.

Anyway, this has the standard malty, brown sugary, slightly peppery aroma. A little sweet potato, a little molasses, maybe even a bit of cocoa/mocha. And that’s what I get in the flavor, too. The tea is medium brown orange and clear.

It’s not the best Yunnan ever, but it is Yunnan. And Yunnan is my favorite.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Cocoa, Malt, Mocha, Molasses, Pepper

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 500 OZ / 14786 ML
tea-sipper

Hmm… a half filled NEW tin just sounds sad. Nothing like a good yunnan though! Hope your Thanksgiving got better.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90
35 tasting notes

This tea was extraordinary. I’ve not been able to find a Golden Bi Luo that compares in taste, freshness, and price.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85
1379 tasting notes

I usually have fruit for breakfast but this morning I have gone all out and made a good veggie style English breakfast. Two veggie sausages, baked beans, fried chestnut mushrooms, two fried eggs and some toast to mop up the food explosion that is on my plate. Not healthy but it will keep me going until dinner time and with something substantial in my stomach I am free to taste teas for the rest of the day without getting tea belly.

This sample of Golden Bi Luo Chun has been sat with me for just over a year and I don’t know why I was worried about sampling it before, or perhaps I forgot about it. Anyone’s guess is as good as my own. Either way an English breakfast is never complete without a cup of black tea.

The tea balls were nice and reflective and golden but they were also very small, I’ve had larger versions of this before elsewhere. I brewed this while I was cooking so I had a mixture of smells (my bad) but I could pick up silky malt tones.

I love my personaliTEA teapot from Adagio, it’s perfect size for 2 mugs of tea and comes in handy when I have days off.

Once steeped a dark brown liquid is produced that bares a sweet malt and chocolate scent that is light and silky. Very nice.

Flavour is mild but matches the scent very much ie soft, sweet, silky, malt, chocolate tones. Also a little smoky though it’s very subtle and hints of wood. After a few sips I can also taste a mature raisin or plum fruit.

This tea is wonderful and I’m sorry for keeping it on my shelf for so long. It makes the perfect start to my day.

Flavors: Chocolate, Malt, Plum, Raisins, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 30 sec 3 tsp 7 OZ / 200 ML
ohfancythat

English breakfast, yum!

TeaBrat

sounds good to me!

Terri HarpLady

That sounds like an awesome breakfast! I can’t even imagine that there is anything unhealthy about it!

Tealizzy

Yes! Awesome breakfast!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.