Hey teadrinker,

Could you tell me where you got that story because it looks very much
like the one we have on our website except that the trees planted
around are not fruit trees but bamboo, roses, pine trees, osmanthus
bushes, or Yulan (Magnolia heptapeta, only found in China).

by the way, our source for the story is the Cha Jing.

Seb

teadrinker wrote:
> 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.