• Name: Bai Ji Guan (“White Cockscomb”)
• Chinese name & Pinyin: 白鸡冠 bái jī guān
• Type: Wuyi Rock Oolong
• Origin: Wuyishan, Fujian
• Harvest Time: Spring, 2025
• Roast Level: Light fire ("qīng huǒ", "轻火")

           Click to learn more about our roast levels

• Producer: Xiao Family
• Tasting note: Honeysuckle, Sweetgrass, Corn silk, Corn flake, Smooth & Mellow 

Bai Ji Guan is a rare albino cultivar among Wuyi yancha. Its leaves are thin and delicate, with higher levels of theanine and volatile aromatic compounds than more common tea cultivars, which makes it especially sensitive to roasting temperature. To preserve its honeysuckle aroma, corn silk sweetness, and fresh, sweet character, we roast it slowly over a light fire. This gentler approach helps protect the tea’s delicate aromatics and lively sweetness, resulting in a cup that feels clean and softly sweet.

A Unique Albino Tea Cultivar

Bai Ji Guan is one of the albino tea cultivars in Wuyishan. It is a light-sensitive variety, with stronger sunlight causing the leaves to appear more white-yellow in color. The main reason for this is that intense light suppresses chlorophyll synthesis, causing the young leaves to take on a pale yellow-white appearance.

This albino trait is controlled by a dominant single gene, making it a stable and heritable genetic characteristic rather than an accidental mutation. Under strong light conditions, the expression of genes related to the photosynthetic system is inhibited, and chloroplast development becomes abnormal, further affecting the formation of chlorophyll and carotenoids.

As the leaves mature, or as light intensity softens, the leaves gradually return to green. This shows that Bai Ji Guan’s albinism is not fixed in appearance, but a reversible physiological response shaped by growing conditions. This unusual trait also influences the tea’s chemical profile. With relatively higher levels of theanine and lower levels of tea polyphenols, Bai Ji Guan often produces a liquor that feels especially fresh, delicate, and gently sweet.

The Legend of Bi Ji Guan

Once, many years ago, a tea farmer in Wuyi set out to visit his father-in-law for his birthday. The tea farmer brought a large rooster as a present from his home, one of the best he had.

However, that day, the sun was particularly hot. The higher and higher he climbed, the more he sweated and perspired. When he reached a cliff on the way to Huiyuan Rock, the heat had become unbearable and he was exhausted. He placed the rooster under a tree in the shade and the rooster sat down, while the tea farmer himself sat nearby to catch his breath.

Suddenly, a shrill, cold sound rang out, “Gaaawk!”

The tea farmer leapt upright, nearly out of his wits, as a green snake, as thick as a thumb, had crawled past his foot. Panicked, the tea farmer came running towards the rooster. It lay motionless on the ground, as a drop of blood fell slowly from its comb to drip onto the root of a tea bush nearby.

Infuriated, the tea farmer dug a shallow hole under the tea tree and buried the rooster in the ground. Then, he continued the rest of his journey empty-handed and dejected.

The tea bushes near Huiyuan Rock that year grew strangely after that day. The bushes shot up fast, lush, and bulging, taller than the plants surrounding them. The leaves gradually changed from deep green to light green and then to an almost white color. Even from afar, a sweet, potent smell could be smelled wafting on the wind.

The tea leaves that were produced by these bushes were no less peculiar. The liquor in the teacup was a soft, yellow-white color, not dark as other yancha. The tea was pure and bright with a fragrant flower taste, making it hard to put down the cup.