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> Actually if you get a chance to try a high quality "Bird's Tongue" (I
> believe it translates to Que She) I think you will be surprised. Small
> leaves/buds very pale coloring and very close in taste.

That would be a quality level of Long Jing,
not a type of tea in and of itself, if I'm
not mistaken, which I could be. That said,
LJ and Gyokuro have different profiles.
Correct me if I'm wrong here.

>> Pu'erh can sell at $175.00 per gram. Is that
>> in the league? The Gyokuro market as you
>> describe it is new to me.
>
> Stupidly I forgot to mention the DJ industry/market/auction blows even
> Gyokuro away. I figured people would pounce on that. I've seen Gyokuro
> sell for what converts to close to $500 a gram, and have heard of a
> place in Japan for ultra elite where a single cup is about $1k but that
> is more for the "ambiance" and status/ego than the tea I'm sure.

I read every word of your post, snipping
most of it here for brevity. You speak
much about cost and value, cultural values
vis-a-vis money, and so on, but you speak
not one single word about your experience
with the extraordinarily high quality --
albeit not the *highest* quality -- Gyokuro
that others have served you. You have not
offered any comments about the taste,
the aroma, the difference between these
and those of lesser breeds. I can only assume
that this is all a big to-do about nothing at
all. One more try, though: Tell us about
how this tea struck you, what it tasted like,
what it smelled like, how it opened and
how it finished, its aftertaste, its effect
on mouth, throat, and body. Make me
feel the tea as I read. Beyond that, all is
trash. Well, pulp anyway.

Michael