Michael Plant wrote:
> 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.

I'm not a specialist in Chinese greens, I have had a number of "bird's
tongue" green and they have all been very similar. They are not
roasted/nutty like LJ. What I have brews a very light cup, that is
sweet, has a very low astringency, and is very pale. FWIW

> 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

I was not trying to be wordy without really saying anything... I do
have a tendency to do that though. I also am not a technician who has
that wonderful ability to describe tastes with words like a beautiful
piece of art... but I will try. And anyone who has enjoyed Gyokuro
knows it is very subtle... making it even harder to do.

The brew is a very pale almost non-existant color, the taste is subtle
and not grassy nor roasty/nutty like LJ. It kind of reminds me of a
very delicate Pi Lo Chun if I had to come up with something... light,
sweet, maybe a bit vegetal. It is more of a feeling to me than a
flavor, as strange as that may seem. That was the part I meant by the
focus and intensity required.

The Gyokuro's I have tried from online vendors are more like a higher
end green tea like a sencha/bancha but less harsh and not grassy or as
pronounced. It is certainly Gyokuro, just not as subtle and nuanced.

The bottom line to me is that while I really enjoy it, even mid-grades,
it just never fits the bill as a daily enjoyable tea for me. That is
more the issue than the price, availability, or anything else. Brewing
Gyokuro correctly requires a lot of leaf, 2 *tablespoons* of tea to 4
oz. of water is not unheard of. It is good for 2-3 infusions. That's
expensive. I tend to brew it around 130F sometimes upwards of 140F,
this is one tea I use a thermometer for. To me the hype I spoke of is
not the price and stuff but the real lack of anything that is going to
bowl you over when drank... it just doesn't happen. It's subtle, it's
finicky, it's hard to store and really useless to even try, and it is
hard to get. That just doesn't lend itself to an enjoyable tea in my
book.

Hopefully that was more along the lines of what you were after. I've
been extremely busy at work so this took some time to actually
finish... sorry for the wait.

- Dominic