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OK, I have to give this tea a bump. I’m on steep number six and still getting excellent, full flavored, rich cups.

The flavor profile is still “basic Chinese green”, but with this level of resteepability, that’s a big bump on the value for money front.

This is where Chinese green teas start to lose me, I think, and all begin to taste basically the same. But the problem, of course, is me, not the tea.

I’m into my second steep of this, now, and after my enjoyment of the dragon well in recent weeks I had high hopes.

There is a steady transition here as you sip, savor and swallow. Up front you get a strong roasted note and a tiny bite of vegetal bitterness, but then the cup opens up into bright, fresh green sweetness. But, that’s what happens with all the good, green, Chinese teas I’ve had. I just don’t have the palate development yet (for these teas) to discuss the subtle distinctions between a Chun Mei, a Xin Yang Mao Jian, a Taimu Maojin and a Bi Luo Chun.

Hopefully this week’s series of samplings will school me.

Fair truth: tasting this kind of terrified me. If you’ve followed my notes regularly, you will know that I simply cannot abide anything floral in my tea. So, a fully flowering tea? This can’t be good, can it?

We don’t have, no shock I suspect, the proper pot for brewing this, but I took the center column out of a clear, round Bodum and we used that. Unfortunately, no matter how slowly I poured, the pod did get battered around a fair bit, and some of the outer leaves came loose. And, it floated for a good while, which complicated things a bit.

But it did fully expand in due time, and was very pretty.

And oddly enough, the tea itself is not particularly floral ! Just a lightly roasted white tea, very subtle. Maybe a whiff of sweetness near the finish. If this was just a loose white tea, I wouldn’t be all that impressed, I don’t think. But then, who’s going to use their finest leaves to make these things?

I forgot to say that this is one of the teas from our second sample set, which finally arrived (it got delayed in Beijing for quite a while) yesterday.

I definitely should have done the first steeping much shorter. My second cup is already a bit thin. Oops.

I’m always fascinated by other people’s tasting notes.

I did notice a bit of a hint of smoke on the dry leaf, but beyond that point I haven’t found it to be present again.

In fact, the wet leaf and fresh cup were, for me, redolent with all the tell tale notes of a Yunnan golden tea. I actually went and double checked the bag to be sure I wasn’t half asleep and brewing the wrong tea.

In the cup I get a teensy bit of that Yunnan sweetness but it is more than managed by a big whallop of assam like astringency. Not that “oh no I over steeped it” bite that puckers your sucker, just that lingering dry mouth that has you reaching for another sip over and over again.

There is an earthiness here that is completely distinct from a pu-erh. Not old, musty loam, more of a fresh, black top soil during a gentle rain.

I find myself wishing I’d done an even shorter steep in the hopes that it would have allowed for quite a few rounds on these leaves.

My second round of samples from TeaVivre seem to be held up in Shanghai, so while I wait for those to arrive, I’m sticking to old favorites rather than ordering anything new. Actually, we’re stone broke and I can’t justify buying tea, but I’m telling myself that I like turning to favorites right now.

The more tea I drink, the more I realize that the only teas I don’t need to be in a “mood” to want to drink are Yunnan golds, Wuyi Oolongs and pu-erhs. Everything else, as much as I like them, I need to be “in the mood” to drink.

I just wish I had a better Yunnan than this RoTea, right now.

Lisbet picked up this tea for me while she was in Tokyo and I’ve been saving it for a rainy day because it isn’t cheap.

Well, it is raining both literally and metaphorically today, so here we go.

Unfortunately…

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this tea, but truth be told, I’ve had better gyokuro sold stateside (so much for the myth that all the best tea is never exported) and there really isn’t anything deeply exceptional or exciting going on, here.

Certainly not enough to make up for financial woes, failing plumbing, deaths in the family, conflicting obligations, office politics or looming holiday travels and hassles.

A good way to make this seem much better than it is (to me) is to make it my first cup of real tea in a full week.

I still don’t like drinking flowers, though.

This does not hold up well to the “en-K-cupping” process.

I am in the office for the week.

I may need to go buy loose tea and a basket.