When Amanda, the owner of Dobra Tea House in Burlington, Vermont, told me that there was another "to die for" tea available in the world beside Gyokuro (from Japan), I told her to "get serious". "No joke", she countered. "You have to taste first flush tea from Darjeeling, India." She was out of first flush at the moment, but she made me taste a second flush.

One sip and I was all over her, demanding that she get me some first flush. I honestly can't describe the flavors in the nuances, but I remember being astonished, giddy, and almost teary-eyed. It was like drinking the equivalent of a kaleidoscope. "Come in April. We're going on a trip and we'll bring some back."

I called Amanda in April ("Hi Amanda. Remember me?" "Uh…uh." "Don't worry. Do you have the stuff?") Her small stash had run out, but the main shipment would be here shortly; and, by the way, did I want to attend a "tea seminar" in mid May that would feature 7 different first flush teas from 7 estates in India? For $20.00!! This time I'll take notes and try to describe the different flavors that pop out.

Did I mention Gyokuro earlier? I remember my first taste, in Tokyo, at a tasting in a department store basement, with tea producers from every corner of Japan.

Since I was working in a Japanese sashimi restaurant at the time, I would drink green tea all day long, usually bancha (the lowest grade) or sencha (the better grade). But I was totally unprepared for the taste of Gyokuro. I want to say that it tastes like the water in which spinach has been cooked, but I don't want to dissuade you from tasting it. It is slightly "chewy" but don't ask me why.

It reminds me of the combination of oysters and a flinty, steely French Chablis in my mouth, but that makes no sense. Its subtle aroma could qualify it to be the overall bouquet of heaven. Its pale green color, achieved by brewing the leaves for 1 minute in water that is not too hot (and then pouring off the tea so that it doesn't get bitter), is one of the prettiest greens, Sip slowly, folks. Suck in some air and let the mixture of tea and air roll over your palate. To compare ordinary tea this gift from "el ultimo" is like Dan Quayle comparing himself to John F. Kennedy. ("You, sir, are no Jack Kennedy.")

So when I tried this second flush teat Dobra Tea House, it was, like, déjà vu, man- back to that happy moment when I became acquainted with a member of the taste pantheon. I'm going to quote Amanda here, since it is now the morning of the tea seminar and we are ready to taste and learn about first flush teas from Darjeeling, on the nature of first flush tea.

OK- first flush tea must be consumed within 30-60 days of being picked. (She describes Gyokuro as being "buttery". Yeah! That's it.) They consist of one bud and one leaf from a tea plant. Second flush teas contain one bud and two leaves. More buds equate to moreflavor. Some first flush teas are delicious immediately after picking- by which I mean to include withering, rolling, sifting, and drying- while others take a few weeks to shine. (Isn't this like wine? When I was in Bordeaux visiting the Premier Grand Cru Classe wines like Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau D'Yquem, Chateau Margaux, etc., I tasted the young wines that were in barrels and tried to guess which ones would last a few years and which would outlive me.)

Tea plants last 60 years. Tea gardens are tucked away in villages. Tea experts help the growers every year produce better teas. Tea processing rooms smell like chocolate. Tea is the second most consumed beverage on earth. (Which is number one? Is it Bordeaux? Sauternes? Belgian beer? Actually, it's water.) Tea is really, really cool!

On to the tasting. We are instructed to sniff and slurp so that we can thoroughly enjoy the experience. We taste Margaret's Hope, Avongrove, Makaibairi Village, Puttabong Clonal, and a few others. Boiling water is poured over the leaves, and the tea brews for 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes 15 seconds. After the tea is poured off from the leaves, the teapot is passed around and each of us pours a small tasting cup. Sniff. Slurp.

The teas are light and delicate. What I'm enjoying, in addition to the fact that there are 7 first flush teas imported from Darjeeling, India with very short lives in one place in a tiny tea room in Burlington, VT, are the variety of flavors in my mouth as I sip these extraordinary teas. They are sweet, even though no sugar is added, and floral. There are other tastes, depending on which tea we sample. My eyes are closed so that I can concentrate on the appropriate senses. I feel as if I'm sitting in the middle of a string quartet; and they are playing slowly and softly, and I can hear every note and every instrument.

Listening to stories, watching a slide show of the trip, and tasting teas, I'm just where I want to be… but I'm thinking of a line of cakes containing tea: green tea cheesecake (which we made, using Japanese macha powder, for Northwest Airlines), chai mousse cake (made with cardamom, ginger root, peppercorns, bay leaf, cinnamon, and dark tea, two or three prototypes are still in the freezer of our cake factory), and something with Earl Grey tea (I'm thinking of a dessert that I tasted at the home of the chef of Archestrate in Paris: poached pears in an Earl Grey tea crème anglaise).

And that's it! At the end, we had chai to break the spell; and everyone was quite happy.

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