The only green tea I love

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Although I write mostly about oolongs, there was a period of about a year where all I really wanted to drink was green tea.  Through personal purchases and gifts from friends, I had amassed an assortment of fine green teas, including Long Jing, Sulloc Green from Korea and Gyokuro from Japan. 

But my favorite green tea is Bi Luo Chun.  It's a delicate tea with a sophisticated flavor profile that is clean and smooth on the tongue, radiating aromas that are smoky, fruity and floral.  Its dry leaves have a unique appearance, like hairy little critters, contributing to its name that translates as "green spring snail."

I've read many stories about this tea's background and I think the Wikipedia article sums it up rather succinctly.  For reasons that would cause many a tea friend to blush, I've posted the link to the article below for you to read at your leisure.

The Story Behind Bi Luo Chun
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Bi Luo Chun is a tea that is produced in very limited quantities.  Like many other precious, premium-grade teas, production of Bi Luo Chun has been expanded outside of China's Jiangsu province, to Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces, as well as to Taiwan.
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I had my first excellent cup of Bi Luo Chun about 11 years ago.  My father received a small can of it from a Chinese consular representative that he had met.  At the time, I had already tried several Bi Luo Chuns, but had never had anything that was a real stand-out.  I later learned that the product's limited production and the region's climate and pollution issues resulted in irregular product.
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Some competition-grade teas, like the Bi Luo Chun, come in small, cylindrical cans

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I can remember taking the top off of my father's gift, the "hiss" as the air entered the can simultaneously inflating the fluffy buds of the tea and releasing its slightly sour but pleasant aroma. 

Green tea is much more delicate than the the Tieguanyins and Dong Dings that I grew up drinking.  Those teas are robust and can handle a variation of brewing times and water temperature.  Green teas cannot.  Leaves that have been scorched by water that is too hot will brew tea that has an unbalanced flavor and high astringency.  The result:  toss the leaves and start over
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This can was amazing.  It is still the best example of Bi Luo Chun that I have ever tasted.  Light flavors coupled with an irresistible fragrance.  A lingering aftertaste of floral notes that returns from your belly with every breath, not with the throat-sweeness of "hui gan," but with a perfumed fragrance.
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I had found the first and only green tea that I would ever love.

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Over the years, I tried dozens more Bi Luo Chuns from tea stores in the US, China, and Hong Kong, but failed to find another acceptable product. That is, until a tea friend brought me to New Century Tea in Seattle's Chinatown about 2 years ago.
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Dafe and Grace at New Century specialize in mainland Chinese teas.  Brought there by a tea friend, I took a chance and requested a sample of Bi Luo Chun.  With great generosity, Grace popped open a can sitting next to her tea table, scooped it into a Gaiwan and poured in the rinse water.  I immediately knew that it was my lucky day.  The aroma was enchanting, like a first-love that visits your dreams.  The tea was reminiscent of the amazing can I had nearly a decade before. 
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Six infusions later, the flavors still danced in my stomach and revisited my nose with every exhalation.  Beautiful.  Ever since, I've tried New Century's Bi Luo Chun when it arrives every spring.