This morning the street-lights seemed almost embarrassed to be caught out still on when I got up.

Although the sun had yet to make an appearance, it was already making its presence felt as it loitered just below the horizon, and the roadside illuminations looked ridiculously out of place, like someone turning up to a solemn gathering in a Batman costume thinking it was a fancy dress do.

The sky was clear, and the morning sea air for the first time this year was crisp and fresh rather than weapons grade chilly.

The seagulls looked as though Michelangelo himself had painted them onto the sky with a divinely inspired casual flick of the wrist. Even the normally tatty and dirty looking pigeons and crows were looking freshly scrubbed and presentable.

It was all too stupidly perfect, like the song “Who Will Buy?” from the musical Oliver! – you almost expected to see a singing, dancing procession of barrow boys and street vendors parading past.

On such a morning coffee would have been unspeakably vulgar at best, and a black tea as inappropriate as a tuxedo in a sauna.

The cheap green gunpowder’s all gone, and although I still can’t bring myself to bin the stuff I couldn’t face the thought of the even cheaper Jasmine. I did the sensible thing, and reached for the Longjing.

I wasn’t going to play around with a gaiwan at silly o’clock in the morning, so I brewed up casual style using the Samadoyo pot. The fresh green taste gelled with the spring like mood in the air perfectly.

The Longjing was also very satisfying – I didn’t find myself wanting another brew until midday, and then it just felt right that the Silver Needle got a turn in the spotlight.

I think for the sake of symmetry I’ll go back to the Longjing later on this evening, and raise a cup in salutation to Sol, as it drops out of sight behind Copenhagen on the other side of the water…