Kuradashi Gyokuro Pinnacle

Tea: Kuradashi Gyokuro Pinnacle
Vendor: Hibiki-an
Source: Uji, Japan

About This Tea: The Kuradashi Pinnacle was the highest grade of aged gyokuro offered by Hibiki-an. This product has since gone out of stock and been removed from their website. Hence the lack of price and vendor description. This particular Kuradashi Gyokuro was stored and aged for 18 months before packaging.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is dark green and very uniform in color. The leaves have a more twisted appearance thanis normal for a gyokuro of this caliber. There is a sweet gyokruo aroma to the leaves that has hints of grassiness to it.

1st Infusion Parameters: 10g, 5oz, 140F, 45s, preheated hohin

1st Infusion: The infusion is lightly murky with a yellowish hue to it. There is a very sweet and calming aroma to this tea. The flavor screams umami. It is very strong and promient in this tea, moreso than most other gyokuro that I have tried. There is al ight grassiness to this tea and it actually has a thickness that reminds me of a soup broth more than any other gyokuro. It is smooth, bold and full bodied. The flavor is very round, with no strenght on the backend. The back does make up for this with a very strong brothy aftertaste though. Overall this feels very mellow and thick. There is a ligthly raspy feeling on the tongue after finishing.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 140F, 15s

2nd Infusion: This infusion has a clearer yellow green hue. The flavor is not as centralized this time. It is still rich, but it is lacking on strength in the core. There is a light sense of bitterness and astringency to this infusion. The flavor is still brothy, but not quite as much as the first infusion. It still has a strong umami feeling to it.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 145F, 30s

3rd Infusion: This infusion has the same yellow hue as the second infusion. It exhibits a lightly grassy aroma. There is a medium bitterness to be found in this infusion surprisingly. The flavor again shows strength, but the umami portion of the flavor is much lighter this time around. It feels very light and sharp with hints of a marine flavor to this tea. The tea finishes off with a light sense of astringency, and has the same roughness on the tongue as the first infusion.

4th Infusion Parameters: 1:00, 130F

4th Infusion: This infusion has a richer gyokuro aroma to it. The tea is a light straw yellow hue. There is a medium astringency to it, yet despite this there is a soft and rich flavor to it. The marine flavor is starting to show itself more, stronger than the second infusion, but not overly powerful. There is a sharper aftertaste to this infusion, paired with a sense of bitterness.

5th Infusion Parameters: 130F, 1:30

5th Infusion: The color of the tea switched to a light yellow green hue this time. There is not much of a noticeable aroma to the tea. The flavor is smooth and finishes with a medium sense of astringency. There is a light sharpness on the backend. Ther eis not much flavor in this infusion and the tea is starting to feel a little watery.

6th Infusion Parameters: 145F, 2:00

6th Infusion: This infusion was a pale yllow color. It has a smooth and light flavor to it with a medium sense of astringency. There is a light bitterness on the backend, but it's starting to let up.

Rating: 9/10

Conclusion: This tea is an interesting experience. Not the finest gyokuro that I've had, but not the worst. It's definitely a good drink, but I'm not sure that I would order it again. The aging of a Kuradashi has an interesting effect on the tea, but even with a gyokuro I find myself missing the vibrance of freshness. The price of this tea was quite prohibitive. If I remember right the next grade down was a times cheaper. I expected a more interesting flavor out of this tea, but ended up disappointed. Don't get me wrong though, this tea is a good drink and beats quite a few gyokuro out there, but it's just not what I expected from pinnacle grade.

Gyokuro Fujitsubo

Tea: Gyokuro Fujitsubo
Vendor: O-Cha
Price: $45.95 / 100g
Source: Uji, Japan
Vendor Descripton: Uji Gyokuro "Fujitsubo" - O-Cha.com is honored to offer gyokuro "Fujitsubo", supplied to us from the Tsuen family who operate Japan's oldest teashop located on the banks of the Uji river. A very high quality, authentic first-flush gyokuro, this tea is a proprietary blend of "Saemidori" and "Yabukita" breeds of green tea, with the "Saemidori" being prominent. Gyokuro is shade grown before harvesting, giving it a greener color and sweeter taste. Once you learn to make it properly, you wil be hooked for life! Make sure to read our brewing instructions, as it is brewed differently than sencha.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a very deep shade of green. There are lots of small particles to this tea, but it has a rich gyokuro aroma. There is a little bit of stem in there, but not much.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5oz, 130F, 45s

1st Infusion: This tea has a light pale green color. It is very clear, and has a thick and rich aroma. The flavor is very strong, but the flavor is mostly on the front side. The flavor is rich and grassy, with a very smooth flavor. There is no astringency to it.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 140F, 15s

2nd Infusion: This infusion was murkier in color. It was a darker yellow hue, and lacked the radiance of the first infusion. The aroma was bolder and had a sense of grassiness to it. The flavor of this tea was quite envigorating. The feeling spread throughout the mouth and had a strong boldness to it. There was a light sencha like bitterness to the flavor, it was quite thick again and felt quite energizing.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 150F, 45s

3rd Infusion: There was a little bit of residue in this cup, but the color was a clear bright green hue. It was again bold with a very normal gyokuro flavor. It was grassy this time around, and lighter and cleaner than before. The flavor was clean and open.

4th Infusion Parameters: 155F, 2:00

4th Infusion: There was not much aroma to this infusion. The flavor was rich and strong early on, but there was not much fo a middle or late flavor. The flavor felt slightly light and empty. It was pretty apparent that the tea was starting to let up.

Rating: 9/10

Conclusion: This tea is quite wonderful. The flavor had different profiles in each infusion, it is a bit surprising to see it change this much. Normally it's changes within the normal part of the profile, but this had grassiness come and go in different infusions. After the 4th infusion it felt like it could probably go on further, but it would take a fair amount of time/temp to coerce it out of it. It seems like quite a pricey tea, but not that extreme for gyokuro.

Uji Gyokuro Gyoku Hou

Tea: Uji Gyokuro Gyoku-Hou
Vendor: O-cha
Price: $44.95 / 100g
Source: Uji, Japan
Vendor Description: Uji Gyokuro "Gyoku-Hou" - A very high quality first-flush gyokuro from Uji, near Kyoto. Gyokuro is shade grown before harvesting, giving it a greener color and sweeter taste. Once you learn to make it properly, you wil be hooked for life! Make sure to read our brewing instructions, as it is brewed differently than sencha.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea was lightly glossy with a dark green color. The green color was very even and consistent throughout this tea and there were a few very noticeable long leaves in there.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 140F, 60s

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a pale light green almost luminescent hue to it. There was a very faint murkiness to it. The flavor was smooth, with a light sense of grassiness. There was a mild sensation of rich umami flavoring, but not much marine flavor. There was not much flavor on the backend of this tea. It had a very strong showing in the early to mid portions of the taste and had a very mouth opening feel to it. It was different than the clean sensation from a good sencha, but similar.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 145F, 15s

2nd Infusion: This infusion was slightly murkier. The color was green, but not quite the same luminescent hue as before. The flavor was light and had a certain emptiness to it. It felt like the core of the flavor was not well represented in this infusion, but the surrounding aspects of flavor were still present. There was more flavor in the back end than the front and mid. This flavor represented itself as a light grassiness, but aside from that there was not much else.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 150F, 60s

3rd Infusion: The color was light and clear again. The flavor was once again very clear. There was a light sense of astringency in this one, but it still felt like the core of the flavor was missing. There was a light flavor hiding toward the back of the flavor, but it felt like it was hiding.

Rating: 6/10

Conclusion: As much as I've heard wonderful things about the gyokuro offered by O-cha, I was disappointed by this tea. It felt like after the first infusion, the tea didn't really open up for the successive infusions. It may have been that upping the temperature or infusion times could have opened it up more, but it felt like there wasn't something there to open up to. I find that in second and to a lesser extent third infusions of gyokuro, the flavor should be open and almost only need be rinsed to get the flavor out. I was not impressed by this gyokuro as being a top end contender, but it wasn't a bad gyokuro. This would be an ok frequent drinking gyokuro if someone was looking for something to have once a week or so.

Kuradashi Gyokuro Super Premium

Tea: Kuradashi Gyokuro Super Premium
Vendor: Hibiki-an
Price: $24.00/ 40g
Source: Uji, Japan

About This Tea: This tea is a Kuradashi tea. Kuradashi teas are teas that have been stored for a period of time to intentionally age the tea. This was stored for 18 months before packaging.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea has a lightly grassy aroma. The leaf is dark in color. The shape is very similar to the o-cha Yame Gyokuro.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 140F, 5oz, 60s

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a pale green color to it. It was quite transparent with just a hint of color. The tea has a very unusual aroma, it's an almost woody aroma to it. There is a rich umami flavor to this infusion and it is much less grassy than most gyokuro. The flavor was lighter than many gyokuro, but it was still very full bodied. The flavor was predominantly a marine/seaweed flavor, which followed through from beginning to end.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 145F, 15s

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a much brighter color to it. There was a light amount of murkiness to it, and a radiant green color which reminded me a bit of shincha. The tea has a light dry aroma to it. The marine/seaweed flavor was dominant in this infusion as well. The tea is very smooth and enjoyable. There is no bitterness and no astringency to it. The flavor in this infusion was very consistent from beginning to end.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 150F, 45s

3rd Infusion: This infusion had a dusty aroma to it. The marine/seaweed flavor was also dominant in this infusion. There was still a good amount of umami flavor in it, but I noticed the empty wamer water flavor showing through.

4th Infusion Parameters: 160F, 90s

4th Infusion: This infusion had a clearer color to it. There was a much lighter flavor, but it felt a bit hollow. The thickness found in the earlier infusions and richness of umami flavor was lightening up and the flavor felt a bit hollow. There were still hints of the marine/seaweed flavor though.

Rating: 10/10

Conclusion: This is a very unusual gyokruo. The flavor was the most consistent throughout the infusions as I have ever seen. Even with the increasing temperature it was smooth with no sense of bitterness or astringency, a characteristic that tends to show up during later infusions. It felt very pure and clean throughout the whole time.

Yame Gyokuro

Tea: Yame Gyokuro
Vendor: O-cha
Price: $27.95 / 100g
Source: Yame, Japan
Vendor Description: Yame Gyokuro "Select" - High quality first-flush gyokuro grown in Yame, Japan. Over 50% of all gyokuro grown in Japan comes from Yame. Gyokuro is shade grown before harvesting, giving it a greener color and sweeter taste. Once you learn to make it properly, you wil be hooked for life! Make sure to read our brewing instructions, as it is brewed differently than sencha.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea has a very noticeable and pleasant gyokuro aroma. The leaf is a dark green color, and has a relatively long and thick appearance to it. The leaf does not appeared as needle like as some senchas. There is a surprising amount of powder to this tea.

1st Infusion Parameters: 10g, 5 oz., 140F, 60s.

1st Infusion: The tea came out witha very murky grassy green color to it. There is a slightly light and tingly aroma to it, which was surprising. Most gyokuro has a thicker aroma. The flavor is rich and distinctively gyokuro like, but not as thick as most. There is a light sense of astringency, and no bitterness. The flavor is very full and enjoyable, but lighter than most gyokuro.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 150F, 30s.

2nd Infusion: This was a darker and murkier infusion than the first one. The flavor was lighter and thinner than the first and it has an almost clean feeling to it.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This tea was rather unusual for a yame gyokuro. It could not hold up well for as many infusions as other yame gyokuro. Tweaking with the parameters would probably extend this out to 4, but not past that. It feels almost like a what a fukamushi is to a sencha, this feels like it is to gyokuro. The cloudiness in the first infusion was very unexpected. Later experimentation with this tea showed that it brews well at lower leaf:water ratios and warmer water. It is wonderful in almost sencha like conditions.

Gyokuro Kin Fridge Brew

Tea: Gyokuro Kin - Fridge Brew
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $13.50 / 2 oz.
Source: Asahina, Shizuoka
Vendor Description: Gyokuro Kin offers the elegance and beauty of the famed Gyokuro teas. The harmony of slight astringency and natural sweetness turns to full-body in your mouth. Den’s Gyokuro Kin is a cup of affordable luxury.

About this tea: Like the Strawberry & Vanilla this tea was brewed as a fridge brew with cold water. The ratio used was 20g / 1 L.

Infusion: The infusion from this tea had a light and luminescent light green color to it. It has a light yet rich gyokruo flavor. It has the grassiness of a normal gyokuro infusion, but lighter. It was weaker than the shinobi-cha flavor. It was more refreshing than a traditionally brewed gyokuro. This tea presented a well balanced flavor of grassiness and strong gyokuro flavor.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This tea was refreshing and enjoyable, but used a rather large amount of leaf to do so. Being gyokuro it did not produce a significantly better cup of tea than a ice brewed sencha.

Gyokuro

Tea: Gyokuro
Vendor: Harney and Sons
Price: $30.00 / 4 oz.
Vendor Description: Uji’s most famous tea. Japanese aristocrats have sipped this shade-grown tea for centuries. The dark green tea makes for a very special cup.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea was for the most part a typical gyokuro leaf. There were a few unusually rolled leaves, where they were rolled instead of into a needle, almost into a small ball. There is a little bit of dust, and smells like a typical gyokuro. The aroma is on the fainter side for a gyokuro.

1st Infusion: The color of this tea is a typical pale green gyokuro with very distinctive green color to it. The flavor is rich in umami, but it is missing the distinctive grassiness of a gyokuro. Instead of a strong dominant grassy flavor it is a light and barely noticeable flavor. As is usual with a gyokuro there is no bitterness or astringency.

2nd Infusion: This infusionw as much darker and murkier than the first infusion. The flavor is stronger and slightly bitter in flavor. This infusion had a much more characteristic gyokuro flavor, paried as well with a light body and a tiny sense of astringency.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: This tea is not a prime time gyokuro, but it is not terribly expensive as well. It has a decent gyokuro flavor, there are some weaknesses like the mild grassy flavor, and the tea didn't seem to suggest that it could go for the 6 or more infusions of more premier gyokuros. The flavor was very standard and acceptable. It's a rather respectable sample of what a gyokuro is.

Gyokuro Kin

Tea: Gyokuro Kin
Vendor: Den's Tea
Source: Asahina, Shizuoka, Japan
Price: $13.50/ 2 oz
Vendor Description: Kin offers the elegance and beauty of the famed Gyokuro teas. The harmony of slight astringency and natural sweetness turns to full-body in your mouth. Den’s Gyokuro Kin is a cup of affordable luxury.

Leaf: This leaf is very dark green in color with a slight flatness to it. There is a quite a large amount of dust to it, and a slightly matte and slightly glossy color. The leaf has a very thick and sweet aroma to it.

1st Infusion Brewing Parameters: 5g, 3 oz, 140F, 2 mins

1st Infusion: The color of this tea was a light almost luminescent green color. It had a very sweet and creamy gyokuro aroma. The flavor was thick and creamy as a gyokuro normally is, but lacked the grassiness and strength of flavor of some of the more distinguished gyokruos.

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a darker and murkier green color to it. There are hints of a grassier taste here, and it still has a thick gyokuro flavor. The flavor was sweet yet a bit weak.

3rd Infusion: This infusion was a bit lighter and had a yellow/green color. There is a light astringency and bitterness paired with the gyokruo flavor, and the flavor is still creamy.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: This is the lower of the two grades of gyokuro offered by Den's tea. Going into this I did not have much in terms of expectations from this tea. Shizuoka is not as famous for gyokuro as Yame or Uji. The flavor was a bit weaker than most gyokuro that I have tried. It also felt like the flavor should have lasted for more infusions.

Precious Dew Pearl

Tea: Precious Dew Pearl
Vendor: Tao of Tea
Price: $4.25 / oz
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Gyokuro, also known as "Precious Dew Pearl", is a highly famous tea from Japan. It requires more skill and careful selection of leaves than other green teas. At the end of the growing season the tea plants are covered by tarps and bamboo mats for three weeks before plucking. This shade grown process enhances the deep green color, flavor and anti-oxidant properties of the tea. After the leaves are plucked, they are steamed, giving a very sweet, creamy, oceanic taste.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a very dark matte green color. It has a very grassy aroma which is very characteristic for a gyokuro and the leaf size is surprisingly uniform.

1st Infusion: As expected there was a very sweet gyokuro aroma, but mixed in felt like there were hints of a sencha flavor. The tea is very smooth, but only medium bodied. It has the ideal gyokuro flavor, but it is not very prominent, and it almost feels like this is a blend between a sencha and a gyokuro where the flavors are being shared between one another. The flavor is thick, but not as thick as other gyokuros. The infusion is surprisingly yellow in color, which for gyokuro is fairly rare. There is no bitterness and no astringency as expected.

2nd Infusion: The second infusion had a murkier color, this one with a yellow-brown hue to it. There was a slight sense of bitterness to it, but the flavor was more prominent. There was a hint of a light asparagus flavor, and a light sense of astringency to finish it off.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: While this isn't a spectacular gyokuro, for it's price it performs well. It is quite apparent that this isn't a top rate gyokuro, but is one of the cheaper gyokuros that I have tried. The flavors of solid gyokuros are present, but they are hidden or shared with other flavors. If you are looking for a gyokuro to drink on a regular basis then this may be good for you. If you're looking for something special, look elsewhere. This tea really felt like it barely held up for two infusions where a more solid gyokuro should hold up for 5 or more.

Gyokuro Brewing

Today's post is for Salsero about how I brew my gyokuro.

Gyokuro is the tea that I brew with the most precision. I have found that the factors involved with brewing it vary the flavor so much, and the price on gyokuro tends to be up there to make me not want to eyeball it on the first go.

There are primarily 6 different things that I use to brew gyokuro. From left to right, top to bottom:
1) Thermometer/timer
2) Tokoname kyusu
3) Glass Gong Fu Serving Pitcher
4) Scale, small dish for weighing, and scoop
5) Normal teacup (this is the teacup you see in all the rest of my pictures, but in this one it didn't come out well)
6) Gong fu tasting cup.

To start when brewing a high quality gyokuro I refresh the water in my water kettle, this way it has not been sitting around and losing oxygen content. Once that comes to a boil I fill two of the glass gong fu serving pitchers with water. At this point the water is much too hot to use. I place the thermometer in the pitcher to keep an eye on the temperature.

At this point I normally weigh out my leaf, typically I use 10g / 60mL of tea. That's what the scale, scoop and dish are for. Once I have that weighed out I start cooling the water from one of the pitchers. To do this I rotate the water between the kyusu, teacup, and gong fu cup, and finally back to the pitcher. This allows all 3 of them to all stay warm and preheated. I continue doing this until the water temperature is about 160F. Once the pitcher is around 160F I return all the water from the pot and cups back to the pitcher and wait for it to cool to around 150F. I have heard a large variety of temperatures to use for gyokuro from 120-160F. Unless specifically recommended for that specific tea I use around 150F. I have been experimenting with this temperature though to some degree. I have been finding that cooler tends to produce a better cup of gyokuro, but not always.

Once the water has cooled sufficiently, I add the leaf to the kyusu and begin to add the water to the kyusu. To measure the water I use the gong fu cup because they are approx. 30mL. So two fills of that cup into the kyusu provides me with 60 mL of water in it. Again this amount of water may vary per tea if specifically instructed so. So far most instructions have varied from 30-60mL of water. I typically wait about 60-90 seconds, again depending on the tea, and experimentation to pour off the first cup. I make sure that when I pour the tea into my teacup to get as much of the tea out as I can, typically once most is out I will shake it a bit to get tea out. After that infusion I will reinfuse the tea with another 30-60 mL of water, but this time the infusion time is almost negligible. For this infusion I raise the temperature of the water by 5-10F by adding water from the other Gong Fu pitcher. The temperature change varies according to the taste of the first infusion. If the first infusion is strong then I won't raise the temperature as much, but on a weaker flavor I will up the temperature more. As soon as I add the water I swirl the pot around to allow the leaves (which tend to clump up after the first infusion) to swim around again. Immediately after that I pour off the second infusion.

Successive infusions are done the same way as the second, varying the temperature raising by 5-10F and immediately pouring the tea.

I don't always brew my gyokuro with this level of precision though. Once you try one you start to learn the flavor of that tea and how it reacts, you can experiment more at that point. The main parameters that I change are the amount of water and the temperature of the water. More water tends to give a slightly weaker infusion, but with some gyokuros the flavor is so strong that it could use a bit of lightening up. Higher water temperature brings out more flavor, but as the temperature rises it becomes more like a sencha in flavor. But at the same time not raising the temperature will give you a weaker tea.

So get out there and experiment to what flavor you enjoy the most.

Yame Gyokuro Vil. Hoshino Shincha 2007

Tea: Yame Gyokuro Vil. Hoshino Shincha - 6510
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $ 28.00 / 50g
Source: Fukuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: A top grade first-picked Gyoukro tea from Yame, Fukuoka with a robust flavor and deep sweetness.

About this tea: While I was arranging my teas getting ready for the shincha flush which I am eagerly awaiting, I ran across this tea. I had picked it up earlier in the year, but had forgotten that I had picked it up. Once I found it I knew that I had to open it up and try it for two reasons. The first being that the Yame Gyokuro Vil. Hoshino was a very delicious gyokuro and this one should only be better. The other being that it is a gyokuro shincha, which on the surface seems like there would be nothing odd about that statement. The more I talked to people about this though, it makes people wonder if that is really a misnomer or not. Shincha directly translates into "new tea", but typically is used to refer to the very special portion of the first pick for a sencha. Another point of question is that gyokuro is sometimes aged, sometimes it is not. If it were aged is it still a shincha when it is pulled out of storage? The tea is made from the first picking still, but it is not available until well after the sencha shincha comes around. There are differences in the processing of a shincha though that a regular tea does not undergo, the sorting is not as precise and it is not stored.

Leaf: With that said the leaf for this tea was a bit unusual. The gyokuro needles were not as uniform and long as I had seen with the non-shincha Yame Gyokuro Vil. Hoshino. There were also smaller lighter green tipped pieces, which turned out to be stems. The amount of stems in this tea were more than I am used to seeing in a gyokuro. Most gyokuro that I see is all uniform in color and has the stems removed. There are varieties of gyokuro which have stems intentionally mixed in, but I did not think this was one of them. The stems in this are probably a difference in the processing for a shincha.

1st Infusion: This tea had a beautiful light green hue to it. It was very clear and had an almost neon luminescence to it. Even the first sip fills the mouth with an abundance of rich gyokuro flavor. It is smooth and sweet, with no sense of astringency or bitterness. The flavor rapidly reaches a plateau where it holds for a moment and then tapers off leaving you with a distinctly gyokuro aftertaste. It is quite stunningly good, even if it was almost a year old from harvest.

2nd Infusion: The second infusion lacked the same clear color of the 1st infusion, this one was a bit cloudier. The flavor was stronger than the first, but not as sweet. The strong rich green gyokuro flavor was very full bodied and rich, and more flavorful.

3rd Infusion: This was a lighter flavored infusion, but it was still rich in flavor. There was still no bitterness or astringency.

4th Infusion: This was just as flavorful and delicious as the previous infusions, but it was apparent that the tea was starting to taper off.

Rating: 10/10

Conclusion: Regardless of the age of this gyokuro and it's dubious nature as being a shincha, or if a shincha could exist for a gyokuro, it was all around delicious. I definitely enjoyed this tea and am awaiting to see what the 2008 version holds.

Gyokuro Hoshino Seichaen

Tea: Gyokuro Hoshino Seichaen
Vendor: Bassaro
Source: Hoshino Seichaen, Yame, Japan

This was another sample from Bassaro that I got to try out. After the previous sample I was very excited to try this one.

The appearance of the leaves for this gyokuro were quite different than the previous ones. While the other gyokuro had a more matte appearance to the leaves, these have a shinier, more polished look to them. The tea also shared the very dark appearance to the leaves.

The first infusion had a very strong grassy vegetal/flavor to it. The color of the infusion was also a lot lighter than the other gyokuro. This one was still cloudy and a deep shade of green, but not as much so. The flavor of the tea was also very bold, but this one was more of a combination of a vegetal/grassy flavor instead of the more vegetal flavor of the other. The taste is bold and full bodied with a flavor that is an experience for the whole mouth, not just isolated to parts of the tongue. There were also a few hints of seaweed in the taste.

The second infusion was a bit sweeter in flavor, with the sweetness in the initial portion of the flavor, which then tapers into the rich gyokuro flavor. This extraction was more interesting and multidimensional than the previous.

The third infusion still had a strong vegetal flavor, but not as much of a rich gyokuro flavor. It was also starting to build a bit of astringency which hadn't been present in the previous two infusions.

The next infusion the vegetal flavor was starting to taper down a bit and the astringency had climbed to a medium level.

The fifth and final infusion was still as delicious as the first one, simply with a different flavor to it, the flavors were a bit weaker, but it allowed to taste some of the more subtle portions of the flavor instead of being masked by more powerful flavors. At this point though it had mustered a high sense of astringency.

Rating: 10/10

Conclusion: This was another remarkable gyokuro which seemed for a while that it would not stop producing wonderful flavors and more and more infusions. It seemed like this one might be a bit more difficult to brew than the other, but still produced a wonderful cup of tea. Both were excellent teas that I would recommend to anyone.

Gyokuro Koga Chagyo

Tea: Gyokuro
Vendor: Bassaro
Source: Koga Chagyo, Yame, Japan
Vendor Notes: Appelation Kurogi Controlee

While i'm not sure what product on their online shop this sample I received from them corresponds to, I will do my best to do this wonderful tea justice.

Firstly the sample came in a small mylar sealed package containing 6g of gyokuro leaf. It is a bit difficult to see in the picture above, but the leaf itself was even gorgeous, it was a beautiful shade of dark green and has a certain allure to it which I cannot begin to describe.

For the purposes of this review I brewed the gyokuro with 30ml (it really was a tiny amount of water) infusions starting at 50C (122F) working my way up in temperature. These were the suggested brewing instructions given with this tea. This is cooler than I am used to starting gyokuro with, normally starting around 150F(65C). I then increased the temperature gradually on subsequent infusions.

The first infusion of this tea (shown below) was very dark and rich in color. Due to the relatively low temperature there was not much of an aroma to the tea at this point. The flavor was rich and vegetal. It was very bold, but at the same time a relatively shortlived flavor. It was an amazing Gyokuro flavor in a concise burst with no aftertaste.

The first infusion on its own was a wonderful experience, but then I was shocked on the second infusion. This infusion was very similar to the first in appearance, dark and cloudy. It also had the same rich gyokuro flavor, and this time it had a slight astringency and a light bitterness to it. It was still rich and vegetal with a concise flood of flavor.

Just when I thought that this tea was amazing, I got to try the third infusion. This one was an emerald green color, having washed out most of the smaller particles out during the first two infusions. This time the flavor switched from being vegetal to a grassier flavor, but still full of flavor with no signs of letting up. The sense of astringency was growing though, this time up to a medium level.

Showing no signs of letting up this tea produced a fourth infusion. This one was a little lighter in flavor, but the flavor was sweeter, showcasing that sense of natural sweetness which Gyokuro is well known for. The astringency did build up even further this time though.

By the fifth infusion the tea had become a lighter flavor, but showed an amazing pairing of sweetness and the grassy/vegetal flavor exhibited earlier on in the tastings. The flavor was starting to show lightening up at this point.

The final infusion, which I almost expected to have given up by now, was still amazing. It was a much lighter green color and didn't have nearly as much power as before, it still possessed a wonderful flavor and at this point transitioned into tasting almost like a wonderful sencha.

Rating: 10/10

Conclusion: This is an amazing sample of gyokuro. It lasted for significantly longer than I expected showing all sides of the flavor of gyokuro. Each infusion showed a brilliant character which if a tea produced only that flavor alone would still be amazing. These all came from one sample of tea though. If I could get some, I would order this to be the most special of special occasion gyokruos.

Thank You - Bassaro

Today I would like to send a big THANK YOU to Bassaro for sending me some amazing samples. They sell primarily gyokuro (although they have a few other Japanese green tea products, matcha, sencha, and powdered sencha). They were also kind enough to send along a few "teabags" to sample. While these are not truly teabags, they do have the same portability as them. Their Gyokuro comes from two farms in Yame, Hoshino Seichaen and Koga Chagyo, and farmers through JA Yame. This company is based out of France though, so for us in the US, we are not fortunate enough to be able to just pick up some tea from these guys very easily.

Teabag - Gyokuro

Tea: Gyokuro
Vendor: Maeda-en
Price: $6.50/10 teabags
Vendor Description: Maeda-en's Premium Gyokuro Tea Bag is characterized with clear crystal blue-green color along with Gyokuro's unique balance between bitterness and sweetness. For maximum brewing, we use nylon-mesh tea bag.

This is the first teabag that I decided to review. I was a bit skeptical about this when i picked it up, mostly because I picked it up at an asian grocery store. I have had some of the products from them in the past and was generally happy, although as I got more and more into loose leaf tea I started stepping away from buying tea from non-specialty shops. I love the taste of gyokuro and I figured that this might be a good solution for it.

This teabag is made of the nicer non-paper material. Although the shape of the teabag is the flat satchel type. This was actually the first time I had seen one of these in this shape / material combination. The teabag does come individually wrapped in a foil package.

The leaf itself was rather small and it was a smaller particle size than most gyokuro I have had from them in regular loose leaf packaging from them. The brewed liquor was actually more of a yellow color than I normally see in a gyokuro.

The tea has a very mild vegetal flavor to it, with a weak flavor to it. There is a very light sense of astringency, but all in all this was a very weak flavored gyokuro. This was actually rather surprising considering I steeped this teabag with a rather small amount of water so the ratio of tea to water was rather high. All in all this was a very unremarkable gyokuro.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: I was hoping for more out of this teabag, but was disappointed. The style of teabag is ok, but I would have thought a tetrahedral or pyramid shape would have been better. The tea is very weak all around and not worth the cost. All in all you're better off looking elsewhere.

Gyokuro Seiran No Homare

Tea: Gyokuro Seiran No Homare 8001
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $15.00/50g
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Created by blending aromatic Yabukita brand tea from Shizuoka with "Komakage", a special Uji tea variety. This graceful tea has a deep rich flavor and distinctive freshness.

This is a blend gyokuro, and it is very interesting because the two major teas creating the blend are from Shizuoka and Uji. If the two shinchas that I tried earlier are any indication of this, this was leading up to be a very interesting tea.

My initial thought while making this tea was that it had a very grassy scent to it. It wasn't as grassy as the Yame Gyokuro though.

The tea had a very strong bitterness at the start which was followed by a grassy taste. The grassy taste matched the scent. It was also followed up with a lack of astringency.

After I had brewed this tea though, that I had brewed it at too high of a temperature. If I had more of it to try I would try brewing at an even lower temperature, although I only had a small sample and was not able to make another batch.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: While I had some interesting hopes for this tea, it proved to be unimpressive. This is though quite likely that I botched this tea, so if I get a chance to try this again I will probably review this tea again.

Gyokuro Asahina

Tea: Gyokuro Asahina
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea Company
Price: $38.50 / 4 oz.
Source: Uji, Japan
Vendor Description: Gyokuro, "Jewel Dew", is one of the most sought after green teas in Japan. Produced at the historic Uji tea gardens near Kyoto, the bushes for this tea are shaded by straw mats before harvesting to slow their growth and enhance the tea.

At the price of almost 40.00/ quarter pound I was expecting quite a bit from this gyokuro. I found the price right similar to the Yame Gyokuro from Lupicia. Considering how much I enjoy that tea, I had high hopes for this one. This was also the first tea that I tried from Dragonwater, so a lot was riding on this one.

The first thing that I noticed while preparing this tea was the rather large needles the tea consisted of. I was rather surprised to see this in a gyokuro. Most gyokuros that I see have smaller needles, where large needles are most common with high end senchas from my experience. While brewing this tea had a very delicate, yet sweet aroma to it. It is an aroma worth sitting there and pondering.

The actual flavor was very distinct. It had a sensation which I want to describe as bitterness, but unlike most sencha bitterness it wasn't sharp uplifting bitterness, but felt like a deep downward bitterness. In general the flavor was flat and not particularly sweet.

Rating: 6/10

Conclusion: The taste of this gyokuro was very unusual and unique, but not what i'm normally looking for in a gyokuro. There was no grassiness to it, and at the price I expected a more by the book flavor of gyokuro.

Gyokuro

Tea: Gyokuro
Vendor: Adagio
Location: Japan
Cost: $29.00 / 5oz.
Vendor Description: Green tea from Japan famed for its unique shading process. Gyokuro, meaning 'pearl dew,' is among the finest of Japanese teas. Our 'Moonlight Gyokuro' is made solely from the prized tender buds gathered in the early spring flush. Three weeks prior to plucking, tea bushes are shaded from the sun. The fruits of this hard work are evident in each cup. The result is a gentle tea with an intoxicating fragrance and truly sublime taste.

One of my favorite forms of Japanese green tea is Gyokuro. While there isn't anything particularly special about this Gyokuro, it is a solid Gyokuro. It has a very grassy/vegetal taste, a very nice sense of umami, and a very low sense of astringency. There was nothing that I could particularly fault about this tea, but it had nothing truly extraordinary.

Rating: 9/10

Conclusion: This is a solid gyokuro, but nothing outstanding gyokuro. It is rather expensive if you are ordering it in quantity, but all gyokuro tends to be. I would highly suggest the sample size if you haven't tried out Gyokuro.

Yame Hoshino Vil. Gyokuro

Tea: Yame Hoshino Vil. Gyokuro
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Cost: $25.00 / 50g

The two more prevalent locations from which gyokuro is grown are Yame and Uji. Today I decided to review some of my Yame gyokuro. (Uji to come later) This was actually the first Gyokuro that I have gotten from Yame and I was quite surprised by it. The taste is very grassy and vegetal, much more so than any other gyokuro I have come across. When you first taste it, it has a very smooth flavor, followed by the grassy / vegetal flavor. It is finished with a slight tinge similar to the flavor of a sencha.

Thoughts: Overall I have been very impressed by this tea. Although at the price it is not a tea that I would drink regularly. It is something that is wonderful to try if you have the opportunity, but I don't see myself drinking this on a regular basis. If you are a fan of gyokuro this one is worth picking up though.

Rating: 9/10