Kurihara Heritage Gyokuro

The color, the aroma, the brewing, the expansion, the vibrant leaf in the water, the smooth taste, the fine texture, the unexpected mellow brew… the experience.

This is one fine tea that provides a tea worthy to be called gyokuro. Many gyokuros that I have drank are too similar to a sencha, but this tea is a much higher quality and I am glad I chose it out of all the teas that could have been obtained instead.

Don’t let the light color of this teas liquid fool you, it provides a clean taste of Japanese shade grown tea that provides a wonderful aroma that expands inside your mouth as you sip on it.

This was my sample given to me by Yunomi in my recent present.

I open the package to reveal small forest emerald shards. The dry leaves invoke my senses with spring time jungles. The sweet buttery smell of fresh flora waft in the air. I already know that this tea is going to be delicious. The scent was a beautiful arrangement of everything Gyokuro.

I brewed in my new Bizenware Kyusu (also courtesy of Yunomi) with the cups to match. When brewing shade grown green tea, I am always careful of steeping time and temperature. The water hit these gorgeous leaves and the aroma began. The jungle scent maximized into a fantastic aroma. I could smell a strong vegetal scent with undertones of nectar and kale. I wanted this to last, ahahah.

The first sip was heavenly. It had a strong Umami and increasingly flavorful. The initial taste was smooth and vegetal. It tasted as a buttery flower. The flavor was invigorating and oh so silky. I could taste the harvest and the fields of Fukuoka. The flavor continued consistent and bright. The liquor was a pale iridescent green. It looked as a polished tourmaline in the sunshine.

This is an astonishing Gyokuro, and I am very greatly to be able to sample it.

P.S. I ate the leaves afterwards, very nice tea salad ;)

I reviewed this tea 2 years ago and still had some left of it. Brewed it up this morning and it’s still not bad. I am really surprised. Most green teas lose their flavour after 1 year. However, I really have to stop buying so many teas that I can’t drink them all up in time. I resolve to drink down my stash for the next few months.

Still leaving my orginal rating from 2 years ago but of course it’s not really that fantastic after being aged that long.

From Cameron B in a swap!

Brewed with a shudei kyusu. 1st infusion: 160 degrees, 45 seconds. 2nd and 3rd: 170, 30 seconds.

I love the color of the wet leaf – such a deep yet vibrant green! This gyokuro has a citrusy dry aroma. The wet aroma smells of the spinach, almost sugary. The liquor is bright green, full-bodied, thick-textured, and very sweet. The first and third infusions are buttery with a spinach note, and the second tastes more like squash with the slightest hint of bitterness (the good kind).

A good quality gyokuro, but it’s too sweet for me. Thanks for giving me a chance to try it, Cameron B!

This is my second free “press” sample from Yunomi.us last month (I just got an email telling me that my free samples for this month shipped, yay). I’m just going to say it, I don’t have much experience with gyokuro and the last one I tried was a bit too much for me. But onward we go, for science! The leaves of this tea are quite thin and lightweight, and almost needle-like in shape. Their color is a rich jewel-tone evergreen. Dry scent is strongly sweet and vegetal, and almost fruity (pineapple?). I steeped a level teaspoon at 160 degrees for 2 minutes.

Once steeped, the tea has a strong and intense vegetal aroma, with a lovely mixture of sweet and savory tones and a touch of seaweed. Oh wow, I was blown away at first sip! This tea is so amazingly sweet and smooth, and super creamy in texture. Drinking this reminds me of eating a nice hearty, thick soup. The vegetal flavor is deep and luscious, and a mixture of mild steamed greens and silky butternut squash or sweet potato puree. There’s also a lovely rich nutty flavor here, definitely with a touch of roast. It’s a decadent nut, like macadamia or cashew. So delicious and satisfying!

Finally prepared this correctly. Nicely sweet, robust, and vegetal.

Then I ate it… with teriyaki sauce…

Proof:
http://tea-pet.tumblr.com/post/93911604428/drinking-gyokuro-eating-gyokuro-fun-fact-i-had

This is super super green and I adore the leaves – they almost look like the greenest grass clippings. And this tastes super duper green. The second infusion was better than the first, which I accidently let steep longer than I wanted so it was really intense. The secondary steep had some citrussy taste to it as well. I enjoyed this very much.

Backlog from this afternoon:

Man, I’m having a really hard time with steeping these teas from Yunomi.us. The recommended steep parameters on their site are so different from anything else I have in my cupboard that I really don’t know how to brew them properly.

Take this tea. The site says to use 2 tsp of leaf, which they say is 8 grams. But I used 3 tsp of leaf, and it was still only about half of the 10-gram sample package I was given (so 5 grams). Do I follow the weight or the volume?

In this case, I stuck with the volume, because otherwise there would have been absolutely no room left for water in my gaiwan. I don’t have a kyusu, so I figured that gaiwan steeping would be the closest thing.

On top of that, they said that for the first steep, I needed to use 3 oz of water and steep for 2 minutes. My eyes are wide with surprise – so much tea, so much time, and so little water? Wouldn’t the tea be irredeemably bitter?

I used my gaiwan anyway. Yup, this is quite grassy and bitter and umami. Which was surprising, because the dry leaf smelled so sweet and hay-like. The leaf it self was a deep emerald green, and short and small like grass clippings. Now that I’ve had this tea, I realize that one of my favourite greens, Shincha Kuro by Capital Tea Ltd, is also a gyokuro. (I should have guessed, but that was one of the first really good teas that got me started on this journey, but I digress.)

I steeped this 4 times: 2 minutes, 30s/30s/30s. The first steep was using 55C water, the later steeps using approx 80C water. By the 4th steep, the tea was still quite grassy and astringent. I really wonder if I’m doing this right.

The next time I try this, I think I’m going to follow the steeping parameters outlined for my Shincha Kuro and see if that changes anything. Withholding a rating for now.

I’ve been saving my sample of this for a special occasion. I’m teaching my first class later today and I am SO NERVOUS! Looking for that theanine calmness :)

Anyway, of course this tea is amazingly sweet and smooth and vegetal. Very luxurious and velvety. Wish I could drink this more often! I do enjoy sencha as well but this is definitely a special treat!

First infusion 135F for 3 minutes. Pale, light green. Thick and savory.

Second infusion at a higher temperature is a nice lightly bitter, grassy,