Gyokuro in Yame Fukuoka

I had this tea yesterday . Brewed it up with a bit less leaf than the sencha from the same company. I found the first brewing of the sencha had too much umami for me. This time with a bit less leaf and shorter brew time ( 30 sec instead of 1 min ) at 60C. It came out perfect. Grassy, good umami but not overpowering, very sweet.

Next brewing was at 80C for 15 sec. A little bitterness crept into that one with a bit of astringency. Umami was toned down but still good.

I did one more infusion after that and hit my caffeine level. I love Japanese teas but I hit my caffeine level much quicker than with Chinese greens.

All 3 teas I tried from this company were great. Thanks Allan for giving me a chance to try them out. If they offer smaller quantities and better shipping rates in the future, I may buy from them.

Got this in the mail yesterday from Japan. Don’t know if I should have given it time to acclimate or not. It was good, this season’s harvest I believe, spring 2016. It came in a package only marked in Japanese but as I ordered three green teas of three different weights I discerned this was the Gyokuro. The leaves are really green, really green and very fine. The tea was very sweet with a umami taste. No bitterness. Gave it three steeps in my new Kyusu also received yesterday from Japan. I like this seller Tablinshop. I think he sells quality pots and good tea. The only thing I don’t like is his shipping, very expensive. I went for EMS which got the package to me in three days but it was pricey. Normally, I would be tempted to add sugar to green tea but I immediately found that this didn’t need any. It was sweet by itself.

I brewed this three times in a 200ml Kyusu Teapot with 7.3g leaf and 175 degree water. I steeped it for 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. I would definitely recommend this tea and this seller for fans of Japanese teas. He’s not as good a value as Yunomi but has excellent tea and a big selection of teawares both for loose tea and matcha.