Hibiki-an

A great way to start the day!!!

Hibiki-an Gyokuro Premium – 100g, $31
1.5 Tbl – 7.5 oz of filtered water at 140 degrees – 3 full flavored steeps

Dry leaf: Consistent medium to dark green colors and fairly consistant size and shape. Very low to no stem in the leafs. The smell is a dark almost grass/hay aroma.

Wet leaf: Leafs turn from the dark grass/hay to a lighter still grassy vegetal aroma. Think of fresh asparagus or spinach.

Liquor: A beautiful light greenish yellow. Not a lot of aroma from the liquor.

Taste: A wonderful balanced tasting tea. Light forward vegetal flavors of asparagus and steamed spinach with a hint of sweet fresh cut grass. It has a light sweetness to the flavor with a very hydrating mouthfeel. This tea also has a very, very long finish to it. As I write this I can still taste and feel the Gyokuro as if I just sipped some (it has been over an hour since I last tasted it)!

— Although this has been my first experience with Gyokuro, I am now hooked! I don’t know about other Gyokuros, there might be better ones out there but Hibiki-an has really created a fantastic Gyokuro! If you are looking to get into Gyokuro, this is a great place to start!

I recommend a ratio of 2 to 1 when it comes to leaf and water. 4g leaf, 2 oz water.

It was pretty strong—not overwhelmingly so—but overall AWESOME!

I made sure everything was pre-warmed with very hot water, to control the temps and make sure the tea was actually warm when it was ready to drink! (The teapot had boiled water sitting in it up to the moment I was ready to add the leaf and the cooled water for the tea).

This is REALLY good.
It was the perfect amount of sweetness, smooth umami and marine notes, and ended with a very very slight vegetal/melon flavor that was perhaps (pleasingly) astringent. It was mellow and had an underlying, delicious grain flavor as well.

The best words I could use to describe this are mellow or refined. It tastes like a perfect gyokuro that is toned down and improved. I am surprised I like this so much more than their “pinnacle” version (this is machine cut, their pinnacle is hand picked!). Perhaps I used a better amount of leaf. Or maybe I am simply used to the Yabukita species of leaf…
Either way, I was very impressed by this. I can tell it has been aged (but has improved over time!), which I am surprised about.

That last note, that I described as vegetal/melon/almost astringent was hard for me to describe, but it was really delicious and rounded it off very nicely.
After these 2 steepings, I would say it’s definitely one I’d get again. My impression could change with time, but this is a fun and delicious variety of green worth trying.

I wonder if this went bad? There are hardly any flavors (especially sweetness, which I assumed gyokuros were known for) present…except a strange starchyness.

The first infusion was almost really good; it had hints of very refined sweetness (like I’ve tasted in the ice brewings), kind of like a shincha or something. I enjoyed the first infusion, at least the first few sips. I was excited because I thought perhaps I had figured out a better way to brew it (heaping tsp (2+g) 2 oz water, 2.5 mins)…. unfortunately not.

I want this tea to be good, but it simply didn’t meet my expectations, nor was it worth the cost. What a contrast to their Kuradashi Gyokuro Premium! (That’s their normal, aged gyokuro, which was very very good).

So far, I am not impressed. At least, for this to cost $1/gr, it is not worth it. The cheaper gyokuro (Premium) is worth it and tastes better. So far. I’m still hoping I can figure out if I’m using bad steeping parameters. I used 1.5 tsp for about 4oz water. The previous trials tasted weak, so I felt like I needed to up the amount of leaf.

The wet leaf gave off a really nice aroma of greens and a strong note of mashed potatoes. That may sound strange, but it really smelled delicious.

However, the actual tea wasn’t very sweet, didn’t have any marine, vegetal, or umami flavors present…. it actually didn’t have much flavor at all. Except one, that was…. starchy mashed potatoes.
Ok, as a smell, it was great, but as the main taste of the tea….not so good. :-(
If that had been a flavor that was present but gave way to the main tastes that are more typical of Japanese greens, that would have been fine.
I haven’t given up hope on this, as it really seems like it should be good; all the right elements are present (at least, according to Hibiki-an).

Yesterday I had this via the ice-brew method (shinobi cha… patient tea).
It was of course delicious; the only way you can go wrong with this method is if you use only a little ice and it ends up being too strong for you. And, of course, if you wanted something warm. Anyway, on to the tea itself…

Well, I can’t remember the exact unique flavor this had, but besides being very deliciously sweet, and (even) noticeably creamy, there was some other taste present I couldn’t figure out. But it was yummy, trust me.

However, the jury’s definitely still out whether this one is worth the price. Is it really THAT much better as to cost nearly twice as much as Den’s or Bird Pick’s Gyokuro?
We’ll see…

Though the taste was muted for the first 2 steepings (2g tea for 2-3oz water; 140 for 2 minutes, then 160 for 1 min), it had a very smooth, sweet taste. I say ‘muted’ rather than ‘weak’, because the flavor was really good and seemed like it could simply be brought out if I steeped it differently.

I did the 3rd steeping with ice; the flavor was much more pronunced. There was a hint of grain, a noticeable (pleasant) texture, and it was even sweeter.
The brewed leaves were a neally nice shade of dark green and large (though, not all whole)… it was hard to dump them out. I think gyokuros have the most beautiful brewed leaves, this one was at the top. It is hard for me to dump most any leaves, but this one was all the harder.
I just have a small amount (maybe 12 more grams), so I look forward to a few more cups and seeing if I can bring out the flavor more.

Having placed several orders from Hibiki-an in the past, I was quite pleased to receive their Kuradashi Gyokuro Pinnacle as a gift. Hibiki-an is a mid sized tea company based in the Ogura region of Uji, just outside of Kyoto. The company is somewhat unique in that they market directly to the English-speaking world, shipping products from their production facilities in Ujitawara to your doorstep. Having strolled down the streets of Uji myself, I can say confidently that the tea produced in Uji represents the finest green tea in the entire world.

The “Kuradashi” gyokuro is a gyokuro aged for over a year. The tea is left open to air, not immediately nitrogen-sealed like many gyokuro products. The tea arrived in a beautiful golden-speckled pouch, fitting of a tea of this caliber ($38 for 40 grams). The dark garnet color of the tea complemented the fragrant aroma. The smell of rich, full tencha leaves nearly overwhelmed my senses. Simply put, compared to normal gyokuro, the kuradashi has a more concentrated nose. The real surprise came in the tasting, however.

Conventional gyokuro is brewed between 140-160⁰ F for 1.5-2 minutes. Hibiki-an suggests following this protocol for the Kuradashi, but they also suggest that the tea may be brewed at a lower temperature of 131⁰F for 2:30 for a more “mellow” flavor. I started the tea at a temperature of 155⁰F for 1:45, though it should be noted that my kyuusu from the Asahiyaki Kiln was at room temperature when starting (I estimate the actual temperature of the brew to be about 150⁰F). The first brew at this temperature was mellow, soft and somewhat muted. After the brew, the leaves were just starting to open, and had a slightly astringent smell integrated into the aroma. My experiments of brewing the tea at a lower starting temperature really brought out the ‘umami’ character. Umami, which can be translated as ‘savoriness’, can perhaps best be thought of as a round, rich, buttery taste found in the finest teas. While a lower brewing temperature brings out a more umami sense, I find the more moderate temperatures(150-155) more appropriately reveals the unique nature of the aged tea.

The second brew brings out a much fuller, purer matcha taste. Imagine drinking a hearty koicha without the viscosus, granular texture. After multiple brew trials, my I noted just a slight bit of acidity or astringency to the matcha-like taste, ending slightly dry on the tongue. Notes of nori seaweed and come through on the second brew, with just a hint of subtle sweetness. Overall, this tea most closely resembles matcha, but with a smoothness of texture that makes it truly special.

The third brew resembles the second, albeit with a bit less concentration of taste. Still, this tea should certainly be brewed through the third time to fully enjoy the rich flavor.

The Kuradashi Gyokuro seems to be a seasonal offering from Hibiki-an. Be on the lookout in the fall; this is a tea you don’t want to miss. -M.W.

I just added the last teaspoon of this to flavor some blueberry yogurt and the bittersweet-ness enhanced the jelly-sweet blueberry greatly! It was extremely yummy.

Goodbye Matcha Super Premium! I will order more of you soon!

I treat this tea with such irreverance, I’m almost afraid I might hurt its feelings! :)

But no matter how casually this matcha prepared, it stays delicious! Like today, for example, I tossed the tin in my bag and went to work. Once at work, I scooped out a plastic teaspoonful of the powder, threw it in my travel mug and filled it with hot water from the office water cooler. Then I put the lid on and shook it all up.

After allowing it a few minutes to cool, the end result is smooth, creamy, bittersweet green tea goodness! Everything I love about matcha is still here in spades. Yum!

It may be sacrilege to add anything to a premium matcha like this, but I added some cream anyway and it was delicious! :)

Just a quick tasting note:
I whipped up a mug of this, first thing this morning. It’s a beautiful matcha—a bright, rich green. The taste is extremely fresh, creamy and slightly sweet—like the best green tea to the tenth power. This is the ultimate wake-up beverage and is 1000x better than coffee, at least for me.

This is an excellent tea, though I will admit it took me a couple of tries before I really started to appreciate it. It has a nice earthy toasted flavor, which I find very refreshing. This tea is complex without being complicated.