Many non-Japanese tea farmers choose to grow tea in warm climatic conditions, and use the direct sunlight to stimulate quick growth, achieving several harvests of tea leaves a year.
However the direct sunlight can produce relatively firm and thick leaves, which can have a strong, bitter taste. For a tea of exceptional quality, we want sweet, not bitter tastes, so proper Gyokuro Tea is nurtured in a much slower way. The leaves are grown in dark shade, protected from the glare of the sun, and harvested just once a year, in Spring, when only the youngest and sweetest leaves are picked. These are then steamed, dried and rolled.
The shape of Gyokuro Tea is like small needles, so in Japan it is nick-named ‘needle tea’. It has a distinctive taste that is wonderfully elegant, with a soft flavour and umami taste. For brewing, it requires only 50 degrees hot water and a wait of around 2 minutes. In that time the little ‘needle’ leaves slowly open, to offer up their soft sweet umami flavour. In general, when we use higher temperatures or boiling water, it is likely that we taste more bitter flavours (whether it’s black tea, green tea or matcha) as the heat of the water extracts the leaves' polyphenols and catechins.
We would recommend loose-leaf Gyokuro Tea, using a small tea-pot (like one from our blue and white porcelain collection). Small tea-pots and cups tend to capture more aroma to enjoy. As a result of it being grown in the shade, Gyokuro contains large amounts of anti-oxidants and Vitamin C, as well as a moderate level of caffeine, and Gyokuro and Matcha rank as some of the best teas in terms of health benefits. Gyokuro is also a good tea to try for those would like to start drinking fine quality Japanese tea, but find that Matcha is too different from black tea. The caffeine in Gyokuro is also less harsh than it is in coffee, partly because it brews at a lower temperature.
The best region for producing Gyokuro Tea is Yame on the island of Kyushu, and the Yame region has achieved the top Gyokuro award by the Japanese government for 21 consecutive years.
The best Gyokuro Tea maker in Yame is Hoshino Seicha. We have chosen to offer two Gyokuro teas from Hoshino Seicha – Mare and Hien. Mare was the winner of the Best Japanese Tea Award in 2016. This tea competition is the most respected award in Japan, as it is sponsored by Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Mare is quite simply the very best Gyokuro Tea there is! If you’d like to try it out, we even have a small 5g packet for those who’d like to have a first taste.
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