Gyokuro
Gyokuro is a premium Japanese green tea shaded for about three weeks before harvest, giving a deep green leaf and an intensely sweet, savory, umami-rich cup.
Definition
Gyokuro, "jade dew", is made from tea bushes covered for roughly 20 days or more before the spring harvest. Traditional growers used reed and straw canopies over a frame (honzu); most growers now use black synthetic cloth that blocks around 90% or more of sunlight. Shade slows the conversion of L-theanine into catechins and raises chlorophyll. The result is a leaf rich in amino acids and caffeine, lower in catechins, and dark green. After harvest, gyokuro is steamed and rolled like sencha into thin, glossy needles. The main producing areas are Yame in Fukuoka prefecture, which produces the largest volume, Uji in Kyoto, and Okabe in Shizuoka. Cultivars bred for shading, such as Saemidori, Gokou, Asahi and Okumidori, are common. The flavor is thick and broth-like, often compared to seaweed or dashi, with strong sweetness and umami and very little bitterness when brewed correctly. Gyokuro is one of the most expensive everyday Japanese teas and is usually drunk in small amounts.
In Depth
Brew with low temperature and high leaf: 50-60°C (122-140°F), about 5 g of leaf to 30-60 ml water, steeped 1.5-2 minutes. The result is a few spoonfuls of thick, savory liquor. Second infusion: slightly warmer water, 20-30 seconds. Third: 70-80°C. Small shiboridashi or hohin pots suit these small volumes.
Hot water releases gyokuro's caffeine and catechins quickly. Gyokuro has among the highest caffeine content of Japanese teas by dry weight. A full Western-style mug brewed hot can deliver more caffeine than most other green teas; the small traditional servings contain much less.
After brewing, the soft spent leaves are traditionally eaten with a little ponzu or soy sauce. Some people also cold brew gyokuro: 10 g per 500 ml overnight.
See Also
- Shade-Grown Tea
- Yame Tea
- Japanese Green Tea