Collection: Gyokuro

Why Gyokuro is called "Jade Dew"?

The word gyoku refers to a beautiful stone similar to jadeite or nephrite. Both of these are often classified as jade. Ro means dew so, put together, gyokuro means something like "jade dew". A brewed cup of this tea has a bright green color like liquid jade.

Gyokuro contains more chlorophyll than other teas since it grows under shade cloths for several weeks. This shading brings out its dark green color both in the tea leaf and in the cup.

Unique Production

After new buds start to flush on the tea plant, gyokuro is grown in the shade for a few weeks until harvest. The shading reduces photosynthesis, resulting in leaves that contain a high level of chlorophyll. This is what brings out gyokuro's dark green color. It also increases L-theanine, the amino acid which imparts a soft, sweet, full-bodied flavor. L-theanine can only stay in the leaf while it is in the shade. It will turn into tannin under full sunlight.

When it is harvest time in the gyokuro garden, new buds and tea leaves are left to grow longer than those in a sencha garden. The picker sandwiches the stem softly in their fingers and pulls off several young leaves at the same time. People harvest gyokuro more by "pulling" then by "picking".

The processes after picking leaves are the same as sencha - steaming, rolling, kneading, drying, sifting, roasting and often blending. Gyokuro is considered to be the highest grade of loose leaf tea among Japanese green teas. In fact, gyokuro is more expensive than any other Japanese loose leaf teas. This is due to its intensive labor process, but we think this price is worth it.

Delicious & Relaxing

Gyokuro can be quite a relaxing tea to experience. It contains a higher amount of L-theanine than any other loose leaf green teas because of shading process. L-theanine is a unique amino acid found in tea and very few other sources. It is known for its benefits as a relaxant. It generates alpha-waves in the brain. 

Alpha waves are emitted when the brain is in a relaxed state. L-theanine also suppresses the stimulant function of caffeine and this is why high quality green tea can help you feel relaxed even though the tea contains caffeine. This is a great health benefit (especially for mental health) for us in this busy world.

L-theanine also gives gyokuro its sweet taste and full body. When we say "sweet", we do not mean like rock sugar or fruit. The sweetness is quite subtle and somewhat unique to tea. Once you've tasted it, you'd know it.

Brewing

You should expect a natural sweet umami taste with little bitterness for gyokuro, but gyokuro's taste could vary between very sweet or very bitter depending on your brewing technique. To really enjoy this tea, you should brew with the goal of more sweetness and less bitterness. How do you do that? The key is water temperature.

Generally speaking, bitterness in brewed tea comes from catechins and caffeine while the sweetness comes from L-theanine, an amino acid. Catechins and caffeine are more easily extracted with hot water, while the extraction of L-theanine is relatively stable regardless of water temperature.

Since gyokuro also contains relatively high amount of caffeine, it could be a very bitter cup if you used very hot water. The quality of the brewed cup depends on how you extract the L-theanine, the amino acid that imparts a sweet taste, while not extracting the caffeine, the bitterness. This is done by adjusting the water temperature.

For Den's gyokuro, we recommend 140F for Gyokuro Suimei and 160F for Gyokuro Kin. The brewing time is 150 seconds for Suimei and 90 seconds for Kin.

Note: you should brew longer if you use water below the suggested temperatures.

Here is an diagram showing how to adjust water temperature manually:

We recommend the same brewing technique for sencha but we usually use less water to brew a slightly stronger/fuller cup of gyokuro. However, similar to any other tea, the only brewing rule is to find a combination of temperature and time that fits your taste. You can enjoy gyokuro more casually with hotter water to experience more of a refreshing bitterness and rich, umami mouth feel.

Does Gyokuro taste like seaweed?

Yes, good quality gyokuro has a taste and aroma a little like seaweed. Some people believe that gyokuro is grown near the ocean, and that's why gyokuro has a flavor similar to seaweed. Unfortunately, this is not true. Green tea's aroma is composed of about 300 aromatic components. Dimethyl sulfide is one of aromatic components that is developed when tea is shaded. This dimethyl sulfide is also contained in seaweed. Consequently gyokuro's aroma might remind one of seaweed. But again, it is a good sign if you sense a resemblance to seaweed!

Production Area

There are 3 major Gyokuro producing areas in Japan. From south to north they are - Yame, Uji and Asahina. Each area has rich soil and good weather. The tea cultivars may vary among the areas. All of Den's Tea gyokuro is from Asahina in Shizuoka. Gyokuro grown in Asahina is known for its mellow umami mouth feel, elegant aroma and refreshing aftertaste.

Ice Brewed Gyokuro

1. Put one heaping teaspoon of gyokuro tea leaves in a teapot. Add ice to the top of these and close it with a lid. Use enough ice cubes to loosely fill the teapot.

2. Wait for 1 hour or until ice melts enough to pour out one cup of tea.

3. Pour the tea intermittently, similar to how you would for fukamushi-sencha. That way, you won't lose all the extracted flavors.

4. You can enjoy another cup with cold water or hot water.