First-ever gyokuro! I got this as a free sample from YunomiUS as part of my Japanese green exploration fun time (totally made that up). I don’t know anything about gyokuro, so I kind of browsed around on Steepster to come up with some steeping parameters for western-style. The dry leaf is a beautiful jewel-tone green and shiny, but it is extremely broken up, which I did not expect. It smells similar to a sencha, mostly like alfalfa and a sweet grassiness.
The brewed tea smelled a lot like sencha to me, too. It’s quite spinachy and somewhat sweet with a buttery zucchini element to it that is new to me. But wow, the taste of it took me completely by surprise! I can see similarities to a more heavily steamed sencha, but the level of intensity is so enormous here. There’s a second when I first sip where I don’t taste a whole lot, but then I’m immediately hit by this immensely deep and powerful butternut squash taste. There might be some asparagus in there, too. I also taste a slight bitterness which seems intrinsic to the tea, but I could have also screwed up the steeping. :P This tea has an extremely thick and creamy texture and it coats the tongue heavily. The flavor lingers on and on.
Honestly, this tea is a bit much for me. I don’t find it very well-suited to western brewing because the flavor is so intense and it continues to build as you drink it. I think I would like it more if I did the traditional smaller brew.
This was a very interesting tea experience! I definitely can’t assign a rating to this, I would have no idea where to start. :P
Flavors: Asparagus, Butternut Squash, Creamy, Grass, Spinach
Preparation
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Ok, this is the only video I could find, but you MUST try this method, the best Gyokuro tasting experience I’ve ever had. You basically take freshly made iced cubes (use spring water, not tap) and you let them melt on the dry leaves. You drink a little bit at a time as it melts. You can do that several times. You get the sweetest taste ever this way. Sounds finicky, but it’s not, you just need time and patience :-) watch at around 3:20, it’s only talk for the first 3min.
Ok, this is the only video I could find, but you MUST try this method, the best Gyokuro tasting experience I’ve ever had. You basically take freshly made iced cubes (use spring water, not tap) and you let them melt on the dry leaves. You drink a little bit at a time as it melts. You can do that several times. You get the sweetest taste ever this way. Sounds finicky, but it’s not, you just need time and patience :-) watch at around 3:20, it’s only talk for the first 3min.
http://youtu.be/_VghXPujg_c