Yuuki-cha

I’ve had this tea for a while now and have never taken the time to put some thoughts behind it, perhaps because my experience with this particular tea has been difficult and somewhat vapid. The occasions on which I brewed this tea properly were sparse and despite persistent cold storage, the tea lost it’s edge over the winter. When lively, it did give an electric yellow-green soup, dry, with lots of grass, kelp and mineral presence. Theanine was particularly strong. With age, it gave a resinous pine character and became more bitter. In the end, this tea may have been too finicky for my attention or experience level and not deep or juicy enough to warrant a re-visit.

This tea came highly recommended, but did not stack up to traditional teas.

If I were to rate this strictly against other organic Japanese teas, I would give it very good marks. It does not have the biting “oh my goodness, this tea is going to strip the enamel from my teeth” flavor and astringency that other organic Japanese greens often have, but it does not have sufficient body or character to come anywhere near a traditional Japanese gyokuro.

The leaf in the bag has the typical modern organic tea presentation of a dry and broken leaf with excessive twigs and dust. The twigs are represented by the lighter yellow stringy bits (which are not present in true gyokuro) and the dust should be obvious to all. The smell in the bag is pleasantly sweet, but has no depth.

When placed into the warmed pot the aroma does not increase. I steeped this tea both by the method prescribed and by my own cold and warm methods in a 4oz gyokuro pot. On all occasions the tea liquor was very green, but not very aromatic. The flavor was sweet yet somewhat insipid and lacking the character indicative of the varietal for which this tea is named: Gokou. By the third steep there was no flavor at all, but the liquor was still a pleasant shade of green.

The steeped leaf of a true gyokuro should be identifiable as a mostly whole leaf and tender, like spinach, and have no chewy bits. The steeped leaf of this tea was broken. The layer of leaf between the cuticles was mashed up, torn and separated. What there was of the leaf was papery and the bits of stem were unpleasant to chew.

If you are looking for organic Japanese tea, this seems like it may be the best you can find at the moment. If you are looking for good Japanese tea, there are much better, but they are hard to find.

This is my first real venture into Gyokuro. I’ve tried it before, but when I last purchased gyokuro I was still in the naive mindset that all green teas are brewed the same way (3 min, 180 degrees), and so I’m pretty sure that I butchered gyokuro the last time I had it. That being said, I now have learned that most gyokuro are steeped at extremely low temperatures (this one I steep at 104 degrees!) which brings out a completely different taste than you get at 180 degrees and I also brew it in a little kyusu now.

In this case you get a very sweet taste with slight vegetal hints, but not nearly as much as you would get at higher temperatures. The flavor is so different to me that I really don’t know how to describe it right now, but when I have a chance to try more Gyokuro, I’ll make sure that I report back

I really enjoy this sencha, and it is very good for an organic one.

I’m a big fan of matcha, and this offering by yuuki-cha is pretty good. I just recently started drinking matcha, so I don’t have much to compare it to, but this one has a very rich and creamy taste.

Even though this isn’t an option, I typically steep this tea at 140 degrees for about 2 minutes. I find this tea to be a great example of a fukamushi sencha, and I typically enjoy everything that I buy from yuuki-cha

I’ve brewed this two times now, using two of the different suggested methods. Both produced nice tea. This is a briny gyokuro, for sure. I love the sea-fresh oyster-liquor aroma and first taste that hits hard. Really salty. The umami picks up but is immediately counterbalanced by a spinach-like, chlorophyll-heavy sweetness. It’s really balanced and really delicious. The first brew of this tea is insanely viscous. It’s like sweet kelp candy coating the tongue. Later infusions develop a grassy astringency that plays nicely with the glutamate-infused sweetness. In the very end, a whisper of tangerine rind. Stunningly complex tea.

Is mild, even at almost 1:1 g:oz ratio. I like it – kind of buttery but very fresh. Look forward to trying a 2nd steep.

Delicious! Amazing for an organic sencha it gives 3-4 steeps of the same quality flavor. Really great green color and fresh aroma. I really like it!

sorted out the second steeping temperature this time, delicious!

Had this for the first time the other day and was excellent… This session, not so great, think I brewed the second steep a bit too hot, will reduce the temp next time. Seems a decent shincha though.