Yame Handcrafted Gyokuro "Kyoku"

八女玉露 “極 ”

Origin
Yame, Fukuoka

Harvest
May 2025

Yame is a special place. It is defined by dramatic mountains and cascading waterfalls. It is also known to produce the best Gyokuro in Japan, making it home to the traditional craftsmanship for this kind of tea. Over 100 years of experience making Gyokuro lives in Yame and thus, the tea that comes from here has set the standard for Gyokuro around the world for a very long time.  

Gyokuro depends on shade, and the best ones are grown in the valleys of mountains where there is little direct sunlight. The narrow river valleys of the Yame region create the ideal conditions for these tea trees, and they are able to flourish naturally, without much human intervention.  

Hand picked and hand crafted, the dry leaves of this tea are stunning: dark, fine, and oily, they look finished, like glazed ceramics. They have an intense and unique scent, somewhere between floral and metallic.

They brew an impressively clear first-infusion, the colour of lemon candies. Afterwards the wet leaves in the gaiwan that look so alive, speckled with vibrant stems.  

This is a very pleasant tea, without bitterness or even vegetal notes – there’s no resistance. We feel tricked into tasting sugar crystals in the first infusion, as if it wakes up sweetness receptors on our tongue. Second and third Infusions brew such a silky, unified liquor that leaves itself pasted to our palates, the way a jasmine tea does. It isn’t too heavy, but it still knows gravity. This soft downward sensation and sweet, balanced character is very soothing.  

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Brewing Guide

Please read our detailed Gyokuro brewing guide here