Gyokuro "Mizu no Tsuyu"

Shizuoka is so famous for its vast mountains and sencha, it took us a couple visits before we could look past these things and dive more deeply into its other treasures. We shouldn't have been surprised that fantastic gyokuro is produced here, but this tea has wowed us nonetheless.

Gyokuro production depends on shade, and the best ones are grown in the valleys of mountains where there is little direct sunlight. This makes the expansive mountain range and fertile valleys of Shizuoka an excellent place to grow gyokuro.

Unique to the making of gyokuro is that, at a certain point, the entire field is covered with screens designed to filter out even more light. This stresses the tea trees, causing them to strive for sunlight, increasing the amount of the amino acid l-theanine in their leaves. This constant striving for sun is what gives gyokuro its distinct mouthfeel, nutritional properties, and rich flavor.

This gyokuro is harvested by hand, one bud and two leaves. The leaves are then immediately steamed, then separated, rolled, and lastly, formed into a needle shape by experienced craftsmen.

As if nodding to the matcha from Shizuoka, this gyokuro both smells and tastes like matcha! We find it to be much more gentle and perfumed than gyokuro from Yame, with a powdery quality that evokes matcha even further in comparison to the denser and heavier gyokuro we carry.

It brews a soft, luminous green liquor that rests lightly on the tongue, suspended in mid-palate. It looks like liquid bioluminescence, (something worth imagining as you ingest it). By the third infusion it starts to taste sweet, a bit more like matcha from Uji, while retaining its green glow and uplifting qualities. This is a light and refreshing gyokuro that speaks of the oxygenated peaks and valleys where it is from.