Gyokuro

Clouds are gathering…black and bulging with rain…waiting for the right moment to let loose and expload with a clap of thunder boom and clap of lightening!
Steepster is acting like it took a vacation. I strolled over to Facebook and noticed that my local tea shop (Happy Lucky’s) offered a free pot of tea to anyone who could guess the mystery tea of the day by figuring out a clue. Hum…“What tea is smoked over a fire…blah blah blah?” Lightbulb…“Lapsang Souchong”, I answered in my head.
Time passed. By 1 PM noone had guessed correctly, and Steepster was still on vacation.
I couldn’t take it anymore, so I picked out some tea samples for the nice employees who are so kind to me at the shop and off I went for tea.
When I arrived, and they saw me they knew I would guess right the mystery tea so I earned my free pot. BUT, what a marvelously wonderful pot it turned out to be!

I’ve never had Gyokuro tea before so this was special indeed.
A cast iron pot was prepared with 2 teaspoons of Gyokuro tea (high quality). Then, ice cubes were laid on top and allowed to melt slowly…providing small tablespoon sized tastings over and over again of the most delicious rich liquor.
This was beyond tea! The flavor was salty and rich like venison or the finest roasted lamb without any gaminess. The amount of coating on the tongue was unreal…more than any tea I’ve ever had. Aftertaste…beyond belief…lingering on and on. Each cup remained as good as the last. I can’t say enough about how good this tea was. It hit every taste bud, broke all the rules and stopped just short of what your pleasure center can tolerate.
Amazing tea! Amazing brewing method for this tea! I am going to repeat this method and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! What a treat! Thank you to Happy Lucky’s!

Shinobi cha video…how to prepare: http://youtu.be/4UEZcq1qVtw

Swap from Bonnie. Thank you, Bonnie, this is muchly appreciated.

A parcel of tea samples arrived on Monday (it is now Wednesday) containing a large range of teas. Naturally I was excited to try them all out, but I wanted to finish the samples that Teavivre had sent me first because they had been around longer, so yesterday I wrote them up. Now on to Bonnie’s teas. Where to start? I had no preference and all excited me equally, so I picked a bag at random. It was this Gyokuro.

The leaves were a dark green, like pine needles. They danced in the hot water and an aroma of fresh greens wafted up to me as I waited for the tea to brew. Visually this tea is brilliant. So, on to the tasting. Very nice. It is smooth with quite a thick buttery liquor. The flavour is a bit like asparagus to me. It is very pleasant. Good tea. I think that I have enough to try this under ice next time. That will be an interesting experiment.

journalogging #3 of 4

I must admit that I had never heard of Gyokuro before seeing it in the bag along with the others in the “welcome to tea” samples that Bonnie benevolently sent last week. I’m so very glad she did though because it truly stands up on its own in terms of having a differentiated flavor profile.

I first tried the preparation method of putting 2tsp in the bottom of a gaiwan and then covering it with ice, drinking sips as it melts. I was so intent on following directions literally after my fiasco (albiet a tasty one) with the Pu’er from Happy Lucky’s that I missed the point entirely and allowed this process to unfold in an air conditioned room that gave me a small gulp’s worth after around two hours of ice melt. I prefer my Lagavulin neat and I must say that gulp of Gyokuro made the hair on my neck stand up! note to self – try that again, outside, in the sun, and borrow some common sense if you are temporarily in short supply!

Luckily I was able to salvage the leaves and run them through a more traditional hot preparation and it was significantly, no, drastically better. English pea and macadamia nut are what came to mind as I enjoyed a yummy round on the Green.

I love the Japanese green teas!there is rarely a day I go without a pot or 2 of whatever genmaicha I happen to have around! but its on rare days that I decide to break into my small stash of happy lucky’s gyokuro. this one I have had iced as a “shinobi” brew, in a ceramic pot, and a cast iron pot. and in case you have never heard of a shinobi brew its when place just ice cubes in a pot with the gyokuro and as it melts that will be your tea. its worth experimenting, but I personally love and prefer it hot! when brewed just right the green color is lovely, and there is not to much leafy bits in it either. its got a fresh grassy-ish flavor of a good japanese green. but beware! this tea will not tolerate anything less than perfection! leave it for a few to many seconds or not let the water cool enough it will let you know. this is one of my favorites, and it will be a sad day when I finally run out of happy lucky’s gyokuro, and will have to move on to another brand.