Gyokuro Imperial

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Green Tea Leaves
Flavors
Grass, Green, Vegetal, Seaweed, Smooth, Bitter, Salty, Freshly Cut Grass, Sweet, Umami, Astringent, Butter, Burnt, Hay, Straw, Sweet, Warm Grass, Dark Bittersweet
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Brandice
Average preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 15 sec 7 g 20 oz / 592 ml

From Our Community

2 Images

20 Want it Want it

  • +5

189 Own it Own it

  • +174

109 Tasting Notes View all

  • “SIPDOWN! Thanks to Raritea for this sample. Now i’m not huge fan of straight greens but this one is for sure one that I could keep around for when i’m in the mood for a straight green. There’s a...” Read full tasting note
    80
  • “Thanks to Raritea for a sample of this one! Unfortunately, although I knowingly wrote 1 tsp on the bag, I clearly put 1.5 into it, so this is not yet a sipdown :( Ahhh, this is tasty. Vegetal and...” Read full tasting note
    82
  • “Loose Appearance: long fine leaf, dark forest green Aroma when Dry: buttery, smooth, sweet (eastern) After water is first poured: buttery, smooth, creamy, sweet (eastern) At end of first steep:...” Read full tasting note
    70
  • “This poor tea… I killed it with both steeping time and hot water. My mom still loved it, but I thought it was too astringent for me. She said “it tastes like spinach water” and, as she is someone...” Read full tasting note
    80

From Teavana

Rich, almost full-bodied, smooth taste with sweet ending & complex notes.

The finest of Japanese teas, Gyokuro bushes are covered for several weeks before harvest with bamboo or straw shades to increase the chlorophyll content of the leaves. The results of this transformation are the renowned dark green leaves with high concentrations of Antioxidants, vitamins and amino acids. Celebrated for its emerald green infusion and sweet aftertaste.

How to Prepare
Use 1 teaspoon of tea per 8oz of water. Heat water to 175 degrees (79 degrees Celsius) and steep for 45 seconds to 1 minute. For stronger flavor, use more tea leaves. 2oz of tea equals 25-30 teaspoons.

About Teavana View company

Company description not available.

109 Tasting Notes

80
14951 tasting notes

SIPDOWN!

Thanks to Raritea for this sample. Now i’m not huge fan of straight greens but this one is for sure one that I could keep around for when i’m in the mood for a straight green. There’s a sweetness behind the vegetal notes that I find appealing. Thank you Raritea for this tea that i otherwise never would have tried :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
6105 tasting notes

Thanks to Raritea for a sample of this one! Unfortunately, although I knowingly wrote 1 tsp on the bag, I clearly put 1.5 into it, so this is not yet a sipdown :(

Ahhh, this is tasty. Vegetal and chewy, if tea can have a texture! It’s also kind of mariney and brothy, neither of which overpower one another, which works really well. Actually, it tastes kind of like the salted, flavoured seaweed snacks I like to eat. But, less seaweedy.

Overall, pretty good! I was worried that my 45s infusion would be too long, but it was just perfect here, and I’m glad I didn’t use more tea!

Depending on the price, this would be a tea I’d consider buying in the future, although I’m likely to go elsewhere for a gyokuro. Would definitely drink it if offered though, as long as I was in a green tea mood (I find that I must be in the mood for vegetal greens, otherwise I don’t particularly enjoy them).

Thanks Raritea!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 45 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

70
189 tasting notes

Loose
Appearance: long fine leaf, dark forest green
Aroma when Dry: buttery, smooth, sweet (eastern)
After water is first poured: buttery, smooth, creamy, sweet (eastern)
At end of first steep: even smooth vegital
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: clear
Staple? Type likey, would use brand again
Preferred time of day: any
Taste:
At first?: smooth, brothy, salt seaweed note close
As it cools?: gets rich, creamy, salty, brothy
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)?
Lingers? Yes, sweet, silky, vegital, brothy notes, hints of salt

Second Steep(5 min):
At first: lightly sour vegital, sweet buttery close
As it cools?: gets a cloying sweet, sour vegital note

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
863 tasting notes

This poor tea…

I killed it with both steeping time and hot water. My mom still loved it, but I thought it was too astringent for me. She said “it tastes like spinach water” and, as she is someone who totally drinks spinach water on occasion, I guess that’s not a bad thing. :)

Before it cooled and became too astringent, though, I thought the thick brothy texture was tasty. The dry leaf looked like grass clippings and it reminded me of spring. I can’t wait until it actually is spring again!

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

87
836 tasting notes

I used 0.8 tablespoons for 375 ml of water.

Thick and brothy. Savoury. Highly vegetal (spinach) with a pleasant astringency. Hints of roasted flavour. Mild complementary sweetness.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
421 tasting notes

Well, I went into my local Teavana for the last time yesterday. I really wanted a cup of tea so I stopped in while my husband and I were shopping and I wanted to try this tea to go. Well, from the start they were on me about buying it. I passed, to go would be fine.

I’ll save the rest of the story for a blog post later…I’m still steamed over the whole trip and it had nothing to do with me, but another customer. Anyway, this tea is probably one of the few straight teas they still carry. I had it iced and found it to have the usual veggie taste to it that most greens have (I’m growing to like them), but there was also a natural sweetness to this one too which I enjoyed. I would get this tea again from another source in the future.

Preparation
Iced
Daisy Chubb

Oh no! – I’m very curious to hear your story – Although sorry you seemed to have a bad experience (not that it’s unheard of in Teavana). At least the tea tasted okay, a small saving grace haha

IllBeMother221B

I’ll have a blog post up about it in the next few days. But yes the tea was good. So they had that going for them.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

78
50 tasting notes

I was in the mood for some green tea love today. I’ve steeped it twice and it’s still pretty amazing. Love the grassy taste of this tea, not bitter at all.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 30 sec
TeaBrat

i love gyokuro… LOVE. :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

87
102 tasting notes

This gyokuro is on sale right now at Teavana for 75% off, so if you’re thinking of trying it, now is the time. Only $5 for 2 oz. I stocked up. This has always been one of my favorite gyokuros. I have branched out since I discovered this tea — in the past year or so I’ve tried a lot of different Japanese greens — but I still like this. If you brew it correctly it’s flavorful and gives you that really “green” green tea experience.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

81
892 tasting notes

Thank you to whoever sent me this! Trying to work through all of my samples. It’s nice. Just kind of a typical green tea. Nice vegetal notes and a nice sweet note in the aftertaste :]

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

14 tasting notes

Here’s what justifies the price:

$20 for 2 ounces. Seems really out of proportion, right? Well, as opposed to 1 teaspoon for eight ounces, you use half a teaspoon. This effectively cuts the price in half in relation to how teavana prices their tea. By using only half the amount of tea than usual, you have to attribute that to the price. In relation to everything else: only ten bucks for 2oz. Extremely fair considering the quality.

I just bought this tea today and I can’t get enough of it. It has a very vegetal and grassy flavor with a wonderful scent. The flavor is so unique to me that I can’t compare it to anything else. For an extra kick, I tried adding Teavana’s Morrocan Mint to it and it is a match made in heaven. Next I’m gonna try adding in jasmine and see how that goes :D

Preparation
150 °F / 65 °C 0 min, 45 sec
Jameson Foster

To add something to my review: .5 teaspoons makes 5-7 pots of tea depending on what your personal cutoff for taste loss is with 10 being so subtle that you’re almost drinking how water. This will get you to have .5 teaspoons per day or per two days. You get 30 teaspoons per 2oz of tea, that’s 30-60 days worth of tea for 20 bucks of extremely high quality tea. Give it a try :D

Bonnie

Gyokoro tends to be more expensive as the quality goes up anyway. $28 for a little over an ounce is not uncommon.
Yours is a mass market lower quality but still drinkable grade. I’m not being a snob. Most of us can’t afford the expensive tea’s very often (especially me!). It’s important that we drink what we like.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.