Gyokuro Imperial

I’ll start off by stating that I am of Japanese decent. That being said, this is by far the closest green tea I have had in America to the Japanese Green Tea that I love. The grassy aroma and soft buttery texture makes it a treat to be able to drink every day (I work at Teavana and get to drink every day). While it might appear that I am just advertising, this is truly a tea that I wish everybody would at least try. It is my absolute favorite Green Tea and possibly my favorite everyday tea. If you make at home, try using some distilled water rather than plain filtered water. The taste is much more accurate to true Japanese tea and the color is a distinct green as long as the temperature and time are also correct.

So I’m not one for straight greens… Or greens at all really, but I do like this tea very much. Grassy, buttery and bold, this green is nice and forward with flavor. Now, I do work at teavana now, and though that is the case, I am not bias, having loved tea for before I worked there. If anyone wants me to review anything, please let me know^_^

I’m probably a bit biased, but this is my favorite tea ever. I love my black teas but this green tea takes the cake. Just taking a sniff of it, you know there’s something different about it. There’s almost a sweet fragrance to it unlike most green teas, and when brewed the taste isn’t too “strong” in terms of flavor wise (reminder: I take straight black teas). It does what it needs to do while tasting amazing. Will always recommend!

Pure, green tea taste.

I love drinking green tea straight. This is a new addition for me, as I’ve been drinking Jade Dragon Mao Feng Green Tea for the past couple of months, which is milder and better (to me) in taste. This one is a bit stronger in taste and color, but I love the health benefits of it and will continue to buy it.

Thanks to Tea Junkie for this sample. Love it… I desperately want more. One of the better green teas I’ve had. I’m afraid that I greedily drank it all down without takign any notes..

This is a fairly old one that I received ages ago from Autumn Hearth I believe the name was. I have made a note of it, but she modified her name later on and now appears to not be around anymore.

I’m not certain about these recommendations. I’ve been told 30 seconds steeping and I’ve previously heard that with this type of green it’s important to brew the first steep rather coolly, so I went for the lowest setting on my kettle which was 60°C. I’m just not sure that’s warm enough and/or long enough. I mean, I know I’m used to black tea which is tastes far stronger than the average green, but even so. This tastes rather thin on these parameters. It doesn’t have a detectable aroma at all and the flavour is mostly a juicy, veg-y splash in some otherwise fairly lukewarm water. Husband thought it was rather nice, but I thought it was mostly just a cup of warm water.

Not impressed at this point, I decided to go for a second steep and make the water 70°C this time and I gave it 45 seconds. This time it has an aroma, although it’s not a very strong one. It smells like vegetable water, sort of, and with that ‘fat’ note that I associate with green tea. I can’t really explain that one, it just smells fat to me. If a smell could have a shape, that’s what it would be. It has also picked up a smidge of astringency right on the first sip, but other than that it’s still mainly a cup of warm water. That veg-y note is coming through after a while though. It’s a sort of building up note, and it takes half a small cup to get it in any noticable way. It’s mostly right as I swallow and as an aftertaste.

Hm. I don’t dare make the water any warmer, because I think it will probably definitely go all bitter if I do, and I don’t dare make the steeping time longer either for the same reason, so I think I’ve reached a dead end here.

I shan’t rate this because I honestly don’t know how to rate warm water… Honestly, I think the leaf was just too old.

Tea #4 from Considering a new TTB
I’ve been wanting to try teavana’s higher end offerings and I’m pretty curious as to how this stacks up agains gyokuro from other companies. At 19.98 per 2oz it’s already nearly twice the price of the gyokuro I order from another company and didn’t resteep nearly as well, which in and of itself is a reason why I would be unlikely to purchase it. I did enjoy the flavor, it was mildly vegetal, slightly sweet, and a little buttery. I can see why it is offered by teavana, it’s the type of green tea that will appeal to many people because it lacks the overwhelming vegetal flavors of many other varieties, but I just can’t get past the price.

I’ll still stick to ordering from Yunomi for my gyokuro, but this is a tea I would pick up again if it were on sale.

This tea is great hot or iced. Be careful not to overstep it though.

from The Traveling Tea Box

Maybe I should stick to blacks and pu’erhs in the morning. I’m just working my way through this enormous box and this highly vegetal green was next up. It’s a flash dried green..my least favorite..but good quality. Onto the next……