Description
In order to achieve a creation considered as best of the best, it is simply not enough just to cultivate the best tea leaves. Those leaves need to then be processed on the highest levels and refined with extreme care to get only Gyokuro needles.
That is the true value of a tea master - a virtuoso of appraiser and blender of tea leaves - brings to the table, and few masters are more highly regarded than Hiroshi Kobayashi, the only 10-dan ranked master in Kyoto and one of only 13 in Japan.
Kobayashi-san's flagship Gyokuro is called Shogyoku and is cultivated by himself on the factory's own tea fields which are only dedicated to making this tea and their flagship matcha Zuisho.
The "Heritage Grade" label is issued due to the utilization of traditional shading -- a canopy with Yoshizu reeds layered in gradual steps, which then processed and refined with utmost attention to maintaining the perfect needle shape in the final tea leaves.
Using 200-year-old umami-rich cultivars, Zairai, and Uji Hikari, with only a few dozen kilograms, of handpicked tea each year make this Gyokuro one of its kind.
Steeping notes
- Tea: 3 grams,
- Time: 3 minutes,
-
Water: 40˚C/104˚F degrees, 30 ml
Resteep 2x at 30 sec, 70C/158F, 200 ml.
The first steeping parameter is meant to extract an umami syrup, the ambrosia of tea. Feel free to adjust the water amount, temperature, etc to see what delicious flavors can be extracted. Subsequent steeps may be enjoyed as a sencha, steeping a full cup for 30 seconds at 70˚C/158˚F degrees.
Another way to achieve this tea ambrosia is by allowing ice to melt over the leaf, our favorite way of enjoying this leaf in fact while with friends. You make a few drops at a time every 30 minutes, and spend a leisurely entire afternoon enjoying the leaf.
Product Info
- Ingredients: Green tea
- Cultivar: Uji Hikari, Zairai
- Harvest: May
- Region: Wazuka, Kyoto. Refined in Kyotanabe, Kyoto.
- Notes: Shaded for 30-40 days depending on the year on an award-
Vendor Info
- Name: Shogyokuen
- Type: Tea factory, family business
- CEO: Hiroshi & Tsuyoshi Kobayashi
- Established: 1827
- Employees: about 12
- Description
Description
In order to achieve a creation considered as best of the best, it is simply not enough just to cultivate the best tea leaves. Those leaves need to then be processed on the highest levels and refined with extreme care to get only Gyokuro needles.
That is the true value of a tea master - a virtuoso of appraiser and blender of tea leaves - brings to the table, and few masters are more highly regarded than Hiroshi Kobayashi, the only 10-dan ranked master in Kyoto and one of only 13 in Japan.
Kobayashi-san's flagship Gyokuro is called Shogyoku and is cultivated by himself on the factory's own tea fields which are only dedicated to making this tea and their flagship matcha Zuisho.
The "Heritage Grade" label is issued due to the utilization of traditional shading -- a canopy with Yoshizu reeds layered in gradual steps, which then processed and refined with utmost attention to maintaining the perfect needle shape in the final tea leaves.
Using 200-year-old umami-rich cultivars, Zairai, and Uji Hikari, with only a few dozen kilograms, of handpicked tea each year make this Gyokuro one of its kind.
Steeping notes
- Tea: 3 grams,
- Time: 3 minutes,
-
Water: 40˚C/104˚F degrees, 30 ml
Resteep 2x at 30 sec, 70C/158F, 200 ml.
The first steeping parameter is meant to extract an umami syrup, the ambrosia of tea. Feel free to adjust the water amount, temperature, etc to see what delicious flavors can be extracted. Subsequent steeps may be enjoyed as a sencha, steeping a full cup for 30 seconds at 70˚C/158˚F degrees.
Another way to achieve this tea ambrosia is by allowing ice to melt over the leaf, our favorite way of enjoying this leaf in fact while with friends. You make a few drops at a time every 30 minutes, and spend a leisurely entire afternoon enjoying the leaf.
Product Info
- Ingredients: Green tea
- Cultivar: Uji Hikari, Zairai
- Harvest: May
- Region: Wazuka, Kyoto. Refined in Kyotanabe, Kyoto.
- Notes: Shaded for 30-40 days depending on the year on an award-
Vendor Info
- Name: Shogyokuen
- Type: Tea factory, family business
- CEO: Hiroshi & Tsuyoshi Kobayashi
- Established: 1827
- Employees: about 12