This episode, James brings on a tea purchased on his recent trip to Japan. The tea is from Tsuen, one of the oldest teahouses in the world established in the year 1160. Gyokuro is a shade-grown Japanese green tea. Brewed with a very high leaf to water ratio and a low temperature, this tea is very strong, potent and intense.
This Fujitsubo Gyokuro is also available on O-Cha.
6 responses to “Tsuen’s Uji Fujitsubo Gyokuro [Episode 259]”
Interesting to see your reaction to this gyokuro. It’s generally considered a relaxing/calming/focusing tea because of its super high L-theanine content. From my own experience with gyokuro it has always put me in an extremely relaxed state. Thanks for bringing on something a bit different!
Cheers guys
Thanks Nick. In retrospect, I think I may’ve really overdone it on the brewing. I used 8 grams earlier this week and it was quite a bit better and certainly more palatable. For me, this is still a once a year sort of treat.
Cheers!
-James
James,
Interesting contrast to episode 54. Quite entertaining. Lower temperatures seem to be a plus with this tea. I once brewed a sencha with boiling water by mistake…I think I made the same face Denny did…. Love the videos.
Regards,
Thanks Karl. We’ll try to make overbrewing Japanese teas and making faces a yearly ritual.
Hi guys,
I know this kind of tea isn’t up your ally, so much respect for having it on the show! I think you got the temp right, but it’s highly likely that the leaf-to-water ratio was a little off – quite heavy on the leaf. I would use about 5-6 g (about 1 tablespoon) of leaf for 100ml of water, and I would steep the first cup for 30-40 seconds max. Successive cups would be flash steeped.
In general, I wouldn’t say gyokuro would pass the (non-gender specific) mom test. It does have that oceanic-umami thing that tends to be a bit much, even for me…and I drink lots of Japanese green tea. But I do think there are some senchas out there that do. Some cultivars exhibit little to no astringency or bitterness and are more buttery sweet.
Hi Theo,
I agree, and admit to flubbing the brewing for this episode. I did a few more sessions with this gyokuro with Garrett and they were much better and substantially less intense.
Thanks for the comment!
Cheers,
-James