Greetings to all, hope you all had a fancy time during the holidays that you celebrated or not!
I found out that I had already cup-tested 3 out of 4 of the Gyokuro of 2013 from the Kurihara family farm after trying out the 4th one. Goody!
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| Picture from Yunomi.us One of the best Japanese tea shops out there! |
I won't make you wait too long:
First and foremost, I gotta be fair... I didn't steep the teas all the same way. The first tea was steeped at 45C as per the instructions from the Kurihara farm, then I lost those instructions, so I had to refer to the Yunomi.us instructions which are as good in my opinion. Then, after attending a very personalized (we were only 2 people) Japanese tea tasting event, I tried to brew my 2nd and 3rd teas (Premium & Heritage) in a smaller teapot (since there exist smaller kyushu teapots, but I don't own any yet.) used for Gong Fu Cha service. The 4th tea also used less water and a smaller amount of tea as I learned that I can use a small-medium sized teacup to measure the amount of water needed (roughly 30-40ml) and 1 heaped teaspoon per said cup of water. Turned out rather delicious. You'll see!
Standard Gyokuro 2013
(Spoiler: I had vanilla-chocolate body lotion on... Something to mind in the future.)
Dry leaves:
- Dark green with a little bit of lighter green colours
- Short thin leaves rolled like hay (needles) and a very good amount of powdery bits
- Looks delicate
- Smells buttery, green, sweet like vanilla & white chocolate (see spoiler up above :S), light asparagus nose
- The leaves seem light and fresh when squeezed. They would rather bend than break
2 minutes - 80 ml (1/3 cup) water - 8 grams of tea - 45C (as instructed by the Kurihara farm)
Liquor:
- Light vibrant green
- Shiny, forgot to note down whether or not it was opaque... Most likely.
- Smells like dry leaves, buttery, green, sweet like vanilla & white chocolate (see spoiler up above :S), light asparagus nose
2nd Taste: Almost like eating a whole bunch of boiled greens (asparagus, spinach)
Wet leaves:
- Smell like butter, asparagus, almost milky
- Look like nice soaked dark & light green hay
~20 seconds - ~80 ml (1/3 cup) water - Still the same 8 grams of tea - 80C
Liquor:
- Camo green, opaque and a little shiny
- Smells like creamy asparagus
2nd taste: Like drinking the juice of a dark crushed fresh tree leaf. However, when you drink it normally (not slurping), it doesn't seem so bitter and more round.
3rd Steeping (Kyushu teapot - Senchado technique)
~25 seconds - ~80 ml (1/3 cup) water - Still the same 8 grams of tea - 80C
Liquor:
- Colour is even darker and opaque, still a bit shiny
- Smells like creamy asparagus
2nd Taste: More bitter, still smooth though. Tastes like crushed, fresh young leaves. When swallowed, it's almost creamy.
4th Steeping (Kyushu teapot - Senchado technique) - because I felt I could stretch it that much
1 minute - full kyushu teapot (normal small one) - Still the same 8 grams of tea - 80C
Liquor:
- Clear green leaf colour, shiny
- Smells a bit like asparagus
2nd Taste: Same as 1st taste, but less astringent, almost a sour point at the tip of the tongue at the very beginning.
Notes: I was disappointed by the lack of "marine" taste (seaweed). It's obviously not a Tamahomare, but not bad either. Very intense at first.
I also tried to cook the tea leaves...
So I used olive oil & cut pieces of garlic that I sautéed ~1 minute. I added the wet tea leaves, some Cyprus salt and a little bit of pepper. I sautéed the whole for ~1-2 minutes, then added a small piece of butter on top. Mixed and let the butter melt.
It wasn't bad. But maybe I would have added a little soy next time to give it a little kick as it lacked a bit of flavour. My husband found it a bit bitter. Some pieces of leaves were still a bit hard. 3 stars out of 5.
Premium Gyokuro 2013
Dry leaves:
- Dark green with very little light green colour
- Short thin leaves rolled like hay straw (needles) and powdery bits
- Smells like cream of spinach and asparagus cooked with butter and cream
- Felt a bit dryer than expected when squeezed, but still a bit springy
2 minutes - 80 ml (1-3 cup) water - 8 grams of tea - 60C
Liquor:
- Light yellow-green colour, clear
- Smells like creamy spinach, sweet
A bit intense, a bit bitter, interesting taste at the beginning at the back of the mouth. Something green and veggie-like and sweet
Wet leaves:
- Nice green colour, look almost mashed
- Smells like warm thick grass that has been cut and piled and has warmed up under the sun
~20 seconds - 80 ml (1-3 cup) water - same 8 grams of tea - 80C
Liquor: Thick, shiny, viscous dark green colour
Taste: A bit bitter, actually, pretty bitter, astringent, but smooth and palatable at the same time. Tastes like tree leaves and hay. It's hard to taste much because of the bitterness.
Interesting facts: Drinking pure (a bit warm in my case) H2O after the tea made the water taste super sweet.
Notes: This tea is too bitter and intense... Might be because of the first steeping's temperature, I don't know... I did a 3rd steeping afterwards and it was much better and smoother.
Experiment!
I melted unsalted butter in a pot, added the gyokuro wet leaves, then added salt and pepper. I cooked the mix for a while, mixing from time to time, then I added organic 3.25% milk, added more salt and pepper to taste and voilà! Crème de Gyokuro!
Creamy, buttery, slightly bitter (only a little in my opinion) and as good as leek or spinach cream! :9 4.3/5
Heritage Gyokuro 2013
Dry leaf:
- Dark green with a little lighter green colours
- Flat needle-like leaves with some powder
- Smells like cream of Spinach cooked with butter and cream
2 minutes - 80 ml (1/3 cup) water - 8 grams of tea - ~50C
Liquor:
- Medium green-yellow colour
- Opaque but not completely as I can still see powder deposits at the bottom of my cup
- Smells like buttered greens with cream
- Intense, sweet, green, umami, with a lightly smoky taste at the back of the mouth on the 3rd sip. Very intense like something bitter, but it isn't really bitter. Quite overpowering with a creamy taste
- Creamy and smooth
- Vivid medium green colour
- A bit like mashed leaves lightly squashed together
- Green smell, reminds me of the taste of its liquor, just less intense
- Asparagus and cream smell
~20 seconds - 80 ml (1/3 cup) water - the same 8 grams of tea - ~70C
Liquor:
- Much more opaque, almost muddy
- Darker green and a little yellowish
- Almost bitter, but still smooth
- Less sweet
- Green taste
- Intense but less than the 1st steeping
- A little smoky, especially after a few sips when breathing out through the nose
- If you drink water in-between sips to clear the previous taste in the mouth, it almost feels like the moment it enters your mouth, the water tastes like coffee!
~25 seconds - 80 ml (1/3 cup) water - the same 8 grams of tea - ~70C
Liquor:
- Lighter, clearer, green-yellow colour
- Green sweet smell
- Smooth but a little astringent
- A bit sweet, a bit smoky
- More watery, will not sustain another steeping
- More drinkable as an everyday type of tea or in bigger quantity
- Green taste
Experiment: Dipped the wet leaves in garlic dumpling sauce (Six Fortune brand) and it was good.
Kurihara Heritage Gyokuro 2013
Dry leaf:
- Dark green flat needles with a little of lighter green
- NO POWDER
- Buttery dry spinach smell
2.5 minutes - 1 small-medium teacup of water (~30ml) - 1 heaped teaspoon - 50C
Liquor:
- Light yellow-green colour
- Shiny but opaque
- green, spinach, buttery, seaweed, almost perfume-like
- Intense at first then weakens and slowly taper off
- Sweet, green, light asparagus
- Mellow, none to barely any astringency
- Rolls in the mouth like a good Tamahomare (Another Gyukuro, the expensive kind)
- Very insignificant bitterness
- Sweet broccoli, green smell
- Vivid medium green colour with a little bit of paler green
- Looks like cooked spinach, the leaves look beautiful
30 seconds - 1 small-medium teacup of water (~30ml) - same 1 heaped teaspoon - ~60C
Liquor:
- Medium grey-green with some yellow colour
- Less opaque, shiny with some translucent specks on the surface
- Light sweet powdery green smell
- Less sweet
- Green taste
- More liquid, less viscous
- Slight bitterness at the end
- Very drinkable as is
30 seconds - 1 small-medium teacup of water (~30ml) - same 1 heaped teaspoon - ~70C
Liquor:
- Clearer, light-medium grey-green-yellow colour
- Small green specks at the bottom and translucent specks at the surface
- Lacks taste, a little green taste
- Slight metal taste
Verdict: This last grade is the best so far!
That's it, folks! I gotta run now as it is the 31st and already 7:10pm! Happy New Year to all! :) May this new year be even better than the last. Make lots of wishes!
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