Gyokuro Tea

What is Gyokuro?

Gyokuro is the most prized green leaf tea in Japan. Cultivated in Japan, its leaves are bright marine green, due to their high chlorophyll content, and have a characteristic needle-like shape. Gyokuro is one of the finest teas in the world, and is also called ‘precious dew’ or ‘jade dew’. Its infusion has a pale dew or yellowy green colour, is slightly cloudy, has a strong umami, or savoury, taste and a rich aroma.

The origin of Gyokuro

The cultivation of Gyokuro tea, as in the case of Matcha tea, requires the tea crop to be completely covered with special tarpaulins or straw mats for about 2 to 3 weeks before harvesting. The plantations are a variety of Camellia Sinensis, also called Yabukita. Gyokuro is grown in Japan, particularly in Kirishima, in the south. Kirishima is the ideal place for organic tea cultivation, because it is often foggy, with extreme temperature differences. Such climatic conditions are particularly favourable for Japanese teas.

How is Gyokuro cultivated?

NaturalBio’s Gyokuro green tea comes from the very first harvest in the month of April, so that the tea leaves can spend a period of time in the shade and accumulate a greater concentration of chlorophyll. This phase is called ‘shading’ and is necessary to reduce photosynthesis in the young leaf buds. When covered, the plant produces more chlorophyll, contributing to the tea’s characteristic intense green colour, delicate and sweet taste, and restrained bitterness. After harvesting, the leaves are steamed for a maximum of 2 minutes to immediately stop oxidation, and preserve all their beneficial properties. Later they are dried inside a machine that gives the leaves their typical needle-like appearance.

Taste & Texture

Our Gyokuro comes from organic farming. Gyokuro tea leaves owe their characteristic bright green, marine-tinted colour to their high chlorophyll content. After infusion, the tea takes on a cloudy, pale, dew-like, yellowy green appearance. It is to this colour that Gyokuro owes its name, which translates from Japanese as ‘jade dew’. Gyokuro’s high chlorophyll contributes to the perfect complexity of taste of the tea, characterized by vegetable notes and a very particular sweetness. The first taste in the mouth is a mix of soft and slightly sweet vegetable flavours, with the aroma of spring grass gently warmed by the sun. This is followed by the freshness of slightly more sour and astringent notes, with an almost imperceptible bitterness to finish. All this ensures an extraordinary taste at every sip and a refreshing aftertaste.

How to consume Gyokuro?

Gyokuro tea has a high theine content. Gyokuro tea can be drunk as an infusion, or used in the kitchen as a spice to flavour dishes. We at NaturaleBio sell and market Gyokuro Organic Green Tea Leaves.