Organic Gyokuro the White Elephant of Green Teas
We love to start our day with a green tea, sometimes its Gyokuro (pronounced gyow·koo·row) sometimes Sencha sometimes Kaimarchia, we are fortunate enough to be able to start (most) of our days slowly. Even when we cant we will have a green tea to go. Its really important to us that our teas are organic, so we searched high and low for a Gyokuro that had the same or arguably better tasting profile as non organic. When we stumbled upon Kazuhiro we were absolutely blown away. Before we delve into Kazuhiro lets have a look at Gyokuro, what it is, how its made and why it’s so special.
Gyokuro Green tea, a prized Japanese green tea, known as the emperors tea in Japan, is renowned for its unique production process and exceptional taste. Gyokuro is Japan's most sought-after leaf tea, rivaled only by matcha, its powdered counterpart. Producers work meticulously to create a gyokuro that minimizes bitterness and maximizes the savory and sweet flavors that makes gyokuro famous.
Originating in the Kyoto region, Gyokuro stands out for its rich flavor, vibrant green color, and numerous health benefits.
Production Process:
Whilst many other Japanese Teas are shades prior to harvest, Gyokuro and Matcha are shaded for the longest time. Gyokuro's starts with shading the tea plants for about three weeks before harvesting. The tea plant is covered with “kabuse” netting. In addition to being shaded for a longer time, it is also shaded more heavily, with up to 90% of the sunlight being blocked from the plant in the last week before the harvest.
The reason that tea bushes are shaded is to reduce the development of catechins. Catechins are the bitter components in tea, and the plant creates them as natural protection from UV light. As the tea plant is exposed to sunlight, it will convert the theanine into catechins. If the tea plant is cut off from direct sunlight, it will retain more of its theanine, giving green tea a smoother and sweeter flavor. This also enhances the leaves' chlorophyll content increasing the health benefits. A farmer can use shading to control the flavour of his tea, whether for one week to reduce the bitterness slightly or three weeks to completely alter the chemical composition of the leaf.
The picking style of Gyokuro is similar to that of other premium Japanese green teas like matcha and high-grade sencha. The top 3 leaves of the tea plant are selected in the early spring after the three weeks of shading. The top 3 leaves are selected because they are the smoothest in flavor and the richest in nutrients.
The tea plant has to draw in nutrients from the soil all winter, which are then released into the light green sprouts in the early spring. This is why the young leaf is so helpful in producing premium Japanese green tea.
Handpicking is still something that takes place in some tea fields. This takes place only one day a year, and people gather from all over the town to help out on this special day. The gyokuro farmer has to set up a special bamboo scaffolding to shade the tea plants while still allowing enough space for people to pick the tea underneath. The pickers will grab the stem of the tea plant slightly underneath the third leaf, pluck it and place it into a basket. These leaves will later be gathered up for the next steps in production.
After harvest, Just as the gyokuro is carefully grown and picked, it must also be carefully processed. Most of the steps in the production of gyokuro are consistent with other types of Japanese green tea. The leaves must be steamed immediately after harvest to stop oxidation. This deactivates the enzymes that would otherwise turn the tea into black tea if left alone. This is why the dried tea leaves retain their rich green color for years after they are picked.
This heating process is also done for Chinese green teas, but the leaves are fired in a hot pan rather than steamed. The steaming process is unique to Japanese green teas and allows them to lock in more of their vegetal, even “seaweedy” flavor profiles.
After the leaves have been steamed, they go through a lengthy drying process. The leaves need to be brought down to between 4-7% humidity to infuse properly. This can’t be done at high heat, or it will alter the flavor of the tea, so it is done at a low heat over a more extended period.
After making it through a series of small ovens, the tea leaves are ready to be rolled. This rolling is done before the final drying while the leaves are still somewhat pliable. While most Japanese green teas go through some rolling process, Gyokuro has an extra rolling step to achieve its trademark needle-shaped leaves.
These machines push the leaves over metal grooves which tightly roll them into this distinct shape. The leaves are then taken through a final drying process before they are packaged.
While Gyokuro is always difficult to produce, it is especially difficult to produce an organic Gyokuro without pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The 3-week shading process is a particularly challenging time for the tea plant. Most Gyokuro farmers will temporarily use an artificial fertilizer to strengthen the tea plant, but when it comes to growing tea without chemicals, it comes down to the farmer's skill.
How to Brew your Tea
To fully appreciate Gyokuro's intricate flavors, the brewing process requires attention to detail. Using a lower water temperature (around 140°F or 60°C/70C) and a longer steeping time (around 2 minutes), usually with a higher tea-to-water ratio, brings out its characteristic umami taste. The resulting tea has a rich, smooth texture with sweet and vegetal undertones. If you are sampling competition Gyokuro the water temperature can be as low as 40C and brew time up to 3 minutes. High quality Gyokyuro can be re brewed 2-3 times at a higher temperature for much less time.
The Health Benefits of Gyokuro
Gyokuro tea offers a range of health benefits due to its high concentration of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Some potential advantages include improved metabolism, reduced risk of cardiovascular issues, and enhanced cognitive function.
Gyokuro has one of the highest caffeine content in the world of tea. The reason for this has to do with both the shading and the picking of the tea. Caffeine is produced as a natural defense mechanism to help repel insects. Caffeine can be bitter and even toxic to some small insects, so the tea plant produces it to prevent its leaves from being eaten.
The younger, more tender tea leaves are especially vulnerable to insects, so they need more protection. This is why teas made from the younger sprouts of the tea plant, like gyokuro and matcha, tend to be higher in caffeine. The shading process can also cause the tea plant to produce more caffeine.
In addition to being high in caffeine, gyokuro is also high in theanine. This amino acid is thought to work in synergy with caffeine to produce a calm yet alert feeling. This could be why Gyokuro drinkers report having longer-lasting energy throughout the day, with less of the crash and jitters they may get from coffee.
In conclusion, Gyokuro tea's meticulous production process and distinct flavor profile make it a sought-after Japanese delicacy. By brewing it carefully and savoring its unique taste, you can enjoy both its exceptional flavor and potential health benefits.
How was Gyokuro Discovered?
Gyokuro was first discovered by a tea merchant named Yamamoto Kahei in 1835. After traveling around Japan, he noticed some small family farms covering their tea plants to protect them from the cold before the harvest. This practice was common during the cultivation of tencha.
It is said that during his time visiting the Kinoshita family, the winter was particularly long, and after the extra-long shading process, he noticed the tea leaves produced a sticky residue during processing. The tea was named Gyokuro or Jade Dew as a reference to this.
During the Edo period, this tea became the tea of choice for the Emperor. Before refrigeration, a tea’s quality was often measured by how long it lasted. Gyokuro became the clear winner, with its flavor maintained or even improved through age. This is why you may see Gyokuro labeled as imperial gyokuro or emperor’s gyokuro.
The Kyushi Kazuhiro Green Tea
Ok so that’s all you need to know about Gyokuro but lets look into Kazuhiro the beautiful one you can find in the Kyushi Wellness Store in the Nourish section. Kazuhiro was cultivated by TSURU KAZUYUKI
The Tsuru Cha En plantation was founded in 1959 by the father of the current business owner, Tsuru Kazuyuki san. Since Tsuru san took over the operations in 2007, the tea production has switched to a 100% chemical and pesticide-free process. In 2017, they received the Special Farming Products Certification from Saga prefecture. Today, Tsuru san is one of only four green tea producers in Kyushu, who grows tea in a completely pesticide-free manner, bringing him 'above' organic standards.
Tsuru san explains: "More than 80% of our tea trees are over fifty years old. Our constant care and pruning have allowed their roots to go deep in the ground, and benefit from all the advantages of a soil rich in nutrients. The trees absorb large quantities of minerals, making them resistant to insects and illness, even without the use of any pesticides.
We grow our leaves in a pesticide-free environment, in a location high in the mountains, where a large temperature difference and deep mists make it possible for the leaves to create the nutrients that will yield a sweet and umami-rich tea."
Tsuru san goes on: "Our fields in Chigiriyama (Motoayama-cho) in Saga are located on the eastern end of the mountain, at an altitude of 300m above sea level, right next to Yame area (Fukuoka pref.). Thanks to the important temperature difference between day and night, our fields are often covered by a thick fog. Combined with fresh and clean water, this makes it the perfect place for tea cultivation.
Although the conditions are nearly perfect, the remote location of our fields makes it impossible to bring any picking machine up in the mountain, therefore all our family must work hard during the harvest season and throughout the year to remove by hand all the weeds that grow so fast."
Tsuru san grows two kinds of tea cultivars in his fields at the top of the mountain - the well-known yabukita and the more sensitive and frost-sensitive asatsuyu, which is also called the 'natural gyokuro' due to its delicate taste.
Shade-grown gyokuro is one of the teas produced by Tsuru san and is a rarity. The fact it is pesticide and chemical free makes this gyokuro extremely rare and precious. Organic gyokuro is as hard to find as a white elephant, because it requires even more hard work than normal gyokuro, which is already one of the most demanding green teas.
Tsuru san and his son look over their tea trees like dotting parents take care of their children. This patience and dedication is expressed in the floral and honey tastes of their teas that reflect the beautiful nature in which they grow, where bees, wild flowers and a rich, nutrient-packed soil contribute to confer to the tea leaves a unique and distinctive touch.
