Green Tea Forum

Photiou · Posted: Jul 29, 2007 7:42 pm Post subject: Taste of gyokuro

How would you describe taste of high grade gyokuro?

I got some rather expensive gyokuro and the taste is quite different from what I have had before. It is not sweet but has 'thick' consistency and strong aroma/taste - like vegetable stock Exclamation

cloverroots · Posted: Nov 23, 2007 1:49 pm Post subject:

Pardon me for borrowing your thread. It is also about the taste and the infusion colour.

The infusion colour I had is of yellowish colour when it supposed to be green in colour. May I know why has this happened? Could it been that the tea is not Gyokuro?

Appreciate if anyone can advise a newbie in tea. Razz

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198

I have noticed a zucchini-like taste in gyokuro, though I can't call myself a gyokuro expert by any means. I've also noticed the color isn't quite as intense as sencha, but I don't know if that's just the gyokuro I've had or if it applies in general.

Cloverroots: it could be the tea you had, or it could just be how you brewed it. What temperature, amount of leaf/water, and infusion times did you use? Also, where did you get your tea?

Photiou · Posted: Nov 23, 2007 5:18 pm Post subject:

I think the yellowish green color is ok as with sencha - at least some I tried had more pale yellowish green color than pale green color. Maybe something to do with the tea breed used? (just guessing)

For the brewing: ~2 tablespoons of gyokuro, ~40ml of 40C-50C water and two minutes brewing time will give nice and 'thick' brew.

cloverroots · Posted: Nov 23, 2007 6:36 pm Post subject:

im using about 500ml of water at temperature of about 50 degree celsius with about 9grams of gyokuro. Infusion time is about 2min 30sec.

Got the tea as a gift and he purchased it from a trip to Japan a month ago. Too bad he removed the packaging and presented to me in a special tin.

I tried infusion at about 95 degree celsius, the infusion colour is the same. Yellowish instead of greenish.

The leaves are flat, thin, sharp, greener than all sencha and fragrance is much better than all sencha.

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 916 Location: Japan

95C is way too hot. Please search this forum for previous posts on how to brew gyokuro, it can be tricky.

Photiou · Posted: Nov 24, 2007 5:12 am Post subject:

britt · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 179

I'm new to gyokuro myself, but I really believe that brewing smaller quantities is better. I use 1/4 tablespoon of gyokuro with 1.6 ounces of water and brew 3 minutes for the first infusion. I haven't measured the temperature, but it is very low compared to what I use for sencha.

I can't comment on the color because the set I use has cups that aren't white inside.

I only purchased gyokuro outside of O-Cha.com once because I ran out and wanted some for the weekend. I knew I could purchase domestically and receive it by Saturday. I wanted it to try out the new gyokuro set I had just received.

The next time I'll order from O-Cha and wait. This other stuff was garbage. I tried everything and it never came out good. The types I have purchased at O-Cha are relatively easy to brew and always come out decent. I think when you have low quality gyokuro no trick will work. If it's decent quality, then sticking to the basic instructions on this site should give good results fairly quickly.

cloverroots · Posted: Nov 26, 2007 10:11 am Post subject:

Thank you everyone. Appreciated it.

I am going to prepare it using lesser water.

Razz

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 916 Location: Japan

I gave a demo at a store last week, they heated up tap water for us. That brew turned out rank! I was embarrased so I asked them to take out spring water from the shelf and we re-did it....HUGE difference. Needless to say, you definitely should be using good water.

allumirati · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 1

greenisgood · Black Belt Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 112

I second the use of good water, even a fridge Brita filter does a lot. I had some really chlorine-tasting tap water put in my kettle and I had to boil good water in it about three times before the taste went away, I felt like such a snob getting annoyed about it but it made the tea taste really bad.

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198

Another way to get rid of the chlorination byproduct smell is to pour water into a pitcher and let it sit overnight-- apparently whatever causes the odor (its not elemental chlorine, from what I have heard) evaporates right out.