Green Tea Forum

wrath186 · White Belt Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 21

Ok, I brewed some Gyokuro last night using the instructions on the from the above link and it turned out disgusting. The color was a deep clouded green. The aroma smelled of tea and grass, not unpleasant, but the taste was just terrible. It was extremely bitter.

I used filtered water, 8oz, at 130 degrees. Four tablespoons of tea leaf and let it steep for two minutes.

Does it sound like I did anything incorrectly? Maybe it is just bad leaf?

What I purchased wasn't terribly expensive around ten dollars for about two oz.

Any ideas of what went wrong?

okimasa · Posted: Jun 28, 2008 12:08 am Post subject:

There are some Gyokuro "rip offs" out there.

Two oz for $10 (if I did my conversions right!) does sound cheap, so I think the problem is the leaves are low quality.

wrath186 · White Belt Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 21

Did some more research on line today as well. I think that might be it. I'm gonna try ordering from O-cha.

Oni · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 194

I am replying only because I`ve finished a pack of marvelos gyokuro, and the main thing was that it had no hint or taste of bitterness whatsoever, none, I could use infinite and obscene amount of tea without bitterness, that is the main thing about gyokuro that you can use whatever amount of tea leaf, I use little amount of water and 2 tbsp of tea and infuse for 5 times, just remeber to use very low temperature (57C, 60C, 63C, 68C, 73C-these are my 5 infusion temperatures) gyokuro is sweet as honey, when I use a lot of leaf the concentrated tea gives the illusion of honey, but for this experience you must pay the price, 50$ to 200$ / 100gramms, this is why gyokuro is not for every day, and buy one pack every once in a while to spoil yourself rotten, it shouldn`t be consumed every day, for that is sencha that you can buy good ones for 12$-15$, assuming you know the good tea selling sites, for example o-cha (it has gyokuro from tsuen), maiko, hibiki-an, horaido(only sells through e-mail you must chat a bit before you get into bussiness), marukyu-komaen(the same as with horaido, though I`ve never tried them I`ve tried only horaido), ippodo (they don`t ship to my country they said on the phone that we could come to an agreement for a minimal amount and an extra charge) - in rest don`t even dream of buying gyokuro from your local teashop, go online with a credit card otherwise you won`t experience the global market, no great tea.

okimasa · Posted: Jun 28, 2008 2:50 am Post subject:

wrath186 · White Belt Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 21

Once again thanks for all the help. I will definately be pursuing tea brewing for a while, so I hope to get to the point where I want to splurge and try the more expensive high end teas.

Oni · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 194

I wanted to avoid individual metioning of rival sites, without having o-cha in the list, but if you insist it was hibiki-an gyokuro super premium (40 gramm), it was new crop, and pfiendishly good.

okimasa · Posted: Jun 28, 2008 9:01 pm Post subject:

Ok, thanks!