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Japanese Gyokuro Loose Leaf Green Tea

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$126.00
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43p per cup

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Prepare to be utterly astounded.

Gyokuro is the highest grade of Japanese green tea - a shade-grown sencha. This whole leaf green tea is shielded from the sun for a few weeks before being harvested. The slow, deliberate shade growth increases the amino acid L-theanine which has a "feel good" effect on our brains. It also increases the chlorophyll in the tea leaves and creates a sweeter, smoother flavour.

This Gyokuro is grown by the inestimable Sakamoto brothers in Kagoshima, Japan and is comprised solely of the Okumidori cultivar.

The complex flavours combine sweetness and umami notes with beautifully balanced vegetal depth.

43p per cup based on 2g of tea per 150ml of water and 6 infusions.

Sakamoto tea garden, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

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Recommended Infusion Guide

  • Quantity

    Use 2 grams of tea per 150ml of water.

  • Temperature

    The ideal temperature is around 60°C.

    (Although you might want to try as low as 34°C for the first infusion and raise the temperature 5°C for each subsequent steep.)

  • Time

    Infuse for 1 - 2 minutes, tasting regularly.

  • Infusions

    You can infuse this tea at least six times, often more if doing multiple small infusions. With each careful infusion, different subtleties of flavour are revealed.

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How to infuse your tea is very personal, and these are just our recommendations based on experience. Please experiment with these variables to your heart's delight. These are our recommendations, not hard and fast rules. The most delicious tea is the one you love.

Our guide uses a standard tea cup size (150ml/5.5 oz) as a measure, please adjust the quantity of leaf accordingly for less or more water. Our whole loose leaves are of such a high quality that you can infuse our teas at least twice, and the second infusion is often better than the first, with different flavours revealed as the leaf softens. If you prefer your tea stronger, add more leaf, don’t leave it for longer (this will just make it bitter).

KAGOSHIMA, JAPAN

Sakamoto Tea Garden

A 3rd generation farm run by the two Sakamoto brothers. They moved to fully organic farming thirty years ago, realising that the soil and the tea plants were being ruined by pesticides & herbicides. They believe as we do that "healthy soil creates healthy plants and better tea."

They focus their attention on the soil as much as the intricate crafting of the leaf. You can taste the love and care they take in every aspect of this tea.

The Sakamoto brothers focus intensely on soil health as the key to growing healthy tea plants and making the most delicious tea. They create their own nutrient rich soil mix with natural fertilisers and carefully nestle each new tea plant in 2 metres deep. This allows for the tea plant's roots to fully develop in the soil mix.

The brothers only harvest once a year - the leaves that are pruned from the plant throughout the remainder of the year are used to make an organic fertiliser, and returned to the soil, helping maintain the mineral aroma of the tea leaves.

Gyokuro Shading

Twenty days prior to harvest the tea is shaded in the fields, as is the practice for all gyokuro teas. But the Sakamoto brothers developed a system to do this in three stages.

One layer of shading material is used in the first week and a new layer is added every few days, leaving the plants fully shaded for the very last week. This gently builds the chlorophyll production in the plant, preventing the L-theanine from turning into catechins through reaction with sunlight.

L-theanine is the reason for the umami notes in Gyokuro, and it is responsible for the "feel good" effect on our brains.

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The Rare Tea Lady believes that our teas are some of the greatest in the world, and that our range and service are second to none.

In the isolated case that you are not completely satisfied with any tea or teaware you purchase from our website, please get in contact with our customer services team to discuss returning your order.*

In most instances we will give you a full refund of the item’s cost excluding postage. We may ask you to return the item to us. Customers in the European Union have a statutory cooling-off period of fourteen days that is not affected by this guarantee, but any tea pouches much remained sealed for this to be in effect.

*We only accept returns/refunds for tea within two months of receipt, because it is impossible for us to know if the tea has been stored correctly.

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