Ordered this latest lot on-line from Yuuki-cha in Japan last week and I picked it up at the post office this afternoon. Organic Uji Gyokuro Gokou which Yuuki-cha describe thus:
A first harvest organic gyokuro tea (Jade Dew) from a small organic tea garden in Uji. It is made exclusively from the tea bush varietal known as Gokou. Carefully grown under diffused sunlight for an extended 30 days before harvest, as opposed to the shorter 20 days that is often suggested. It is minimally processed and sorted and is 100% Uji Gyokuro. This type of unique farmer's gyokuro has become more and more popular over recent years and is very much in demand due to its more natural flavor than blended and/or heavily processed gyokuro teas. It has a rich, sweet, dense, briny taste with a marine aroma, a deep green liquor color, and an almost buttery aftertaste!
Opening the bag there's a big rush of sweet rich aroma -- sweeter than any Gyokuro I've had before, sweet like a floral sweet, almost hyacinth. (I went to my cupboard and smelled raisens and apricots and then the sweet frozen berries in the freezer to give my nose a reference just to be sure.) Also some of that nut hint I've noticed in Gyokuro before as well as big green vegetal and marine aromas.
4 grams in 7 ozs of 65C water for 1 minute.
Wet leaves are a bright mid and dark green mix, can still see leaf shapes and stringy bits of leaf veins, etc. Strong vegetal, marine and big chestnut (I swear it's chestnut) aromas.
Beautiful pale bluey green liquor.
Smooth, sweet soft flavour, no astringency at all. A tiny kick of bitter on the back sides of the tongue as it goes down. This smells and tastes unlike any gyokuro I've had before -- the breadth of flavour and aroma is greater but also that chestnut note is really forward in this tea. Different. Surprising. Really nice.
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