What is ‘gyokuro’? Japan’s most prized green tea explained

While cherry blossoms mark the arrival of spring, tea lovers look forward to fresh shincha (new tea) on the shelves. The first tea harvest of the year, shincha is widely advertised from the inexpensive brands sold at your local supermarket to specialty shops with centuries-long histories.

With fresh tea appearing in late spring, gyokuro (refined green tea) reigns supreme. Also known as jade dew, gyokuro stands apart from other Japanese green teas for its cultivation methods, taste, price point and reputation as an elevated cup of green.

The origins of gyokuro

While tea first came to Japan via China in the 9th century, it did not attract much interest beyond the imperial court. At the end of the 12th century, a Zen Buddhist monk named Eisai returned from China with tea seeds that were planted in northern Kyushu and around Kyoto. Over the ensuing centuries, tea became an important part of Japanese culture, particularly in the traditional tea ceremony.

The origins of gyokuro date back to 1835. While touring plantations in Uji, the head of the renowned Yamamoto-yama tea company, Kahei Yamamoto, inspected tea plants that had been shaded by local farmers. As they dried, they developed a curved shape and carried a sweet flavor. He named the new creation gyokuro to capture its unique appearance and elegant taste.

Yamamoto brought it back to his shop in Edo where it quickly gained a following. Falling between the sencha consumed by the general population and matcha sought after by elites, gyokuro was widely enjoyed and became a hit in the capital city.

Cultivating gyokuro

The key to gyokuro’s status as one of Japan’s highest grades of tea lies in its cultivation process. Compared to other green teas in Japan, there is much more labor and setup required to produce the characteristic smooth flavor-filled cup.

While most sencha tea leaves are exposed to sunlight throughout the cultivation process, gyokuro’s leaves are not. Instead, they are shaded for about 20 days prior to picking, or when the first new leaves sprout on the plant. Typically, farmers use a temperature-controlling synthetic black cover to block the light although some still use the traditional method of shading via natural straw fibers. These methods reduce light exposure by about 70-90% compared direct sunlight. according to the ChaChaCha website (Japanese).

This painstaking cultivation is what gives gyokuro its unique emerald green color and taste profile as well as what makes it one of the most well-regarded and expensive types of Japanese tea.

Gyokuro’s unique taste and properties

Upon viewing a cup of gyokuro, one of the first things that will strike you is its intense green color. This isn’t an accident; instead, the color is a direct response to choices by tea farmers. As tea leaves are shielded from light, they respond in kind by altering their chemical compounds. Plants respond by increasing chlorophyll production in order to absorb the maximum amount of the reduced light. Once processed into tea, the high amount of chlorophyll is what gives gyokuro its beautiful and distinctive dark green color.

Gyokuro is also prized for its sweet and deep flavor, with the lowest astringency of all Japanese greens. This taste is similarly derived from the cultivation process. Two important amino acids in tea are catechins, which have a strong astringent or bitter taste and L-theanine, which has a rich taste. As plants are exposed to light, they turn the L-theanine into catechins via photosynthesis. However, when the leaves are shaded, it inhibits the change, preserving more of the L-theanine’s rich taste and minimizing the astringency present in many other green teas.

This tea also has a unique fragrance known in Japanese as ooika (the fragrance of covered leaves). It is often compared to nori seaweed, aonori (green dried seaweed) or dashi broth. This natural scent emanating from the gyokuro tea leaves is derived again from the obstruction of light and it is said that the more pronounced the fragrance, the better the tea. Gyokuro’s color, taste and scent work together to make an impactful cup of tea.

Where to find gyokuro

Gyokuro is cultivated in three main regions in Japan.

Kyoto (Uji)

The gyokuro cultivated in Kyoto has the longest history, with Uji Gyokuro having the highest brand recognition worldwide. As the pioneers of the shading of the tea leaves, and the only recognized producer of gyokuro in the Edo period, the tea is considered very high quality.

Fukuoka (Yame)

Gyokuro from Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture is known for being of especially high quality and often wins domestic and international awards. Yame gyokuro is shaded with natural woven fibers and only the top leaves are handpicked. The taste is sweet and buttery with a strong, flavorful base.

Shizuoka (Asahina)

Shizuoka gyokuro hails from Asahina where the leaves are also handpicked and shaded using straw and nets. The tea here is known for being refreshing with a captivating aroma and is produced from a unique Shizuoka cultivar, the Gokoh tea bush.

Similar teas to try

Green tea is at its best in the spring and fall. Here are two other types of shincha to try in Japan if you enjoy gyokuro’s rich taste and deep color.

• Kabusecha
  A green tea whose leaves are shaded like gyokuro, but for about one week instead of around three weeks. It has a more refreshing taste, but shares the richness and flavor of gyokuro.
• Fukamushicha
  A green tea whose leaves are steamed for longer than sencha, resulting in a more mellow tea of a rich color.

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