Gyokuro
玉露
Green
For its last three weeks the plant is kept away from the sun.
Growers cover the gyokuro bushes almost completely, and the starved leaves fill with theanine while the bitter compounds fall away. The plant is being deprived on purpose, and everything good about the tea comes from that.
The name means jade dew. A merchant coined it in 1835 after watching the wet leaf shine. It is brewed cool, almost tepid, far below what any other tea would take, and the result barely seems like tea at all. Thick, deep and savoury, and the sweetness you get is closer to the sea than to sugar.
- umami
- sweet
- marine
- Origin
- Yame (Fukuoka) and Uji (Kyoto)
- Water
- 55°C / 131°F
- Ratio
- 6 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- High
- Rinse
- Not needed
Highest-grade Japanese green; a benchmark tea
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~6.0g of tea
The session
4 infusions, about 3m 45s of total contact time.
- Steep 11m 30sA dense sweetness, held low.
- Steep 230sUmami floods, deep and marine.
- Steep 345sThe broth thins, still sweet.
- Steep 41mA clean green close, gentle.
Also sold as
Jade Dew, Jewel Dew
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.