Gyokuro Cha Musume

Nio Tea Advent Day 1

I wanted to have something different in my arsenal of holiday teas, but I’m also intimidated by the very idea of making notes on these, so we’ll see how it goes. I feel like apologizing for these before I even start.

Even at 2 minutes there was a distinct bitterness in the end of the steep, but the second round at 20 seconds was perfect. Warming, grassy, and vegetal; this was an excellent way to break up a series of black teas for day 1.

Sip Down

My sip down pile has been adding up, but the schedule change and lack of sleep hasn’t been exactly motivating me to write. I’ll probably spend a few more minutes trying to get some reviews in before my mind drifts into the inevitable workday.

I hoarded the last of the tea for a few months before sipping it down. I needed a little boost in the mid-shift yesterday, so this found itself in the Kyusu at my desk. Not only did the tea do the job of granting me the energy necessary to finally step away from the desk after 6 hours of little movement (excluding water refills and quick bathroom breaks), but it also allowed the opportunity to step away from desk and home, and onto the treadmill at the gym.

Back to the notes: Asparagus, unsalted and unbuttered green beans, grassy, a touch of umami, and sweet corn.

Advent Tea #1
Long needle-like appearance with jade coloring. The aroma is divine. Sweet grass and stone fruit. The flavor has heavy notes of asparagus, corn, maybe leaning more towards freshly picked corn with the husk still on. A very vegetal forward green. Does not require much steep time. In fact, I suggest you do not walk away from this session. The soft mouth feel can be easily overtaken with bitterness and you’ll be left with unnecessary astringency if you treat this like any other tea. Though generally this should be said for any Japanese green. The grassiness comes out more in the subsequent infusions.

Nio Teas kindly sent me their Advent calendar in December, and sent samples again when that package failed to arrive. Thank you for your persistence and generosity! I have minimal experience with Japanese teas, so this should be interesting!

Since I enjoy gyokuro, I was happy to grab this first from my pile of samples. I have a 120 ml kyusu instead of a 150 ml one, which means I had to deviate from their instructions slightly. I steeped 5 g of leaf in 120 ml of 140F water for 2 minutes, then three more times for 20 seconds.

The dry leaf has aromas of spinach, seaweed, and grass. The first steep has notes of spinach, squash, umami, kale, butter, and grass, with slight but noticeable bitterness. I also get the creamy hazelnut mentioned in the description. The next steeps are a bit sweeter, with more of that hazelnut, umami, and grass. As Cameron noted, it does taste more like a sencha as the session goes on. By the fourth steep, I was able to taste squash, apple, and sweet grass as the vegetal bitterness diminished.

This is a nice tea, though it doesn’t have the fruitiness I’ve found in other gyokuro. I particularly appreciate the comparative lack of bitterness.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 1

Will from Nio Teas was kind enough to reach out to me and offer to send me their tea advent calendar, to which of course I said yes! I was expecting it to arrive late, and yet to my surprise it was delivered this afternoon, right on time to be included in Day 1!

Starting off with a bang with a gyokuro! I honestly rarely drink gyokuro, though I do enjoy it when I do. I think it’s just an intimidating sort of tea because it’s expensive. But onward we go! I used Nio’s recommended steeping parameters that were included right on the packet (love that!) – 5g of leaf for 150ml of 145°F water, steeped for 2 minutes and then 20s.

I find this one to actually be quite light for a gyokuro. It does have that sweet vegetable-laden umami bomb sort of flavor, but it’s less intense than I would expect from my past experience with gyokuro. But I haven’t tried very many, so take that with a grain of salt. Deliciously sweet steamed spinach and creamy kabocha notes along with hints of fresh seaweed. Then in the middle of the sip, a toasty nutty note appears. I see their description mentions hazelnut and I think I agree with that, it’s definitely a toasted hazelnut though. The end of the sip is soft and refreshing, with a definite apple skin flavor mixed with freshly cut grass. There is a slight hint of bitterness throughout the sip, but it’s very gentle and adds a nice contrast to the sweetness and the richness of the umami.

The second steep is more savory and grass-forward, with less of the creaminess and sweetness of the kabocha. Still delicious, but more sencha-like compared to the first brew.

Maybe it was a bad idea to drink this at 6 PM, I’m already feeling the rush of energy… I forget that gyokuro is one of the only teas that actually affects me this way. Oops?

A great start to the advent though! ❤