Gyokuro Imperial

I don’t know what is about this cup, but it is the most delicious cup of Gyokuro I’ve had in a long time. The color is pure light green and aroma gives me a teagasm: grassy sweet and full of goodness that are just impossible to describe. It has sweet aftertaste that lingers in your mouth for a long time and just gets better with each sip. I want to go on in paragraphs about this tea in wax poetry style.
Mmm mmm mm.

I tried this in the store on my last pass through the local mall. It’s a fairly standard tasting green tea. Mild and grassy. Nothing jumps out at me as good or bad. It’s just normal.

Thus, it’s getting a middle of the ground rating, only slightly above average (average being 50). If you like green tea, you’ll probably like this. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy some. A hot free sample in the store suits me just fine. :)

My stepbrother got me this for Christmas (he definitely got taken by the pushy salespeople, tin and all!). I’ve always wanted to try this but could never justify spending that much, however I love this! It is extremely grassy and vegetal which I absolutely love. This is the perfect green tea.

Grassy and Vegetal are definitely two of the words that can be used to describe this tea.
One of my favorites, I like to steep it for either 45 seconds, or 2 minutes using 175 degree Fahrenheit water. Interestingly enough, if you steep the Gyokuro for 45 seconds, it manages to produce a strong flavor, while keeping the bitter qualities of tannin’s completely out of the mixture. Any longer than 45 seconds, and the tannin’s flavor is obvious; however, at 2 minutes, the bitterness once again diminishes and you are left with an even stronger flavor than with 45 seconds, while still managing to escape the tannin’s flavor. I have also tried Gyokuro iced, though I much prefer the traditional flavors hot.

Gyokuro is a lovely escape into a grassy field on a dew filled morning. I would highly recommend this tea to any green tea lover, with a special spot for Vegetation. I also believe that Matcha powder is made from crushed young Gyokuro leaves.

I’m not going to rate this one. This is the only Gyokuro I’ve tried, so I have no idea how it compares to other Gyokuros. I really enjoy this tea, though!

So I also got this from the Heavenly Sale, because who’s not going to jump on $5 Gyokuro?

Yep. It tastes very much like spinach. It’s really grassy and vegetal tasting. Actually, it’s almost filling in a way. I didn’t understand how some people could describe a tea as “meaty” until today, but it’s true. The tea has substance.

The aftertaste is kind of sweet and I tasted some slight bitterness while it was hot, but as it cooled the bitterness went away.

It smelled and tasted kind of like any Green Tea Ice Cream I’d ever had except not as sweet as that. I suppose adding honey might bring it close, but I kind of like it the way it is without additives.

This one’s a keeper… at least until something better comes along…

This tea has a really great taste to it, full of thick, vegetal, kelpy goodness. The first steep is always exploding with robust green flavors and smooth, sweet aromas whether it’s steeped Western or gong fu style. However, if you’re looking for a tea with resonance, and great flavor throughout steeps, it’s certainly not this one. With four grams of leaf in a small gaiwan, and the first two steeps 3 seconds and 6 seconds respectively, the next steeps always seem to be uncannily weak, even when the time is increased significantly. A great deal of the interesting flavors and aromas giving this tea such a great profile at first simply disappear and leave you wondering whether you imagined the flavors previously, leaving the taste simple, watery, and boring. However, if you brew this gyokuro Western style with a shorter first steep, you can get a respectable and tasty second infusion.

The liquor’s flavor is sweet, very kelpy, buttery, and quite vegetal, giving off aromas of steamed veggies and freshly mowed grass. The mouthfeel of this tea is extremely smooth, and oh so thick—almost milk-like. It somewhat reminds me of a Jin Xuan oolong, only with a much deeper “green” flavor and far more astringency. I sometimes catch a subtle whisp of smoky flavors that seem to drift in during the second steep that adds character and further complexity. Yet, while full and rich, the flavor is fleeting. It only lasts for the remainder of the sip before fading quickly and leaving barely a hint of an aftertaste. While incredibly subtle, the aftertaste is almost exactly like the aroma of the dry leaf, which is awesome and intoxicating: herbaceous, very sweet, kelpy, and powerfully “green.”

Finally, I absolutely love the leaves of this tea. They truly are a beautiful shade of deep, vibrant green.

I don’t drink a great many green teas, however luthien convinced me to try a few new ones and to pay more careful attention to the brewing times and water temps. This tea in particular seems sensitive to time and temperature. The unsweetened flavor is very nice, mild and ’vegetal, and not acidic at all to my taste buds (which is one of my usual complaints about green teas). It smells lovely to my nose, a bit like dry cut grass.

This stuff is wonderful—and that means a lot coming from someone who has a pretty deep-seated prejudice against Teavana.

Gyokuro Imperial brews up slightly iridescent pale green and tastes just luscious!

second infusion: still wonderful. Who says that gyokuro costs too much? Why it’s a two-fer—at minimum!

My favorite tea and a treat to have every now and then (too expensive to drink every day) – I’ve steeped this many times and found that temperature for this green tea’s critical if you want to maintain the complex, sweet flavor. For those who want to re-steep this, it’s possible to steep for 30 sec-1 min longer for that second cup while maintaining the same temperature.

Amount used: 1.5 tsp (best if you want to steep twice with a stronger flavor)

Dry tea: Fragrant, grassy, slightly sweet aroma; appears like dark-green grass clippings

Method: Avoid boiling the water since that will alter the flavor of the tea; if temperature’s between 160-180 degrees, cool it off by waiting or adding cool, filtered water in increments til it reaches about 155 degrees. Pour some cool, filtered water on top of the leaves in the basket before steeping which should bring the temperature down to 150 degrees. Steep until 90 sec passes, using the remaining 5-10 seconds to flash steep.

The tea itself: Jade-green/green color liquid (the color reminded me of matcha green tea); Lovely sweet, grassy aroma. Complex, grassy, buttery, sweet flavor and has an aftertaste that sits well on the palate.

Second steep: the color is a lighter green than the first steep, the flavor will be more neutral but maintain the buttery sweetness. This tea will be a lighter tea to drink with a nice aroma.