Kimberley's Kyusu

If you have read my review of Ippodo’s Seiun Matcha, you will know that I was absolutely blown away by the quality of it, and just when I thought that they simply couldn’t wow me further, I tried their Premium Gyokuro for the first time and I was completely blow away. I first tried this tea on 02/04/2024 and by 08/04/2024 I had finished the entire 30g bag. If that doesn’t showcase just how much I enjoyed it, then I don’t know what will.

This Premium Gyokuro is the finest grade of Ippodo’s line of gyokuro teas, which are characterized by having verdant fragrance, rich sweetness, and umami flavour. The quality of this tea is made possible thanks to the fact that it is only made using tea leaves from Kyoto Prefecture, cultivated by experienced Kyoto tea growers who specialize in producing gyokuro tea leaves. According to Ippodo, these tea leaves constitute the cream of the crop, grown using meticulous cultivation management, backed by the full knowledge and experience of the tea growers. It is to be savoured at each stage of preparation, focusing on the beauty and fragrance of the tea leaves beforehand, the fragrance and flavour of the tea while you’re preparing it, and the appearance of the tea leaves afterwards.

For all of my sessions with this tea I followed the steeping parameters provided by Ippodo. 10g of tea, 80ml of water and the first steep at 90 seconds. Usually, I would experiment a little more with each session and change the amount of leaf, temperature of water or the steeping times. But I felt no need to do that with this tea; those parameters made for such a splendiferous session that I simply wanted to recreate it every time I drank it. 

The dry leaves of this tea are long, thin and somewhat flat in shape. They are a mixed palette of dark and light green tones throughout, with the darker greens being the more prominent of the two. The leaves, texture wise, reside in a middle ground between glossy and matte. 

As soon as I opened the bag, I was hit with such a fabulously fragrant aroma made up of notes including: white chocolate, matcha cookies, salted high quality butter, dewy spring mornings, sweet grassiness and dewy grass, the later of which took me back to my primary school field, sitting on the slightly wet early afternoon grass during break time making daisy chains with my friends and the smell that would comes from the stems of the daisies when I pierced a hole in the stem of each one to weave through the next. I tend not to judge teas by aroma alone, but I was in the moments after opening this bag and taking in such a complex aroma from the dry leaves that I had all but realised that I was going to adore this tea.

In each session I did with this magnificent tea, I managed to do four full steeps, each of which were a light luminous buttercup yellow with pale green hues. The first steep of each session was cloudy, however that soon cleared progressively with each steep thereafter.

Because it does steep to such a pale colour I expected it to be lighter and less complex in taste and mirror the overall appearance, however this tea is incredibly deceptive and when you sip it, it blows you away with complexity.

This tea is an umami bomb, that starts off brothy, buttery and savoury and becomes sweeter as the steeps go on. The first three steep especially were the perfect balance between sweet and savoury, and I loved how this tea transformed as the steeps went on.

This tea has little to no bitterness at all, however there is a sharpness to the umami in the first steep, which for me added to the vegetal brothiness. While I loved it, it may catch someone who isn’t familiar with gyokuro and other Japanese greens off guard. That sharpness isn’t present in the second steep or any other steeps, all of which were fantastic and a great balance of sweet and savoury. The fourth steep was of course the lightest, but still tasty in it’s own right and just a little calmer over all, which is a fantastic way to round off a session. The overall mouthfeel of this tea throughout the session was smooth, thick and refreshing.  

The finish of this tea is just as fantastic as everything leading up to it, it’s long lasting and has both a lingering sweet / creamy vegetal note and a fantastic level of minerality. The leaves changed a lot throughout the session, going from long thin needles to medium / large size leaves that are much more open and flat than they once were, although they remain a mixed palette of green in colour with a strongly savoury, vegetal aroma. 

Every single session I did with this tea left me feeling focused and inspired but also very calm. This is without a shadow of a doubt a tea I will look for every single year. I cannot wait to experience it again at some point in the future.

Due to the fact that only a limited amount of tea leaves of this quality can be produced, Ippodo sells only a small amount every year. As of today it is no longer available on the Global website but is still available US website, but it won’t stay that way for long, so I wouldn’t too long to make your purchase. Especially if you adore Gyokuro in the same way I do and you want to try the best of what Ippodo has to offer.

Until next time, Happy Steeping – Kimberley