Natural Gyokuro

Description

What is Gyokuro?

Gyokuro (玉露) – the highest grade Japanese loose leaf tea – is as unique as its name – ‘dew drop’. In contrast to making shaded Sencha, where the covers for blocking direct sunshine are spread directly on the plant, Gyokuro is grown under a special construction that allows more space for the tea leaves to steep out. The tea plant is shaded for about three weeks, during which fresh spring tea leaves develop a distinctive rich flavor and sweet smell. After the harvest the leaves are processed with great care, the result of which an emerald-green tea of unique beauty. Due to the level of care and attention needed to produce Gyokuro it is a rather rare tea – less than 1 percent of all tea made in Japan is Gyokuro. 

Brewed tea, that gives off a distinctive fragrance, is traditionally served in little cups which makes enjoying Gyokuro even more special.

Farmer Profile

The Obubu Team as a whole are responsible for this Tea with each member caring for the Tea Garden, Harvesting and Processing. This tea comes from the Blue Forest Tea Garden, we initially thought to create an organic garden but to do so we would need to wait three years before being able to apply for Organic Certification. We decided that we would only add the leaf which had grown and been trimmed back into the garden. We would aim to provide an alternative to Organic Tea production for the small scale farmers who aim to create delicious Japanese teas in a sustainable business model and delicious teas. This is an alternative solution to a national and increasingly international problem from the Tea Garden up, forget grass roots, more like tea roots!

Tea Cultivation, Processing and Brewing Guide