Very nice video! For gyokuro, my biggest questionmark is brewing time from second steep on actually. And this was not mentioned here. For sencha, I usually go up in temperature, and shorten steepingtime. But for gyokuro, I have yet to find the sweatspot in later brewings. But I love gyokuro!
Very nice video! Thank you. I bought a small bag of Gyokuro from Japan (Hon-Gyokuro Premium Silver Yame) and want to make the right way, so I check around for tips. Yes, I have tasted "Gyokuro" bought at local tea stores, but since I also bought some high quality Sencha directly from Japan and the taste is miles better then the one from my local tea shop, the Gyokuro will too I guess. The packaging of the tea helps a lot to keep the flavors. Sealed bags filled with tea and nitrogen will help to keep the flavors in the tea.
I am sorry but I have to strongly disagree with the shop owner. First, astringency comes from the leaves' tannins while bitterness from the steeping time/temperature/method. Sencha allows you to explore deeper into the cultivar(its' flavors) and terroir of the tea. Meanwhile, gyokuro, due to the shading, the stress of the tea plant makes a higher quantity of aminoacids, which we identify as umami. Cultivars with larger and/or thicker leaves tend to have much more tannins. Also, first flush is less astringent. Yes, Japanese people have been thought that a good sencha is astringent and bitter, because knowledge and standards was set by old people, and taste buds get affected after 60~ years old. So, of course, when your tastes fade, you will enjoy feeling at least something. Astringency is not a taste but a mouth sensation like menthol. So no. Most prized and refined sencha in 2023 are rarely a mix of cultivars, never has more than a slight bitterness, never ever has astringency.
Very nice video! For gyokuro, my biggest questionmark is brewing time from second steep on actually. And this was not mentioned here. For sencha, I usually go up in temperature, and shorten steepingtime. But for gyokuro, I have yet to find the sweatspot in later brewings.
But I love gyokuro!
Very nice video! Thank you. I bought a small bag of Gyokuro from Japan (Hon-Gyokuro Premium Silver Yame) and want to make the right way, so I check around for tips. Yes, I have tasted "Gyokuro" bought at local tea stores, but since I also bought some high quality Sencha directly from Japan and the taste is miles better then the one from my local tea shop, the Gyokuro will too I guess. The packaging of the tea helps a lot to keep the flavors. Sealed bags filled with tea and nitrogen will help to keep the flavors in the tea.
I am sorry but I have to strongly disagree with the shop owner.
First, astringency comes from the leaves' tannins while bitterness from the steeping time/temperature/method. Sencha allows you to explore deeper into the cultivar(its' flavors) and terroir of the tea. Meanwhile, gyokuro, due to the shading, the stress of the tea plant makes a higher quantity of aminoacids, which we identify as umami. Cultivars with larger and/or thicker leaves tend to have much more tannins. Also, first flush is less astringent.
Yes, Japanese people have been thought that a good sencha is astringent and bitter, because knowledge and standards was set by old people, and taste buds get affected after 60~ years old. So, of course, when your tastes fade, you will enjoy feeling at least something. Astringency is not a taste but a mouth sensation like menthol.
So no. Most prized and refined sencha in 2023 are rarely a mix of cultivars, never has more than a slight bitterness, never ever has astringency.
180degree temp for 120 seconds for my gyokuro tea brewing
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