Kirari 31 Gyokuro

Description

2023 harvest

An exclusive and precious gem - the very essence of umami. Tea master Kiya san and IKKYU are delighted to present you one of the rarest green teas that you can find: a dento Hon Gyokuro made from Kirari 31 cultivar in Kuroki town, Yame.

With only a handful of kilo made this year, this gyokuro can be compared to caviar, champagne or liquid gold, and is usually presented to the most demanding tea fair competitions. It has received the “Geographical Indication” label from the national government, guaranteeing that it was grown and produced according to the traditional methods.

The main feature of this single-origin gyokuro is its exceptional level of umami, thanks to the thicker mesophyll of Kirari 31 leaves, compared to what you can find in the already highly rated Saemidori cultivar (mesophyll is the inner tissue of a leaf, that contains many chloroplasts).

Combined with less astringency, dento hon gyokuro made from Kirari 31 yields a rich and sweet liquor with a long finish.

In line with the traditions behind the making of every Yame dento hon gyokuro, its tea leaves were hand-picked one by one during the first harvest, in steep tea fields at 300 meters above sea level.

If you’d like to learn more about Yame dento hon gyokuro, you can visit our special page about Gyokuro here and also our Yame tea page. Please also watch the interview of Kiya san explaining about the parallels between green tea (especially gyokuro) and wine. In his interview, Kiya san brews a Kirari 31 gyokuro.

Information