Blending sencha with gyokuro?

[Jack_teachat]

hi all, I have about a gram or so of gyokuro left and was contemplating blending it with some sencha. Does this produce tasty results? Can any recommend suitable quantities/parameters? The reason I ask is because I notice Hibiki-an sell a blend and was contemplating buying some. jack

[inspectoring]

I don't think it is a good idea to do it at home IMHO. I have tried it a couple of times with high end gyokuro and the result was not good. However, since you have only a gram left, there is not much to loose. Try to do it with something subtle - I guess some of the o-cha followers can give you a better idea on that.
On the other hand, ito-en sells their best gyokuro mixed with silver needle, and it really just does not go well.

[RussianSoul]

I blend Gyokuro with Sencha all the time and obviously like it quite a lot. Usually I mix them half and half, 1.5g and 1.5g, but I am not bent on this being very precise. I think 1g Gyokuro with 2g Sencha will work just fine.

Here are my parameters: 3g of G/S blend, 6oz, 155F, 2m, 3m, 4m.

Like inspectoring said, with 1g of Gyokuro left you've got nothing to loose. Try it!

[Salsero]

Seems like the worst thing that might happen is that you would bring a fantastic gyokuro down to the performance of sencha. I can think of worse things in life!

[Chip]

Usually, I do not use premium sencha or gyokuro for blending unless I have a little remaining and I do not know what to do with it.

I do often blend gyokuro of lesser grades with a sencha I feel could use a little punch. This has worked very well. I actually do this a lot. It beats throwing tea away.

Japanese teas are actually great for blending in general. I have used sencha, gyokuro, karigane or kukicha, and matcha in home blending. I quite enjoy this practice. Actually, I have also used guricha.

I am sure just about any Japanese tea could be a candidate for blending.