Gyokuro Room Temp Brew

[DewDropofJade]

I wanted to share a great experience I had.

First a little background. I work at a very excellent tea store where I have access to very high quality tea. I have been drinking tea everyday for three to four years now.

To get to my point, the store I work at stresses Chinese and Taiwanese teas more than Japanese, although we do carry some high grade Japanese Senchas and a high quality Gyokuro. Because of this I don't drink the Japanese teas that frequently. At one point I was in a Sencha phase and occasionally I drink the Gyokuro.

Usually when I drink the Gyokuro I brew it at around 140ºF maybe for 30 sec and I will make around three steepings. But, I talked to an owner of a different tea store in my area and asked about brewing Gyokuro. He recommended using about 3-4 grams of leaf, room temperature water, using just enough water to cover the leaves, and steeping it for about 10 min. I tried it out the next time I went into work.

It blew me away.

It literally made about a half tasting cup of tea, but it was the best cup of Gyokuro I have ever had, ever! I made a couple more steepings using the same method. They were also delicious and better than previous cups of Gyokuro I had made in the past, but the first steeping was amazing.

Fin.

[AdamMY]

This is something I may try next summer, as I certainly do love gyokuro. But the truth of just about every single type of tea is it can be brewed with cooler water to get a different taste profile. I mean if you can cold brew tea, you should also be able to brew tea with room temperature water.

[Chip]

Very interesting. There are a few similar techniques or variations on this theme. I just never heard of room temp. Some call this "drop tea" since the tea can come out in drops due the high leaf to water ratio.

Anyway, I will certainly give this a try. Thanks. (though I do like a little warmth to my tea)

[Chip]

Here is a search of posts you might find interesting. http://www.teachat.com/search.php?keywo ... mit=Search

[DewDropofJade]

That was an interesting search, Chip. It seems for the last four years you periodically mention the "drop tea" method of brewing Gyokuro, and reference your April 2007 post. From what I gather (from your post, and the minimal information I gained from googling) it isn't clear how this method was created, but it was a Japanese tea fad. Very interesting.

Thanks for sharing the search, and whether a fad or not, I will keep this method in my repertoire.

Thanks again.