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Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
For our first Fifth Monday blend since we changed our subscription plans, we’ve created a delicately flavored Gyokuro. Gyokuro (or “jade dew”) is one of the highest quality Japanese green teas available. It is grown in the shade for approximately three weeks before harvesting, resulting in a richer, sweeter cup that is unparalleled in flavor. We have given this sacred tea a healthy dose of organic marshmallow root, a little peppermint and spearmint and organic marshmallow, peppermint and spearmint flavors and named our happy creation “Snowflake Gyokuro”.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
On Steepster, the tasters of this tea are comparing it to Graveyard Mist and I get that comparison. The base tea was different – this is a Japanese Gyokuro and the Graveyard Mist was made with a blend of Chinese Sencha and Yun Wu, but this one is less buttery, I think.
The buttery notes of the Chinese green teas gave the Graveyard Mist a creamier sort of flavor that melded quite nicely with the fluffy marshmallow flavors.
Here, the Gyokuro tastes fresher and cleaner, which melds better with the minty notes of the spearmint and peppermint. So this tastes and feels cleaner and crisper.
And the natural sweetness of the Gyokuro plays with the minty notes in a different way, offering a really pleasant sweetness to go along with that crisp, exhilarating flavor. The sweetness of the Gyokuro also brings out the marshmallow in a different way than the Graveyard Mist did. The marshmallow here tastes sweet but not quite as creamy. It’s still creamy – just not quite as creamy as I remember the Graveyard Mist tasting.
By the way, one of the first reblends that we’re going to be creating when we take over 52Teas will be the Graveyard Mist!
The best part about this tea? The second and third infusions! Yeah! The flavors really come alive for the second infusion – so much so that I finished the cup in record time. The third cup is almost as lovely as the second – the minty notes are soft and fluffy from the marshmallow. The Gyokuro is sweet and melds beautifully with the flavors.
Anyway – this is a really lovely tea. I know that some will think that Gyokuro should not be flavored. I don’t know that I’d have the guts to do it myself. It would have to be on day when I’m feeling extra courageous.
But I applaud Frank for having the guts to do it because I really quite enjoyed this. Did I enjoy it as much as I would have enjoyed a straight up cup of Gyokuro? I don’t know. I don’t know that this tea was actually improved by being flavored, but I don’t think that it destroyed the Gyokuro, either. I enjoyed it flavored and I’d happily drink it again. Just as I’d happily drink a straight up Gyokuro again. Both are remarkable in their own way … so, I say, why not?
