Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Aiya
Tea Description:
Premium Gyokuro (meaning “Jade Dew”) is the pinnacle of Japanese loose leaf green tea. Similar to Matcha, the leaves are handpicked and shade grown to preserve its amino acids bringing out its natural sweet taste. Best served steeped in a lower temperature to maximize taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a wonderful Gyokuro – one of the best I’ve sampled in a long time!
The flavor is so sweet yet crisp and light. The taste really does evoke thoughts of what the flavor of a fresh dew drop on a young blade of grass might taste like. It has a delicateness to it that is very spring-like to me … like the fresh, young growth of a sprig of grass or the budding leaf on a tree in spring.
The aroma of the dry leaf is grassy, and after brewing the tea maintains that grassy fragrance, although it is quite a bit softer. This translates into the flavor. It tastes lightly grassy, but, not in an off-putting way. More like the fresh, exhilarating flavor of sweet grass. A hint of buttery tones in the background – just a hint, nothing too heavy or overwhelming – just a kiss of creamy sweetness to enhance the overall cup.
There is no bitterness to this cup, just pure, sweet green tea goodness – just what you’d expect from a Premium Gyokuro, and the high quality I’ve come to expect from Aiya.
Premium Sencha Zuiko from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Product Description:
A top-tier Sencha grown at a high elevation. All Zuiko comes from a single tea garden where it is grown under the most meticulous and pampered conditions.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I am occasionally asked what I mean by certain terms that I use when I describe teas. One term that I’m asked about often is “brothy,” and I think I have found the perfect tea to recommend for someone who seeks out what I mean by brothy: Sencha Zuiko from Den’s Tea.
The texture of the tea is quite thick, similar to what you’d experience if you were to sip a cup of vegetable broth. The flavor is not that unlike a vegetable broth either … one that was made with primarily leafy green vegetables. It has a very strong vegetative taste, but it is a savory kind of vegetative taste. Not bitter, and not overtly grassy, although there are grassy notes to this. I consider them to be more of a savory taste than a bitter grass taste or even a sweet grass taste.
This tea possesses the faintest hint of a butter/cream note to this, as well as some sweet undertones to it, but, I really consider this to be more of a savory Sencha than a sweet one. It is a very well-rounded, palatable tea.
An exceptional green tea!
Premium Keemun Hao Ya Black Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Product Description:
Absolutely exceptional, premium Keemun Hao Ya black tea
- Handmade Gongfu process tea from Qimen county, Anhui province
- Dark black, glossy thin buds topped with golden tips
- Makes a bold copper coloured tea
- A bold but smooth, fruity taste with a lingering, mellow aftertaste
- Moderate caffeine (less than 20% of a cup of coffee)
- 1-2 teaspoons for 8oz of water. Brew at 194 ºF (90 ºC) for 2 to 3 minutes
Rated as the best of Chinese black teas, Keemun is an absolute delight to drink. TeaVivre’s Premium Keemun represents the highest quality of this tea generally available to the public, and has a taste, aroma and appearance that completely justifies its reputation as one of the best black teas in the world. Handmade in Keemun’s birthplace of Qimen, this tea is simply stunning.
Taster’s Review:
I strongly agree with the above description of this tea. It truly is a stunning tea. From the moment I opened the pouch, I could smell the smoky tones of this tea, but I liked that it wasn’t an overwhelming smoky note.
And while I’m touching on the subject of the packaging (or rather, the opening of the packaging), I’d like to take a moment to discuss this packaging and just how impressed I am with it. The outer pouch is one of those resealable, “stand-up” Mylar-type packages that is completely opaque which protects the tea properly by not allowing any light to reach the tea leaves. It is air-tight and will keep air and moisture out and away from the tea. Inside the Mylar pouch is another pouch (not resealable, this is just a thin, foil-like pouch).
While this type of packaging may not be considered the most environmentally sound packaging available, as someone who has been involved with tea for many years, I can say that this is one of the most respectful packaging that I’ve encountered. Respectful to the tea, that is. And that really MEANS something to me. I have encountered some tea companies who are all about the money and while, yes, a profit IS important to any tea company, the product should be at least just as important. Teavivre has proven to me that they care and respect the teas they represent … and this is evident, not just by their packaging, but also by the exquisite tea itself.
The smokiness is stronger in the scent than in the flavor, although the smoky tones are certainly present in the flavor. Beneath that smoky top-layer, I can taste many wonderful layers, creating an intense complexity that surprised me. Sure, other Keemun teas that I’ve tried have been complex, but, this one is unique in just how exceptionally bold it is, while still maintaining the complexity I’d expect from a top quality Keemun.
That is to say that this tea is a hearty one, making it a perfect choice to enjoy with breakfast. It has a wonderful, smoky kind of caramel-y sweetness that is delightful, and beneath that sweetness I can taste a fruity tone that is reminiscent of a sweet, dry wine. But this tea has far less astringency than a typical dry wine … or even a typical black tea, for that matter. Instead, it is incredibly smooth despite its somewhat rustic smokiness. There is a certain sophistication to this cup, making me think more of a brandy than a wine (although, I’m not all that comfortable making that comparison, as I’m far less familiar – not at all familiar! – with alcoholic beverages).
This is absolutely one of the best Keemun teas I’ve yet to try.
Premium Grade Dragon Well Green Tea (Long Jing) from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Product Description:
A premium grade, classic green tea that, for good reason, is renowned as China’s best tea
- Grown in Xihu near Hangzhou in province Zhejiang
- Flattened tea leaves, with one bud and one or two leaves
- Pale green yellow when brewed
- A subtle, rich, orchid like taste and aroma, with no hint of bitterness
- Low caffeine (less than 10% of a cup of coffee)
- 1-2 teaspoons for 8oz of water. Brew at 176 ºF (80 ºC) for 1 to 2 minutes
XiHu (West Lake) Dragon Well green tea, or Long Jing as it is known in China, is commonly regarded as one of China’s top ten teas, and is often served to visiting head’s of states. TeaVivre’s grade 1 Long Jing tea is an absolutely fantastic example of this tea. Mostly handmade it has no hint of bitterness, instead it has a delightfully subtle classic green tea taste and aromatic scent.
Our Premium Dragon Well Green Tea (Long Jing) meets the most strictly European low pesticide residues standard for agricultural products. View Quality Safety Analyzing Report
Taster’s Review:
This is an exquisite Dragon Well tea.
The leaves look very much like other Dragon Well teas I’ve tried in the past, except that these look … fresher. Greener. The leaves have a brighter green color to them, while some other Dragon Well Teas I’ve seen have more of a grayish-green color to them… they almost look a bit dusty. That’s not to say they were bad Dragon Well teas, some of them I rather enjoyed. It is only to say that this Dragon Well is different. The color is vibrant. And no wonder! The production date on the label of this the is April 2011. How’s that for fresh?
The flavor is BREATH-TAKING! It is so crisp and bright. I brewed this tea in my gaiwan using short steeps and the flavor is … insanely good. Vegetative, to be sure, but, I wouldn’t categorize it as a bitter, grassy taste, but more of a delicate sweet grass flavor with hints of a nutty-like flavor (not a roasted nut, but, more like a sweet, blanched nut flavor) in the background.
There is absolutely no bitterness to this tea whatsoever, and such a mild astringency that unless I’m really paying attention, I don’t notice it at all. It is just incredibly smooth, from start to finish; starting sweet with hints of grass, middle notes of sweet, creamy nut-like flavor, and ending sweet and clean. There is a slight aftertaste that is sweet, but it does not linger very long.
This is certainly one of the most impressive Dragon Well teas that I’ve ever encountered. I highly recommend it to all tea enthusiasts.
Premium Gyokuro Suimei from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Product Description:
Our highest quality tea. This is made from only the youngest top part of tea leaves picked by hand and carefully processed into an ultra fine needle. Its super natural sweetness promotes a mellow state of mind.
Taster’s Review:
What a lovely Gyokuro! So full of flavor!
It is INCREDIBLY sweet. Den’s Tea website suggests a seaweed-like flavor, but I don’t taste seaweed… at least, this is like no seaweed that I’ve tasted. I’m not particularly fond of seaweed, it is far too briny and strong for my taste, and I don’t get that funky seaweed taste from this cup … thankfully!
I do taste a background of vegetal flavor that is neither what I would call grassy or similar to steamed vegetables… it is a rather mild flavor that reminds me a bit of the resulting broth after boiling kale. Perhaps this is where they get the seaweed analogy. Either way, this flavor is light, and certainly nothing that disrupts the amazing sweetness that I’m experiencing from this tea.
The tea is thick, it feels like a warm broth as it glides over the palate. It is very soft and pleasant to sip.
I highly recommend this Gyokuro: it is definitely one of the best available.