GYOKURO SAEMIDORI ORGANIC CERTIFIED 2024

Gyokuro produced in Kirishima, Kagoshima in southern Japan in April 2024.

2024 is a great year for Gyokuro. We find a lot of umami, texture and vegetal flavors in very balanced teas, long in the mouth and re-infusable several times. We are here in the presence of a mid-range Gyokuro, but the harvest was so good this year that it is very satisfactory even for amateurs looking for fairly high-end Gyokuro.

The cultivar: The Saemidori cultivar is a variety of Japanese tea, more specifically green tea, that has become popular in recent years. “Saemidori” is a Japanese term meaning “bright green” or “fresh green”.

This variety was developed by the Shizuoka Agricultural Research Center in Japan by crossing two other tea varieties, the Yabukita cultivar and the Asatsuyu cultivar. The goal was to create a variety of tea that would produce bright green leaves and deliver a smooth, umami flavor.

Saemidori is renowned for its bright green leaves, rich flavor and characteristic sweetness. It is often used to produce high quality tea, including sencha and matcha. Saemidori sencha is loved for its fresh herbal aroma and balanced flavor, while Saemidori matcha is sought after for its bright color and mild taste.

Infusion advice: This is a high-end tea and we strongly recommend respecting the basic dosages as well as using quality water to infuse this tea.

Quality water will be very weakly mineralized water. Check the dry residue on the label of the water you wish to use, a value between 20 and 100mg/L will be suitable. That said, this is not an infallible rule, some waters at 130mg/L work well (Volvic) while others below 100mg/L have less good results. Quite famous and inexpensive water is the source of the Grand Barbier which you will find at Carrefour.

Infusing a Gyokuro is not very complicated if you respect the dosages, temperature and infusion time. By respecting these parameters you will be able to obtain extraordinary umami, sweet flavors. it is important to use a very small teapot, the goal is to make sort of shots of whiskey, 2 or 3 shots of whiskey per infusion. To do this, use a 10cl teapot. The most suitable teapots are called Shiboridashi in Japan. Small teapots of 10cl and less are suitable even if they are not shiboridashi. Place 5 to 8g of leaves for 50 seconds of infusion with water at 60 degrees.