What Is Gyokuro? Japan's Shade-Grown Green Tea, Explained

Gyokuro is often called the finest green tea in Japan. Its name means "jade dew," and its flavor is unlike most green teas: sweet, smooth and savory, with almost no bitterness. The secret is shade.

How Gyokuro Is Grown

About three weeks before harvest, gyokuro tea bushes are covered to block most of the sunlight. Traditionally this was done with straw or reed mats on frames over the bushes. Today many farms use special shade cloth.

With less sun, the plant changes. It makes more chlorophyll, which turns the leaves a deep, dark green. And it keeps more of its natural amino acids, especially L-theanine, instead of turning them into the bitter compounds that sunlight encourages. That is where gyokuro's rich, brothy sweetness, called umami, comes from. L-theanine is also linked to calm focus, which is part of why gyokuro feels so smooth.

After picking, the leaves are steamed, rolled and dried in the Japanese style, like sencha, into fine, dark green needles.

Where Gyokuro Came From

In 1835, a Kyoto tea merchant named Yamamoto Kahei perfected the gyokuro method. Farmers had noticed that covering tea plants to protect them from frost changed their taste, and he built on that discovery. The Uji area near Kyoto became famous for gyokuro, and Yame in Fukuoka prefecture is another well-known region today. Read more about the whole story in Japanese Tea Culture.

Gyokuro vs Sencha vs Matcha

• Sencha: grown in full sun. Fresh, grassy and bright, with a little bitterness. Japan's everyday green tea.
• Gyokuro: shaded for about three weeks. Sweet, smooth and full of umami, with very little bitterness.
• Matcha: also shaded, but the leaves are dried flat, de-stemmed and stone-ground into powder, then whisked into water.

Gyokuro tends to have more caffeine than sencha, because shaded young leaves hold onto more of it. But it is brewed with cool water, which pulls out less, so a cup still feels gentle.

What Does Gyokuro Taste Like?

Gyokuro is rich and almost savory, often compared to a light seaweed or vegetable broth, with a natural sweetness and a long, silky finish. The first cup is the most intense. Later steeps get lighter and more refreshing.

How to Brew Gyokuro

Gyokuro is the one tea where cooler water really matters. Hot water brings out bitterness and covers up the umami.

1. Use more leaf: about 1 to 2 teaspoons for a small cup.
2. Use cool water: about 140 to 160°F. Boil the water, then let it sit, or pour it between cups to cool it.
3. Steep about 2 minutes.
4. Re-steep: gyokuro is good for 2 or 3 more cups. Use slightly hotter water and shorter steeps each time.

This slow, quiet way of brewing is a nice way to spend a gray Portland morning. For general green tea brewing, see How to Brew the Perfect Cup of Loose Leaf Tea.

Gyokuro With Toasted Rice

Gyokuro can also be blended with roasted brown rice, combining its smooth umami with the nutty, toasty warmth of genmaicha. It is a more everyday, comforting way to enjoy gyokuro, and it is a little more forgiving to brew. Learn more in What Is Genmaicha?

Our Gyokuro Tea

Toasty Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha

Shade-grown gyokuro green tea blended with roasted brown rice. Smooth and savory from the gyokuro, warm and nutty from the rice. Steep 1 teaspoon in 8 oz of water at 175°F for 2 to 3 minutes, and do not over-steep.

Shop Toasty Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha

Steep intentionally. Sip with intention.

Related Reading

Keep exploring with Japanese Tea Culture, What Is Genmaicha? and The History of Tea.