Gyokuro

Gyokuro

What it is

The bushes are covered for roughly three weeks before picking. Starved of light the leaf stops building the bitter catechins and stockpiles theanine instead, which is why a cup of gyokuro reads closer to a shellfish stock than to tea.

In the kitchen

Brew at 50–60 °C and never hotter — above that the catechins come out and bury the umami. Two minutes, a heavy dose of leaf, very little water; keep the spent leaves, they are edible dressed with soy and vinegar.

Goes with

Rice Scallop Gilt-head bream Nori Egg Kombu

Same species

Assam tea Ceylon tea Da Hong Pao Darjeeling tea Earl Grey Genmaicha

In season alongside

Brown crab Cuttlefish Royal kombu Octopus Squid American lobster

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