Kurihara Tea Farm: Takumi - Artisan Heritage Gyokuro 2023

Heritage Grade, Gyokuro Takumi 匠 (Artisan)

 from Kurihara Tea Garden

20g | 100g

Gyokuro is a green tea that is grown under shading. This particular Gyokuro is grown beneath traditional handmade bamboo and straw canopy. When moisture collects and drips onto the tea plants it gives extra flavour to the resulting tea. The canopy also allows the tea leaves to grow without receiving any damage from the direct cover. 

This is the highest grade of gyokuro that tea the Kurihara family offers and is produced on a specific field that seems to have the ideal soil composition, sunlight exposure, and surrounding mirco-climate. This tea is handpicked and then processed in a small, private factory. Because this particular tea leaf, 'Kurihara Heritage Gyokuro', is such a high quality they decided not to blend it with other fields keeping it as a single origin tea. 

The shading process used to create Gyokuro blocks approximately 85% of the light. This allows the leaves to mature without becoming bitter or astringent. The result is an ultra delicate green tea with an extremely sweet taste profile.

• Many producers will age Gyokuro for 3-6 months before releasing it for sale to customers. The ageing process is similar to that of tencha leaves for matcha: as the leaves age the flavour balances, astringency mellows and umami becomes stronger. This tea has been released by Kurihara early so that customers can choose to enjoy it as an Ichibancha (first flush spring tea) or age it at home themselves. 

Steeping Notes: 5g | 50ml | 50°C | 60sec

• Name: Kurihara Heritage Gyokuro Tea
• Ingredients: Green tea
• Harvest: May 2023
• Region: Yabemura village, Yame, Fukuoka

• Notes: Shaded for 3 weeks before harvest, handpicked. 

• We highly recommend using the spent leaves in cooking. Add them to some rice for onigiri, mix them into a salad or even just add some soy sauce and eat as a side dish with a main meal. 

About Kurihara Tea Farm:

Specialists in gyokuro tea leaf cultivation and processing, the Kurihara family began in 1922 as a wholesaler. In 1942 the first master decided to move his wholesale business to the Yame region, famed for its Yamecha, and start growing tea himself. His son, Kippei Kurihara is now a respected member of the Yame City legislature while sons Yuji and Akio begin to take over the tea agriculture business.