This competition grade gyokuro blend from AOI Seicha was made by carefully selecting and scrutinizing tea leaves that won the Excellence Award at the tea tasting competition in the gyokuro category. You will not be let down by the rich umami and sweetness. AOI Seicha recommends with confidence to those who would like to taste an authentic gyokuro.

Selected and blended from award-winning tea leaves

The teas submitted to Prefectural, Regional, and National level tea competition from farmers are then bid upon by factories who refine the leaves and turn them into a finished product. Consistently buying the award winning gyokuro teas from these competitions, AOI Seicha then blends them to offer you the best of the best.

Product Info

• Ingredients: Green tea
• Net Weight: 100 grams in original bag, 20-gram sized packed by Yunomi for your tasting convenience.
• Cultivar: Blended
• Harvest: Spring
• Cultivation & Processing Notes: Shaded for 3 weeks before harvest.
• Region: Blended

Steeping notes

• First steeping - Tea: 3 grams. Time: 3-5 minutes. Water: 50C/122F, 80 ml.
  The purpose of this steep is to create an rich, umami syrup-like broth.
• Second steeping - Time: immediate. Water: 70-90C/160-195F, 200 ml
  In subsequent steeps, you've already primed the leaves and extracted much of the umami, so enjoy the other flavors with water at hotter temperatures.
• Third / fourth steeping - Time: 30-60 seconds. Water: 70-90C/160-195F, 200 ml
• Remember, steeping at a hotter temperature extracts caffeine and bitter-tasting catechin (antioxidants) while cooler temperature extracts only the umami-tasting L-theanine and other sweet flavors. Since the bitter flavors overwhelm the umami flavors, we recommend the above.
• Also try cold steeping as well as ice steeping!

Vendor Info

• Name: Aoi Seicha
• Type: Factory
• Established: 1910, company incorporated as AOI Seicha in 1966.
• CEO: Ayano Honda
• Employees: 60
• Address: Kamiyashiki-7 Kamimachi, Nishio-shi, Aichi-ken 445-0894

Matcha for the North American market can be bought from U.S. subsidiary AOI Tea