Today, the communiTEA is drinking...

Gyokuro (玉露, gyokuro — "jade dew") is a shade-grown steamed green tea from Japan, considered among the finest of all Japanese teas. While the young leaves of the spring season develop, Gyokuro plants are shaded from the sun for three to four weeks using covers called Komo. This deliberate light deprivation slows leaf growth and transforms the tea's character completely: the sun-deprived leaves produce more chlorophyll — explaining their vivid, deep green colour — and significantly more amino acids, most notably L-theanine, which accounts for Gyokuro's perfectly smooth, rich, and soft flavour that is unlike any unshaded green tea.

Our fine Gyokuro produces a deeply sweet aroma of freshly buttered greens and seaweed — not grassiness, not harshness, nothing sharp. Think of tender new grass just sprouting in the spring. Soft on the palate with a rich umami quality, balanced delicate finish, and a silky mouthfeel that reviewers consistently describe as the smoothest green tea they have encountered. Energising and soothing simultaneously.