Gyokuro Karigane – 玉露雁音 – Bikouen – Kyoto, High grade Japanese tea

Description

ORIGIN & HARVEST TIME

Japan, Kyoto, Uji; 2021, autumn (lates release)

CHARACTER

Oily, fragrant karigane with a nice balance of umami and green, vegetable aromas. Compared to the average gyokuro karigane leaf ratio of 10-20%, this tea contains almost 50% leaves along with leaf tips and tender stems, with hardly any leaf fragments. It has a full flavour, with a vegetal sweetness typical of a mellow stem tea, but also a stronger umami character.

Karigane is the best known Japanese by-product tea, made from the leaves that are left over after aracha processing, but are still very precious and delicate. Karigane is most often gyokuro-based, and is therefore usually distinguished from the more common kukicha/stem teas, which tend to fall into the more ordinary category. A good gyokuro karigane evokes the flavour and quality of high-end gyokuro teas at half/half the price.

The Bikouen tea house in Kyoto, which mainly offers high quality matcha teas, also maintains a not very wide but remarkable selection of looseleaf teas. The Bikouen tea house was founded in 1872. They are the official matcha suppliers to the Nishi Honganji and Higashi Honganji buddhist temples in Kyoto, and now also to the Flying Bird tea house in Budapest. They are also associated with the Yabunouchi tea school, which is the oldest surviving tea school and one of the four major chanoyu schools in Kyoto.

DOSAGE & BREWING GUIDELINE

6g+200 ml. 60-80 °C water.
The first infusion is 1 minute, then in 20-30 second infusions 3-4 more times.