Gyokuro Kanro

This is a Gyokuro offered by Ippodo, I did have the chance to try this before and thought it was excellent, but as I was dealing with samples I was scared to make it as strong as it is recommended.

In the prep I added only enough water to barely cover the leaves in the pot, as per brewing instructions.

The aroma is decidedly different like toasted sesame seeds and vegetables, there was also something distinctively oily about the aroma. The taste is wow, it is so incredibly concentrated it is unbelievable. This is the Japanese equivalent of Chouzhou style gong fu. Its so concentrated that it seems oily like a Extra Virgin Olive Oil. And it is one of those teas that is such a taste explosion its hard to do it justice. But I got a fair bit of sesame seeds, the EVOO like stated earlier, and perhaps a slight seaweed flavor.

The Strength unnerving
The taste uber intriguing
Such is Gyokuro.
--Adam Yusko