Precious dew, that is the meaning of Gyokuro, and Mariage Frères considers this the noblest, most refined and most precious green tea in the world. Gyokuro Kyoto comes from the Uji region, the historic cradle of Japanese green tea, and only the buds are picked, detached by hand, during a single annual harvest.

Three weeks before picking, the garden is placed under shade. Deprived of light, the plant produces more chlorophyll and less tannin: this is what gives the very fine leaves their emerald colour, and the cup its sweetness. It is a plain green tea, with no additions, and our sheet confirms the absence of the fourteen allergens requiring mandatory declaration.

The liquor, green and silky, unfolds a deep umami, that savoury, almost effervescent roundness, a vegetal sweetness and a floral, iodine note that our sheet describes as marine. The taste is smooth, the fragrance subtle, and the astringency absent if one respects water that is barely warm. It is a tea sipped in small mouthfuls, from a small cup.

It is drunk during the day, plain, on its own, without accompaniment, and preferably in quiet surroundings. The leaves withstand three or four infusions, increasing the temperature slightly at each pass. Once infused, the leaves are eaten, seasoned with a dash of soy sauce, as the Japanese do.

Allow 10 g per 200 ml of water at 50 °C and three minutes' infusion: strong dose, lukewarm water, that is the rule for gyokuro. Gyokuro Kyoto is sold loose leaf, weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from the 5 g sample to the kilo, in a pouch that protects it from air and light; keep it cool, tightly closed.