Sweet pea sprouts. The flavor memory of the tender and delicately sweet green seemed to sing out loud with the first sip of the Matcha Gyokuro green tea. This vibrant steep is a bright new addition to the loose tea collection at La Colombe cafes (go ahead and give it a welcome sip). Bursting with richly smooth umami notes, this green tea blend features organic gyokuro green tea leaves coated in organic first flush matcha green tea powder grown in the Nishi Gardens of Kagoshima, Japan.
Wait, wait, before your senses skip over to Instagram to recall #matchamoments, let’s clarify that this wondrous green tea blend isn’t pure matcha whisked into steamy milk. This is even better. Take the bold, bright flavor and color of the matcha and mix it with the crisp, savory yet sweet notes of a gyokuro and you have a green tea blend that is pure magic. So if you love matcha, consider this matcha gyokuro an upgrade with serious balance.
The green hue is good as gold in our book. How? Break out your biology book (just kidding, we’ll tell you – wait do you still have it from high school?) Both the gyokuro and tencha green tea leaves (which eventually become matcha) are shaded from the sun leading up to harvest which encourages the leaves to compensate and produce more chlorophyll and concentrate the l-theathine amino acid. Translation: the teas are super green and the sweetness and umami notes are turned way up. Also, the l-theanine counteracts the caffeine to give you a calm, alert state of mind (no caffeine crash here).
Ok, class over, time for recess.
Written by La Colombe Tea Consultant, Alexis Siemons
