Gyokuro - Yamashita Shinki’s 2022 National First Prize Winner

Yamashita Shinki is the grandson of the legendary Yamashita Toshikazu, who has been said to have influenced every single tea producing area in Japan with his relentless pursuit of using scientific analysis to enhance traditional tea cultivation techniques. Yamashita Toshikazu has won the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Prize 17 times, which is more than anyone else. Yamashita Shinki learnt traditional gyokuro making from his grandfather, but also studied in Fukuoka and Shizuoka where he gained more innovative knowledge and skills. He is based in Kyotanabe in Kyoto.

We brewed this tea as follows (2.5g tea leaves, 11ml water each infusion)

20°C for 90s

20°C for 60s

65°C for 45s

85°C for 5-10s

The 76th Annual National Tea Fair (Chahinpyoukai) took place in late 2022 across eight categories:

10kg Machine picked sencha
4kg Hand picked sencha
Deep steamed sencha
Kabusecha
Gyokuro (First Prize Winner - Yamashita Shinki)
Tencha (First Prize Winner - Tsuji Kiyoharu)
Tamaryokucha
Kamairicha

In the Gyokuro category there were 119 submissions from Fukuoka, Shizuoka, Saitama, Kagoshima and Kyoto. Tencha had 142 submissions.