Single-Master Gyokuro

A master,
twice over.

Hand-picked Gyokuro from a single Shizuoka tea master — twice winner of Japan’s highest national tea award. Honzu canopy. First flush. Available exclusively through Nagamine Seicha.

玉露 · 前島東平作
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Tohei Maejima — Gyokuro tea master

Tohei Maejima · Gyokuro tea master · Shizuoka

The Master

The hand behind the leaf.

Tohei Maejima has spent his life producing one thing: gyokuro. Across Japan, his name is spoken in the same breath as the country’s most decorated tea masters — not as recognition we offer him, but as a fact the industry confirms each year at the National Tea Competition.

In a competition where being awarded once is the work of a career, Maejima-san has been awarded twice — the highest honour in Japanese tea, presented by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The certificates fill the rafters of his workshop, framed and dusted by years of work below them.

What follows from his hand is not a commodity. It is a gyokuro that the most senior judges in the country have, on more than one occasion, found impossible to surpass. Nagamine Seicha is the export partner for his work.

National Recognition
Minister of Agriculture Award · twice
National Tea Competition (全国茶品評会), Gyokuro division — the highest annual honour for tea production in Japan, conferred by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Gyokuro is a tea that does not forgive. The shading must be exact, the picking must be exact, the steaming must be exact, the rolling must be exact. To do this, year after year, at the highest level — this is what one master does.
— on the work of Tohei Maejima
The Field

Under the honzu canopy.

The leaf for our gyokuro is grown under honzu — a traditional shading method in which woven straw mats are laid by hand over a bamboo and timber framework above the tea rows. For roughly three weeks before harvest, the bushes receive only filtered light. Photosynthesis slows, theanine concentrates in the leaf, chlorophyll deepens, astringency softens. The result is the characteristic deep umami and silken texture that defines true gyokuro.

Traditional honzu straw canopy over tea field

The honzu canopy — hand-woven straw mats over a timber-framed structure.

Young leaves under honzu canopy

Filtered light beneath the canopy — deeper green, softer leaf, higher theanine.

Step 01

Honzu shading

~ 3 weeks

Hand-laid straw mats reduce light on the tea bushes; theanine concentrates, chlorophyll deepens.

Step 02

Hand picking

First flush only

Tender new shoots are picked entirely by hand — one of the few cultivars in Japan still produced this way.

Step 03

Steaming & rolling

In Maejima’s workshop

Steamed to halt oxidation, then carefully rolled to shape the long, needle-fine leaf gyokuro is known for.

Step 04

Drying & finishing

Master’s judgment

Final shaping and drying are evaluated by hand — texture, weight, and aroma must each meet the master’s standard.

The Leaf

A leaf that earns its weight.

Hand-picked, hand-rolled, finished in a master’s workshop. The finished leaf is dark, glossy, and needle-fine — recognised at a glance by anyone who works seriously with Japanese tea.

Hand-picked first flush in bamboo basket
Hand-picked first flush, fresh from the field.
Finished gyokuro leaf in the master's hand
The finished leaf — dark, glossy, dense.
Maejima at work in his workshop
The master at work — in the same workshop, year after year.
Brewed gyokuro leaf, fully unfurled in the pot
The Cup

Brewed cool, brewed slow.

Gyokuro is the only Japanese tea that demands water below 60°C. Anything hotter and the umami collapses, the bitterness rises, and the work of an entire year of shading is lost. The reward for the slower brew is unmistakable: a thick, almost broth-like body, a profound umami sometimes likened to dashi, and an after-taste that returns in waves long after the cup is empty.

For partners offering gyokuro at the table or in tasting flights, this is the tea that asks for a small cup, a gentle pour, and a moment of attention. Reward follows.

Water temp 50–60°C
Steep time 90–120 seconds
Tea ratio ~ 4 g per 60 mL
Cup size Small — gyokuro is sipped, not drunk
For Partners

Specifications for fine-tea importers, specialty retailers, and chefs.

Available exclusively through Nagamine Seicha to qualified international partners. Each lot is the work of one master’s harvest year — quantity is finite, and allocation is built around long-term partnerships rather than spot transactions.

Origin Shizuoka Single producer · Maejima
Cultivation Honzu canopy Traditional straw shading
Harvest First flush Hand-picked only
Indicative price ¥50,000 / kg FOB Yaizu · subject to lot
MOQ Discussed Long-term relationships preferred
Samples On request For qualified B2B partners
Request samples & allocation → See Matcha 2026