Have you ever had to sorta duck out of your usual life for a bit, perhaps to deal with a pressing issue or what have you? If you’re fortunate, you can eventually return and gather the loose threads and continue on. At such a time, you may want to raise a glass. Of a great tea. Or a fine Wine.
Or a fine tea presented akin to fine wine. Perhaps a very expensive fine tea in wine-Bottle style.
You may have read about such a product several months ago, my having started this post back in April when I first heard about this tea, before my detour of sorts. However, the concept is still worth considering.
The Product
In March, the promotion council for tea-producing Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan debuted bottled tea. Only this wasn’t your pedestrian grab-and-go bottle.
No, this was a 500-milliliter (16.9 ounces) bottle of Gyokuro green tea, priced at $205.
For a little perspective, $205 will net me some 40–50 cups of brewed tea at my local tea shop, and a standard bottle of wine is 750 ml.
The Tea
Gyokuro is the most labor intensive and expensive of Japan’s leaf teas, but $205 for around 17 ounces? Let’s take a look.
Gyokuro is produced in Japan in limited quantities from a special clonal tea plant variety with small leaves. The plants are shaded for several weeks before harvest to force the leaves to produce more chlorophyll and L-theanine. This results in a very green leaf with a lot of umami. The bud and first leaf are hand plucked in early spring, the stems and main leaf veins are removed, and the lustrous dark green leaves are rolled into needle shape.
The Price
Granted, gyokuro is pricy to buy for all the reasons above and it can be tricky to brew. It requires a very low brewing temperature to bring out its rich, sweet, umami flavor (below left). Tea sommelier Lisa (TeaHaus, Ann Arbor) recommends kabusecha (below right) as an equally delicious, easier-brewing, and cheaper alternative, if you’re so inclined.
But for us to directly compare that $205 bottle, gyokuro it is.
At TeaHaus, 50 grams of loose leaf gyokuro will set you back $32.55. Using 3 grams to brew 8 ounces (237 ml) of tea, 50 grams will brew 133.5 ounces (3950 ml).
If you drink gyokuro as you would wine, that would be a 5-oz pour. Therefore, the 500-ml bottled tea would yield around 3 servings, costing $68/serving.
If I brew my own tea, it would cost $1.22/5-oz serving. Because I can rebrew gyokuro, the cost drops to 61¢/serving! If I steep yet again, the tea practically becomes a bargain. And, I can eat the leaves afterward!
Note that some may prefer fewer ounces per serving. According to Per Oscar Brekell (2018), “due to its almost overwhelming richness, [gyokuro is] best enjoyed in small quantities,” but I personally have no trouble enjoying 8 ounces at a time!
The Issues
Several things come to mind when I think about this pricy bottle of tea. Foremost, the shocking price of this tea commands attention—and may well pique the consumer’s curiosity, and even desire, to acquire such a luxurious drink.
And why shouldn’t fine tea be valued and priced like fine wine?
Producing fine tea is very similar to producing a bottle of fine wine. Both depend on ideal terroir, high-quality plants, mastery of production—all of which entail high costs for the producer. Hence, production is limited, which keeps the product rare and the price high, increasing its desirability and prestige. Indeed, no matter what the product—food, clothing, car, house—there are some things that the average consumer will never have. Such items are reserved for the elite of the world.
This unattainability may raise a product’s value in the eyes of the consumer. Wow, these people drink tea that’s a hundred dollars a cup! If we’re used to supermarket teabags, seeing a bottle of tea selling for hundreds of dollars may raise awareness and appreciation for the diversity and complexity of tea. Sommelier Francois Chartier, who helped bring this project to fruition, “was highly impressed by its [the region’s gyokuro tea] complex aroma, comparing it to wine from France’s Alsace region” (Yoshinaru Sakabe 4/9/23).
On the other hand, come on! If we want more people to drink tea, making it attainable for only a few is irritating. Instead, why not demonstrate how any one of us can make the finest of teas in our own homes, for a relatively affordable couple of bucks? Why not bring more people into the fold rather than deepening the divide between those who can readily afford a $205 bottle of tea and those who can’t (or won’t) plunk down that much money on 16 ounces of tea?
I’m never going to pay that kind of money for tea or wine. For considerably less, I can buy some truly terrific tea, brew it carefully, and serve it in an elegant wine glass. Who’s to say that my brew isn’t as excellent or as satisfying as that $205 bottle? Granted, it may not be as impressive, but the point of tea is to be able to enjoy it without breaking the bank.
Sources:
–Per Oscar Brekell, The Book of Japanese Tea, Tankosha Publishing, 2018.
–Yoshinaru Sakabe, “Steeped in tradition, Japan’s $200 bottle tea inspired by wine,” Nikkei Asia, 4/9/23.
