Shincha 2025 & Rimpo Gyokuro Set

Each spring, as the weather starts to warm, the tea fields in the mountains south of Kyoto begin to awaken. The tea plants that huddled up, storing their energy and nutrients over the cold, long winter, begin to put out tiny green buds. Over the course of a month, these buds start to grow, reaching up and up for the wide blue sky. When the time is right, tea farmers get busy harvesting the spry new leaves.

At Ippodo, we blend selected fresh new sencha harvests to produce our Shincha tea each year. This limited release is only available for a short time in early summer.

In the mountainous environment where the trees grow, small changes in the weather day-to-day affect the nuances that develop in the tea. As a result, the distinctive character of this year’s Shincha will never be repeated.

Shincha 2025’s highlight is its brilliant, soaring fragrance. It’s classic Shincha: sunny, fresh, and vivid green.

In the cup, its umami is robust, concentrated, and satisfying. The savory notes linger long after you swallow, while the dry, astringent notes are relatively light, making this an accessible year for beginners.

Its aroma reminds us of snap peas, tomato vine, and fresh-cut grass.

Visually, its beautiful vibrant leaves and golden brew color make this year’s Shincha a treat for the eyes as well.

For first-timers, this year is a classic introduction to Shincha, full of energy and green freshness. Longtime fans will enjoy its vivid fragrance, balanced taste, and complexity over many brews.

For beginners to loose leaf Japanese green teas, this set is a chance to experience both Shincha and gyokuro, a green tea with a smooth taste and a lot of parallels to matcha.

Gyokuro is essentially the loose leaf tea version of matcha. They both start off as tea leaves grown in the same shaded tea fields. After harvesting, some leaves are ground up to make matcha, and some leaves are made into loose leaf green tea, gyokuro.

In the cup, gyokuro’s smooth, naturally sweet taste reminds us of a premium matcha’s misty, moss-green, and even briny elements. Like matcha (and Shincha), gyokuro also has a balance of caffeine and theanine, giving us an energizing yet calming feeling when we drink it.

We selected the Rimpo gyokuro blend for this set. It’s a great introduction to the category, with a medium-rich body, smooth mouthfeel, and pleasant umami. A big contrast to Shincha’s brisk green energy.

This bundle set includes both items shipped together as in a regular order.