To understand GENTEN - UMAMI, it helps to begin with the limitation of Gyokuro. To make this type of tea the leaves are shaded for around three weeks before harvest. Shading preserves theanine, the amino acid responsible for umami, by preventing it from naturally transforming into catechins as the leaf matures under sunlight. This is what gives gyokuro its concentrated umami.

However shading for so long has a side effect. The leaf does not stop growing during those three weeks. In tea, harvest timing is critical. Even a difference of a single day can change the character of the leaf. Three weeks of shading also means three weeks of continued growth. As the shaded leaf matures, it develops a distinctive seaweed-like aroma, often described as nori. This aroma does not exist in a truly young leaf. It is the sign of maturity.

GENTEN -UMAMI begins with a different question: what if the leaf were harvested before that aroma develops?  The tea is shaded for one week, just long enough to begin concentrating umami, and harvested at 3 cm. From the same field, the harvestable yield is roughly half that of gyokuro.  The result is umami without the seaweed character. 

Clear. Deep. Reminiscent of pure kombu dashi.

This is not better than gyokuro. It is a premium kabusecha: a different answer to the same question.