Maeda-en

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Nice! I wasn’t expecting much from this Houji-cha since it was a bagged Houji-cha, but, it is very flavorful. Roasty, toasty, and honey-caramel-y sweet!

YUM!

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After such luxurious tea yesterday I went back to basics: BBC news and sencha. I made a second cup and threw in some lavender and spearmint for economical variety and I still crave lavender. Not bad, the crispness of the spearmint laced them together since this isn’t a very buttery sencha that loves lavender.

Yup! Spinach. Savory. See my other notes…

A nice warm cup of matcha milk <3~ http://instagr.am/p/BgGIb/

Broke in a new infuser with this tea and it continued to deliver. The water was warm but not boiling (IDK the actual temperature) and when combined with the short steep time, produced a light, rice-scented, tasty green tea.

Basic genmaicha, good for everyday drinking. It’s almost impossible to over-steep this; I accidentally left it steeping for eight-odd minutes and it was still good.

In the spirit of experimentation I threw in a few shakes of rubbed sage into mix. Let me tell you it made for quite the fabulous cup. Savory and delicious!

I tried this with 155 F water for 80 seconds and got a surprisingly sweet infusion. Yum! Uping the rating for that little trick.

Matcha with genmaicha to help me through the afternoon studying. http://instagr.am/p/BMZQM/

I’ve had this tea since July and I love it. The aroma when it’s steeping is like puffed rice cereal. Add a little honey and it’s like honey smacks…..Great tea and very affordable. I mixed some the Tradition Green tea powder with some as well. Yum!!

I found this at the Asian Market in the area. I wanted to try it since the Houji-Cha is a component of Dr. Tea’s Coffee tea and wanted to taste it separately. I love the light roasted aroma and flavor of this tea. It mixes well with Oolongs and black teas that I have in my cupboard. This morning I added it to English Breakfast and threw in a few french roast beans and made a nice coffee tea. It’s very reasonably priced too and adds a nice variety to my tea cupboard.

Tried this as a 50/50 mix with Maeda-en’s Kukicha last night. Plain and toasty with a brighter green background than just the genmaicha for a nice variation of its rustic hayloft taste. Not exacty what I needed but good to know.

Life without Tao’s kukicha is hard. Fortunately I found this to tide me over. There’s a definate drop in quality but kukicha that can be overlooked (it’s twig tea, they mock this stuff in Japan!). This is less the fresh mowed sweet orchard grass of Tao’s kukicha and more like a mowed, seeded and covered with straw lawn. Still some corn syrup sweetness and lemon tinge. Very bright and rustic. This is exactly the brusque post-matcha boost I needed today’s frenzy. I’ll switch back to Tao’s for days of a calmer focus.

But watch your steeping times; if I don’t frantically empty the teapot at 50 seconds this kukicha goes bitter instantly. I truly need to get a French press…

Deep green; a little bitter in flavor (in a good way, almost); rich flavor, like spinach.

Like many others, this is my everyday tea I drink at work. It is convenient when I want a nice cuppa but I don’t have time to spend time on prep and cleanup. If you are looking for a convenient and affordable cup of green tea, this is great value that is hard to beat. If time and money are not factors, then you will want to look elsewhere (loose leaf exotic teas). I would rate this 80/100 for quality and 98/100 for value. As with all green teas, proper water temperature is a key to success.

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I know absolutely nothing about green teas and rarely drink them, so they all kind of taste the same to me. This was better than most. The dry leaf had a bit of a mint smell, but nothing that I could taste after steeping. The tea had more of a fresh taste than what I am used to with most greens. There was a bit of earthiness as well. It thankfully lacked the veggie-type taste and smell that I think many greens have (some remind me too much of spinach). If I was going to drink unflavored green tea on a regular basis, this would probably be my top pick. Prepared with stevia.

Having a quick cup before I leave the office for the year!!! I really love this tea although it’s not the most holiday minded. It is very pleasing to the stomach and I love the super roasted taste. It also shares a coffee-like quality in the bitterness. I also think it tastes like a puffed wheat cereal as some other reviews noted. I’m interested in trying this iced, but I think I’ll wait for a little warmer weather before I do so.

I hope everyone has a lovely, joy-filled holiday! Take care and see you on Steepster in the new year! :)

So easy to drink in any season or climate. Earthy taste without mustiness. Feels clean and refreshing, so much better than plain water!

How can I buy this tea in bulk??