Well, hmmm. So far I’ve tried 4 genmaichas: Numi’s bagged, loose tea from The Path of Tea, Genmaicha from David’s Tea, and this one.
I instantly loved Numi’s and continued to do so despite the bags. I instantly loved the first cup I made from The Path of Tea, but subsequent cups not so much. I did not instantly love either David’s Tea Genmaicha or Den’s Genmaicha Extra Green with Matcha.
I feel these extremely inconsistent results are mostly my fault. I haven’t achieved the correct temperature and steep time for any of the loose teas yet, and haven’t been able to reproduce the good experience I had with my first loose genmaicha. So I am not going to rate Den’s yet.
The instructions say to use boiling water, 1 tsp leaves, steep for 30 seconds. This is quite different from what David’s Tea recommends for their Genmaicha (165F and steep 2-3 minutes.)
I was interrupted by my boss so the water was probably more like 175-180, but I was careful re: the quantity and steep time. What I ended up with is not bitter, but it is a bit insipid and lacking in sweetness or toastiness. I’ll try for boiling water and a 15-second steep on my second cup, as recommended by Den’s.
Second steep: I also used less water. We may be getting there.
