A review of Genmaicha Extra Green (with Matcha) by Den’s Tea
This is Den’s Tea special blend of Genmaicha with Matcha. This blend uses a tea ceremony grade of Matcha and quality Bancha.
Origin: Shizuoka
Harvest: A blend of First & Second Harvests
This tea smells lovely from first opening of the foil bag to the steeping of this tea and to finally drinking the tea.
It is suggested that this tea be steep for 30 second for the 1st steep; I take a rounded heaping teaspoon and put this in my cup and pour in the boiled water and left to steep. When the times seem right, I remove the covering from the tea and I am met with a very rich flavorful cup of tea. It is very green in color with the roasted brown rice floating loosely in my cup. At first it smells like popcorn, the kernels of corn not cooked at the bottom of the bag; and as the tea cools down I am met with a rice crispy kind of smell.
So this tea’s aroma is most invigorating as well as intoxicating. In tasting the tea, one is met with the rice’s grainy textures or the best wording is ‘nutty’. This 1st cup of tea is very filling, for a somewhat medium bodied tea.
I try this tea next with a 2nd steep for 15 second and adding the boiled water to my cup with the tealeaves already loose and immersed in the boiled water. The tea’s aroma with this short infusion is more vegetal and sweet and when tasted I am met with the matcha this time and not so much of the grainy texture of the rice.
1st infusion for 30 seconds yields a highly aromatic aroma in the tea. The tea’s color is green and the taste is very grainy; smelling/tasting like rice crispies.
2nd infusion for 15 seconds gives way to another layering to be found in this tea; the astringency of the matcha, giving this tea its natural sweetness with a slight astringency.
Overall, this tea is green in color with the 1st steeping to be more of roasted rice for aroma and flavor. With the 2nd steep tea is more grassy tasting, slight oceany taste to it as the matcha flavoring comes through.
