I had a dream last night of a kettle corn vending machine that would make fresh popcorn and add toppings to it like chocolate or caramel and then a bucket of kettle corn would fall out the bottom however you ordered it. I was reminded of this dream when I realized I wanted this tea this morning. It seems like it would be the tea most like kettle corn! (Though I realize that this is popped rice in genmaicha and not popped corn — still tastes like kettle corn, anyway!)
I REALLY wanted to try this one when I saw someone’s tasting note for it, and then I noticed that Nina’s was sending out samples. I love the elements here: black tea, genmaicha, vanilla, caramel. I don’t think the black tea will really show through if you have to steep it like a genmaicha, since genmaicha can be bitter if steeped for too hot or too long. So I waited for the water to cool a while and then steeped for two minutes. It’s scrumptious and I love it! It’s a toasty genmaicha with added sweetness. Just what I was hoping for. There isn’t a ton of flavor, but what is there is great. I don’t really see much black tea flavor, since you’d have to burn the green to find it, so the black tea seems obsolete, but that’s okay! I really don’t see many genmaichas mixed with other ingredients, maybe because they are so good on their own. I’d order this one if my tea stash wasn’t ridiculous right now.
