Genmaicha

Delicious afternoon tea. Nutty and comfy! I love the large bits of dried brown rice (almost like rice crispies) and popped popcorn. The leaves are needle-like and dark green and thin. Very good tea indeed. I received this from Shinobicha. Thank you! I really enjoy a good genmaicha. I always think of the genmaicha I drink when going to my favorite Japanese restaurant.

I read about this tea on someone’s tea blog. It’s a mild genmaicha, which is very nice for a change. Smooth and terribly delicious iced. It has a nice sweetness to it, light though. It is good for 2 rebrews. I would consider buying this again. Thank you Shinobicha for letting me try this!

1TTEN sent me this tea and a tea set for free after I answered a questionnaire, so I may be a little biased toward it. I decided to use the new pot and the directions included with the tea. I put three heaping tablespoons of tea into the pot, poured boiling water over it, let it steep for 30 seconds, and poured a serving into one of the new tea cups. I poured the rest into an insulated travel mug. I didn’t add any sweetener. The color of the tea was a bit more green than yellow, compared to the genmaicha I’ve had in the past. The roasted rice flavor wasn’t as strong in the first cup as what I’ve had before, either. Mild to medium, I suppose. It had a nice vegetal aftertaste. I thought it was very good. The rest of the first pot sort of got cooked in the travel mug, so it was more yellow, had a stronger rice taste, and didn’t seem to have that vegetal aftertaste anymore, but it was still good. I think I oversteeped the second pot. 1TTEN’s website says that the second pot doesn’t need to be steeped, but I forgot that and instead steeped it for a minute. It turned out similar to the tea I had left in the travel mug, but a bit milder. It was still pretty good. I’ll have to experiment with steeping it in the easy gaiwan and the finum infuser, since I don’t often drink two pots of tea by myself. Based on these two pots, I think I might buy more of this tea when the package runs out. If I can get it to taste like the first cup again, I will definitely buy more. Of course, the only genmaicha I’ve had before is Upton Tea’s Gen-Mai Cha Kamakura and some that I bought at Hyundai Oriental Grocery & Gift and finished a few years ago, so I wouldn’t say I’m very familiar with genmaicha in general.

This just came in the mail to my office.
I entered a contest in May, all you had to do was fill out 2 survey questions, and not only did I win this tea, but 2 teacups and a 12oz teapot too!!

The leaf itself smells very strongly of seaweed and popped rice. The flavor is pretty good, but since my only other experience with this tea is with Matcha, it is hard for me to compare. Unfortunately or fortunately, the water heater at my office heats water to 170 (yes, I brought a thermometer to work once to test it!), so perfect for Sencha, but not quite hot enough for Genmaicha.
Either way, this is still very good. And the coworkers I shared it with also liked it. Maybe this isn’t the best Genmaicha out there, but I’m giving it high marks because it was free and good quality for my taste!

And even if I hadn’t gotten it free, it would have been incredibly cheap – $12 for 7.1 oz.
Go to www.1tten.jp and check it out – simple selection, but good prices, free shipping (and it’s fast for something coming from Japan).