Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha

The aroma of the dry leaf smells just like cherry cheesecake to me. I can even smell the graham cracker crust! The brewed tea offers very little fragrance, only hints of what I smelled before steeping.

I like this, but, it is a bit different than what I expected. This doesn’t really taste like cherry cheesecake. I mean, I taste the elements: I taste the cherry, I taste the tangy cheese, I even taste a buttery note that unifies with the toasty rice flavor of the genmaicha to form a crust-like flavor. And, then, of course, I taste the fresh, light notes of the green tea. But, somehow, these flavors don’t come together in a way that my palate identifies it as cherry cheesecake.

It is a very enjoyable tea – delicious even. But, just a little different than I’d thought it would be.

This one yields two infusions, with the second one tasting just as good as (if not better than) the first.

Thank you to Amy oh for sending me a generous amount of this tea! I’ve been eyeing this one for a long time and I’m so excited to finally get to try it.

Dry, this one smells tart. I know that tart isn’t really something that one usually describes a smell as but that’s the only word I can think of. Once I poured the water on the leaves, though, the scent immediately changed! The toastiness of the genmaicha really came out during the steeping and the cherry took the backseat. The tea smells sweet and yummy, like cherries.

So, the verdict-this is good! It doesn’t taste exactly like I thought I would but it is pretty nice. I think I really agree with what LiberTEAS said about this-I can taste the cherry, I can taste the cheesecake aspect, and I can taste the delicious toasty flavor of the genmaicha. But, I don’t see this as cherry cheesecake. It is good, but it doesn’t really taste like what I thought it would.

Thank you again Amy oh for letting me try this!

After reading the recent posts about this tea, it really made me want some again! Give me that creamy, cherry, cheesecake-y flavor!

I upped the brewing temperature a little bit, and the resulting cup smells heavily of cheesecake and genmaicha. Of course, that’s what it should smell like, right? So far, so good great!

Hmm, this is good but I think I like it better at the lower temperature. The aroma is better now, but the taste is more grassy and less creamy.

Okay, now the rest of this post is going to have nothing to do with tea. But I need some advice. You see, I spend a lot of my time reading. I’ve always loved reading. I have a huge collection of books that I cart around with me every time I move, which unfortunately is quite often. It’s getting to be a bit ridiculous. With the invention of the Nook and Kindle, I’m starting to think that’s the better way to go. You can carry 3500 books in one tiny little tablet! But honestly, it’s hard for me to get over not having the actual book. I like looking at the covers and feeling the pages. I like the smell as they age and the sound of the pages as they turn. I like having a collection of books. Will an eReader really appease me? It’s hard to tell. I know you can’t tell me what to do, but I’d appreciate any advice you can give me. What has your experience been with eReaders? Which eReader would you recommend? Thanks in advance everyone!

As soon as I saw the post about this I was excited to get it. I really was not expecting my month of teas to come today but since I slipped twice while walking to get the mail I will so take it!

Even before I even let this just let the flavors meld in the package for a couple of weeks, it is SO good. I don’t think it tops the marshmallow treat genmaicha but it’s up there. The cherry flavor tastes like cherries, and I get just the right cheesecake tang. It’s like a cheesecake with a toasty crust, topped with tons of cherries. This will make an excellent dessert tea….or an afternoon tea because you’re too excited to wait.

Final thought: Whoa. What if you infused butter with this tea and made a cheesecake crust? I did get a springform pan for Christmas!

I took advantage of Frank offering free White Teas to place another order from 52teas, and it came today, which I might add is a darn quick turnaround time, seeing as I placed the order… Wednesday evening? Less than a week ago, assuredly, and anytime an online order gets to me within a week, I’m a happy camper.

Something about Frank’s flavor combinations instill this slight madness in me, where even things I’d normally shy away from just seem like they should be amazing. Case in point: Cherry flavoring. I’m not a huge cherry flavoring fan, for the most part. It’s like my least favorite pie in the world. But something about the Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha just rang out to me. It probably has to do with the fact that I absolutely LOVE genmaicha, and I think Frank is the only person in the world that flavors it.

The dry leaf, in the pouch, gives off a really strong cherry scent with just a hint of creaminess, almost like a cherry bubblegum. Yeah, definitely cherry bubblegum. I don’t smell the green tea base, which is a vast improvement over the somewhat seaweed-y taste of the dry leaf of my normal genmaicha (not that the seaweed flavor exists in the brew, but something about it smells that way to me… go fig).

The liquid color brews to the same translucent elixir-of-life green that I expect from genmaicha, and always makes me happy. Though, I was expecting a reddish color due to the cherry flavoring. The smell is less overpoweringly cherry, and the creamy, vanilla smell is a little more powerful, and it is delightful!

The taste? I don’t know if it can even be described, it is just absolutely perfection. The fruitiness of the cherry with a creaminess that just seems to melt over the toasted rice taste. It is magical. I can taste the green tea, far more than I can smell it, but I’m fairly certain my mouth is dismissing it as an illusion. It can taste it, my tongue knows that it is there, but it just having far too much fun with the other flavors to pay it much mind.

It also tastes much… lighter? than my other genmaicha. I am very, very pleased with this. So pleased, in fact, that after tasting the first sip (and making some sort of comment on its incredible tastiness), I went quick like a bunny to open up 52teas.com and see if there was anymore. Which, of course, there wasn’t. Ah well, looks like this will be a once in a lifetime enjoyment.

So yeah, this is really good. I would recommend you get some… but that would just be mean ;)

We got our 52teas order today! I really have to give them points for adding allure to tea buying. Getting your tea is pretty exciting too. I have high expectations for their teas and so far they’ve met them every time. On to the tea.

Love this tea. I’m not a big fan of cherry flavoring since it’s typically very artificial tasting. In this tea it is perfect! I think the gen mai cha adds to the cheesecake flavor. It almost sounds like I’m getting separate flavors here. That isn’t accurate. I feel like I have accidentally dropped some cherry cheesecake into my gen mai cha. Best oops ever. At the tag end of my sip I taste the green tea, but then my cherry cheesecake comes back to play. Lovely tea again 52teas!

Trying out my sample of this one from LiberTEAS tonight!

This time I located a couple dried cherries in the dry tea – this may go a long way to bringing out the right flavours! Lacking big chunks of fruit is a hazard with small sample sizes.

The dry tea smells sweet and a bit like cherries. Mmmmm. Steeped it doesn’t have a great deal of flavour, although what I can smell is pleasant.

The taste is like genmaicha. I’m getting some more cheesecakey flavours in this one than I did previously. Really no cherry though (probably a consequence of the short infusion time? Maybe the second infusion will be better.) There’s a metallic taste though, which makes me think of oversteeped sencha. I’m really not keen on that flavour. Luckily it is pretty mild here, so in spite of the lack of cherry flavour, I’m glad I kept the infusion time down.

Ok, cooled down a bit more, I’m smelling a bit of a creamy cherryish aroma. Tastes similar. The metallic flavour has either disappeared or is muted enough to no longer bother me. This one is good… darn it why didn’t I buy some while it was still available!?

Second infusion (170F for 3.5 minutes). Tastes like a sweetened, creamy-ish genmaicha. Getting some yummy green tea aftertaste here too. I like it. I think I would have bought this one had it still been available. Sigh. At least I have a few cups left to drink!

I like genmaicha but I’m not sure about this tea. The first time I tried steeping it it was all cheesecake flavor and I didn’t like it at all but I don’t think I used water that was hot enough.

Tonight I steeped it in a gaiwan and I like it better this way, the cherry flavor is coming up and mixing well with the nuttiness of the rice but now I am not getting any cheesecake. Weird. I feel like if I can find the perfect method to brew this it might be ultimately more enjoyable for me but for now it’s just kind of elusive.

I tried this for the first time a few days ago, so forgive me if I’m not perfectly eloquent today!

First of all, the smell of the dry leaf is ricey and sweet and fun. It definitely begins to evoke the concept of a cherry cheesecake. I’m pretty fond of a genmaicha, but haven’t had a ton of experience with them. I was first introduced to genmaicha by a friend of mine I used to work with. She was allergic to just about everything except for rice and green tea (I think you see where I’m going with this). She was even unable to drink black teas. I’m not quite sure why, but somehow that was the case.

In any case, I had a small amount of genmaicha with her a while back and enjoyed it, but wasn’t blown away. To be fair, I wasn’t exactly blown away by much green tea at all. I’m pretty sure it stems from the fact that everytime I had green tea for a very long time, it was prepared improperly, usually with too hot of water.

So when I saw the Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha, I knew that I wanted to try it. After heating my water, I allowed it to set and cool for a few minutes to get water temperature more along the lines of what is needed for this kind of tea. I allowed it to steep a couple of minutes and poured myself a cup.

I wasn’t fond of the smell of the wet leaf, it was a bit too heavy on the rice aroma. But the liquor itself, well… that just smelled delicious! The tea itself was nice a lightly flavored. It was like a nice green tea with a hint of the rice (almost simulating the taste of a crust if you keep entirely in cheesecake terms) and a very mild sweetness. I think my favorite part was how mild the cherry flavor was. It was definitely present, but just sort of interlaced itself with the rest of the flavors to enhance the overall product.

Not listing my preparation details as I can’t remember them that precisely, but I definitely enjoyed this and may have to get one of the other remaining bags of it to ensure I have some on hand for a while!

I WAY, WAY oversteeped this tea. However, after adding a tiny bit of sugar and a small splash of cream I have the most delicious, rich cup of Cherry Cheesecake goodness sitting beside me! No bitter tastes to be found, just a tea that seriously feels like it should be a million, zillion calories (but its not!)

This came today after I had the Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha, so I figured I would keep the Genmaicha train a-rollin’ and dig right into it. I liked this one better than the Marshmallow, but I like cheesecake more than marshmallow. I added a teaspoon of sugar and a teeny, tiny splash of milk. Nice mild tea. I could not really taste the cherry cheesecake initially, but the aftertaste of it was there. Glad I grabbed a bag.

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Water: 500ml 175F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: cherry cheese danish
Steeped Tea Smell: genmaicha (vegetal, rice)
Flavor: bitter green
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: bitter
Liquor: translucent honey green-yellow

Next time less temp? less leaves?

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Water: 500ml 175F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: cherry cheese danish
Steeped Tea Smell: genmaicha (vegetal, rice)
Flavor: green, rice
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: vegetal
Liquor: translucent honey green-yellow

Much better at 2 min, cherry is still mostly in smell, but smooth genmaicha this time.

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2012/02/52teas-loose-leaf-green-tea-cherry.html

I want to love this…really I do. But…I can bake and have prize winning bakers in the family…and this…well…is flat. Hard to taste cherry at all. I even doubled the amount of tea. Steeped a long, long time-tic-toc-tic-toc…finally…because I’m a waste not kind of woman I poured the last of a cooled down brew at about 15 minutes steeping with some sweetening but no milk…and at last some flav…not flavor but flav…got some cherry notes and the toastiness of rice to add crust to the cheesecake and a bit of creaminess. It could be that the green tea is not the best vehicle for my taste. A wheatier tea may be better. I’ll give this a second go. Not a great bouquet either. Why, Why,Why! I wanted a great dessert!

I saw this tea the first time I looked at 52tea’s site and I wanted it, but it was sold out. This tea has gotta be awesome, I thought, right up my alley.
When more came available, I jumped on it and snagged a package.

Dried leaves: Looks like genmaicha… I don’t see any cherries..? Smells like… well.. sweet cherries. Like a cherry topping ontop of a cheesecake. OOhh yum!

Steeped: once I poured the hot water in, a cherry re-hydrated immediately and appeared in my steeper, cool! The tea colour is like.. well.. green tea. Smell is genmaicha with a hint of sweet.
Water temperature.. uhhh.. I have a fancy pants kettle and I used the “green tea” temperature. It’s in Fahrenheit and since I’m Canadian those numbers are jiberish, I have no idea what that meant or remembered what it was and too lazy to go downstairs to check when I can sit here and continue to drink tea. hehehe. Probably like 160f-170?

Taste: hint of cherry, hit of the rice/butteryness of the genmaicha mixed with green tea. The cherryness of the tea is very subtle, adding some sweetness to the mouth. I’m not getting the “cherry cheesecake” of this tea. So this comes up as a “slightly fruity and sweet genmaicha” tea instead of cherry cheesecake tea.
That re-hydrated cherry? yeah, don’t eat it. I ate mine and it was bitter horrible bruised tasted.

I know a few peeps that LOVE their genmaicha. Those peeps would LOVE this tea – adds a new dimension on this tea. I get genmaicha at sushi restaurants and often brew it with takehome/homemade sushi, but this one is too sweet for that. Maybe drink a cup when you are craving some green tea icecream.. oh yeah.
THATS AN IDEA – mix cherries/cookies/cheesecake chunks/vanilla in green tea icecream! Someone get on that!!!

Me? I like a genmaicha tea as staple in my house but unfortunately Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha won’t replace that as it is a sweet tea. I find it too subtle for my liking, but it is a fine tea. I know a few people who would love this and I’m not in love with this tea so I’d end up giving it away to friends.

Thank you to Anne for sending me this sample :)

The tea leaves smell very sweet and enticing. I can definitely smell the cherry sweet aspect of it. This stuff smells amazing!

First steep : 2 minutes, 170 degrees – Not a very strong smell from the tea itself. Very light tasting. I didn’t get much cherry in the first steep, but I really did enjoy the flavor overall. It definitely has a smooth buttery taste to it.

Second steep : 3 minutes, 170 degrees – I enjoyed this steep much more! Will continue to steep for 3 minutes in the future. The full flavor of the tea really came out! I love that this tea is sweet in a way but not overpoweringly sweet and still has a light aspect to it. I’m really enjoying this one. I’ll be sad when this sample is gone.