Genmaicha

Mmmm, delicious! A nice, light, sweet genmaicha. No astringency when following the recommended brewing parameters. I can only wonder what this might taste like with a touch of vanilla… probably absolutely fantastic :D The rice makes this lightly toasty while the tea base leaves a lovely “tea” flavour (yeah, I still don’t know how to describe that savoury flavour) lingering in your mouth, which makes this one of the better genmaichas I’ve tried (a couple I’ve had fall a bit flat or astringent on that front).

Can’t wait to receive my genmaicha from Verdant so I can compare the two! Base teas will be quite different, so I’m expecting them not to be comparable at all, but I’m curious as to which I will prefer.

Stacy sent me this lovely sample with my last order of tea and I thought I would try it today I oversteeped it because I was a moron and wasn’t paying attention. It tasted very much like plain popcorn :) maybe I should’ve added marshmallows….

Really enjoyed this one, though I think i’m just not overly a fan of genmaicha. It’s more of a have once in a while tea than an every day sort of tea. I really like the smoothness of stacy’s version though so i may have to order a small bag of this for those times when i DO want this type of tea.

I received a sample of this in my last Butiki order. I didn’t like the first couple of sips, but it grew on me as I started tasting flavors beyond the roastiness. It started to taste even a little bit creamy and smooth. I really liked it at that point! Only got glimpses of the base. What I tasted was a pleasant green tea flavor. No fishiness.

I had a really fantastic walk this morning. :) If it wasn’t apparent before, I can truly see that Spring is here now. Throughout the entire trail, all of the green leaves have grown in, and the little flowers of the salmon berry bushes are in bloom… Couple weeks ago on that same trail, it was all just bare twigs, and now there’s a heady foresty smell the whole way.

I saw a BEAVER! Now this probably seems strange for a Canadian to get so excited over a beaver thanks to all those weird stereotypes, but I’ve never seen one before. I’ve never known anyone who’s seen one before. Until today, they were as mythical to me as a unicorn. So I was very excited to see one swimming in the river for a little while. I even saw him do that tail whack thing on the water when I got too close. :)
I also saw rabbits, Canadian Geese, robins, and a LIZARD! (which I almost never see. I think it was a salamander, but I don’t know my lizards very well) The animals are never around when I go for a walk, so it was fun seeing SO many for once!

Anyway, onto the tea. This is my first Genmaicha. I was very excited to try it when I got it yesterday, but it was just too late in the evening to be having tea so I saved it for today. It was quite interesting! It was definitely toasty, and it tasted a lot like popcorn, ha. Before I knew Genmaicha existed, I thought the idea of ‘Popcorn Night green tea’ from DavidsTea seemed so bizarre, but turns out it’s actually fairly normal!

In addition to being quite savory, there was also a bit of a sweet note from the tea itself. While it was quite interesting and I’m glad I tried it, I’m not entirely sure if genmaicha is my thing. While I perfectly enjoyed the cup all the way through, I couldn’t really imagine myself drinking it often enough to buy it. More like if it’s being offered, I’ll take it, you know? I think I’d like genmaicha more with additional flavors. Like “______ Genmaicha” as opposed to just “Genmaicha.”

But still, overall it was nice. :) Savory, popcorny, a little sweet and not bitter at all.

This is my first Genmaicha, and what a treat it is!
I love how it looks before it’s brewed. It’s got a great contrast between the white popcorn bits, the toasted rise, and the green tea leaves. I love it when a tea can make me happy just by looking at it!

Anyway, the smell of this brew is very toasty and slightly sweet. The toasted rice stands out the most, followed the green tea base and the popcorn. I love that I can smell each ingredient in the tea.

Taste-wise, this is quite nice. Toasty, slightly sweet, and best of all – no astringency! Yay! The green tea base provides a nice earthy tone to the tea, and the taste of the toasted rice and popcorn work very well with it. I love how the taste of the popcorn lingers after the sip! I’m also really digging the green tea base – I sometimes have a problem with green tea being either too grassy or getting bitter quickly. There’s none of that in this cuppa, and that’s the way I like it!
This is perfect on a cold day/night. Warms you right up!

Can’t wait to resteep this one and see how it holds up!

I’m doing my own Sipdown today since, despite my best intentions of sipping down yesterday, had a disastrous food and beverage day. First up is Butiki Tea’s Genmaicha, which I got as a sample from a recent order.

This is my first genmaicha, and I’m intrigued. I can smell the toastiness wafting off the mug as I type. It is rather pleasant, and totally unlike what I’ve experienced in a green tea before. The brew delivers on the promised toastiness—it is delicious! I really get the taste of the rice from the drink. The couple little pieces of popped corn I think I get more on the scent end. This is one of the few teas I’ve had where I can say “Yes! I taste what I’m supposed to taste!” This would be a great after dinner drink on one of those days when you’ve eaten just right, and don’t need any digestifs. A pre-prebedtime tea. This feels rather like comfort food for me. Its warm, savory, and delicious.

This is definitely going to go on my shopping list. There will be more in my future.

Interesting! I had never heard of Genmaicha before. Toasted rice! Popped corn! With a green tea? What a surprise! It has a toasty flavor. I’m learning to appreciate a nice green tea because the green tea knows how to bring out the other flavors included. The smell of the toasted rice reminds me of a certain cereal from my childhood, but I’m not sure which. And I doubt the cereal was even made of toasted rice. You can smell and taste the popcorn, and there was only a couple little pieces in my sample. I wonder what a tea would be like with mostly popcorn? And would you add butter to it? :D