Genmaicha

Thank you CharlotteZero for sending this one! (If you were worried this tea was old, I saw numbers stamped into the box that said 062013 so I’m guessing that means June of this year. Not old yet! :D) I always have luck with Choice teas. This one is great, though I have no idea why the box says to steep this boiling. Boiling water would ruin it! I let the water cool a while and steeped for two minutes… delicious! I had no idea it would be better than some of the other genmaicha I’ve tried, even some that have been in loose leaf form. This one is very toasty and roasty while also having a buttery sweet flavor to it. I love it!

This is my first genmaicha ever, so I can’t say how this compares to other brands, but this is pretty yummy! I actually ended up making my own genmaicha extra green/“ryokucha” by stirring in some matcha powder, and the result is delicious! Toasty, milky, lightly sweet, vegetable-ey, a little bitter…om nom nom nom nom.

For a bagged green tea, I have to say, it is some darn fine genmaicha! I used to take this to work with me, due to it being easier to use there than loose leaf, and I never had a bitter cup, even if I forgot about it and over-steeped it, and that’s saying something! Green tea, if not brewed properly, can get quite bitter. I haven’t found this locally, and I admit that I do prefer loose leaf, but I’d buy this again.

I love genmaicha, and this is a nice bagged option. It’s really nutty and toasty. The tea base is prominent, but not to the point where it detracts from the toasted rice notes. It’s mildly vegetal. I’m not noticing any bitterness, even though I definitely oversteeped this time (and probably used hotter-than-optimal water).

This is more balanced than some other gen mai cha that I have tasted, and not as balanced as others. I like the quite nutty toasted rice flavor. The green tea comes out a bit more than in the Motoyamamoto gen mai cha I tasted recently. This comes in a green tea bitterness that peeps out a little bit from behind the toasted rice and a very nice sweet aftertaste. I needed a calm-down cup of something warm with dinner after work today. This worked well.

The toasted rice flavor makes for a tea that feels warm and filling. It does not overpower the green tea flavors, but is instead a great complement to it. I particularly like genmaicha during winter-time. I cannot compare with other brands of genmaicha, but there is no detectable bitterness, and a great flavor. Cooling the water down before steeping and keep steeping time down may be important to avoid bitterness. It leaves a nice aftertaste from the toasted rice that can last quite a while.

Genmaicha for a sleepy Friday afternoon. Not doing much to help the sleepies, but it’s a nice, sturdy, solid sort of tea.