Genmaicha Extra Green (with Matcha)

I got my Den’s order in the mail today, YAY!

Celebrating with some toasty ricey genmaicha with the extra kick of matcha!

So I haven’t been reviewing teas too much in the last few weeks and thats mostly been because of the insanely hot and miserable weather here in chicago, as well as most of America. Its been so hot even the effort of making ice tea was too much. However, I just got AC so now I keep my room at a brisk 65 degrees and I’m always in the mood for tea. This genmaicha came in a generous sampler box from Den’s tea. I’ve had genmaicha with matcha before and it’s actually my favorite way to have genmaicha, the sweet matcha paired with the nuttiness of the genmaicha. This genmaicha isn’t bad but isn’t my favorite. As someone else mentioned there is definitely more of a seaweed salty taste as opposed to the matcha sweetness and the nuttiness doesn’t really pop out. I know the quality of matcha heavily effects the taste and the higher quality ones tend to be sweeter and less like seaweed. Not bad but I’ll stick to my tried and true genmaichas.

One of the great things about trying a company’s sampler pack is that you find something you really enjoy, but might not have tried on your own. I love Japanese green teas, and have had many cups of sencha, matcha and genmaicha over the last two decades. But this was the first time I tried a genmaicha with matcha in the blend. It was a true revelation.

ist steep: 30 seconds, 180F Bright green, cloudy liquid. Roasted rice aroma with a hint of sweetness. Nice comforting umami flavor with a little nutty and grassy character.

2nd steep: 15 seconds, 210F Bright olive green liquid with still a bit of matcha cloudiness. Aroma is a bit more sweet and less roasty. The flavor is still beautiful with just a hint of kelp flavor.

I look forward to adding more of this tea to my next order from Den’s Tea! :)

Prepared according to website directions: 20 oz. water to 10 grams tea.
Smooth and neon green in color – a yummy toasty rice flavor that went well the fried rice we ate for dinner. The second steep is just as lovely as the first. It’s funny how even though it’s hot outside and I’m drinking this hot, I can still feel refreshed.
This entire set of samples is definitely encouraging my love for Japan. :)

I wasn’t quite sure how to brew this tea since I didn’t feel like pulling out a gaiwan. Using an infuser basket and ceramic pot worked pretty well just the same though. Boy is this stuff green! Definitely a lot more cloudy that regular genmaicha. It was sweet but the nutty taste I love was still there.

I got this tea in the $3.00 sampler pack from Den’s. First pot of this I did according to directions from Den’s, 30 second steep. This yielded a much “greener” flavored Genmaicha than I am used to, mainly due to the added Matcha but partly due to a shorter steeping time than I am used to. I didn’t find the nutty notes from the roasted rice coming through as much as I would have liked.

Second go around I steeped it how I usually do Genmaicha, for about 3 minutes. This second time was a better cup of tea for me with a bolder, nuttier flavor.

Not sure how I feel about the Matcha being in there. Most will go into your cup the first steep, so if doing multiple infusions of this expect a much different cup the second time.

This is a much lighter, more vegetal Genmaicha than I am accustomed to, I feel I prefer something a bit heartier, like the Genmaicha from Frontier that I usually keep in stock.

Mmmm…Genmaicha. I’ve been craving this for a while, and my Den’s tea sampler came in, so I thought I’d try some. I think the genmaicha/maccha combination is interesting. The maccha makes the brew really green, which is nice; it truly is green tea! I couldn’t taste much of it, but that may have been the point. The nice toasty flavor of the rice came through, which was lovely. The infused tea smells like seaweed and rice…mmm. This is probably my favorite tea so far, and Den’s does it so well.

My first time trying Genmaicha so I have absolutely nothing to compare it to other than my new friend Houjicha Gold, but they are both very different from any teas I have ever tried before. The dry leaves, matcha, and rice had much less scent than either the Houjicha or regular Sencha. The brew is green of course with a roasted rice sent. Very mild compared to the Houjicha – almost hard to taste, but the roasted cereal mixed with that yummy “umami” especially on the bottom of the cup is worth concentrating on. I feel so guilty for liking these two new teas so much, but these are both getting second order. I am excited to try the Den’s Senchas I ordered too, but first must finish my O-cha organic still left in my cupboard.

Tried this for the first time this morning. Towards the end of the cup, the sweetness definitely came through.

I am curious to try it with a lower temperature, to see if I can bring out the sencha flavor. So far with every genmaicha I’ve ever tried, the roasted/popped rice flavor overpowers the sencha. This is a nice flavor, but I wish I could taste it in combination with sencha.

On the 3rd steeping, of course the matcha flavor is gone, but has been replaced by an almost houjicha-like roasted sweetness.

I just tried the bagged version of this tea from the Den’s Tea novice sampler. I think I like it even more than Den’s regular genmaicha; it’s a bit sweeter, I think, and so flavourful. I’m on the second infusion, and although there isn’t really any matcha in the second cup, it’s still very good. I think I’ll be going for the extra green next time I order genmaicha.