Genmaicha Extra Green

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.

My order from Den’s arrived! I ordered a couple of teas as well as their Green Tea Sampler (just for fun!) so that I could get over the $30 so I could get the Gyrokuro.

This is the first tea that I’m trying from Den’s. The color of the tea is very bright green, much like a thin Matcha, but the aroma … is most prominently of Genmaicha. YUM! I love me some Genmaicha!

YUM! Did I say that already? I love the roasty-toasty flavor of Genmaicha. The matcha is not quite as prominent as the Genmaicha, but, it is still quite pleasant and mildly sweet.

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.

As much as I hated sencha, I really like this one. It has a nice nutty toasty taste and looks like lime kool aid. You can get lost in the smell, it is so intoxicating. It has a nice sweetness to it. I could get used to drinking this tea.

I have a very soft spot for genmaicha. My fav Japanese restaurant serves genmaicha! This one also came with my Den’s Tea Green Novice Sampler. This definitely had extra matcha! I’ve had genmaicha with matcha, and my cup has never been this bright green before. Green’s my favorite color! I love the color of the liquer. Also, the color of the leaves before I steeped them was covered with bright green matcha.

The scent was fantastic. Toasty, warm, popcorn, roasted rice… yum! The taste was enjoyable and delightful. I steeped this twice.

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.

This was my first experience with genmaicha. I know I should probably have tried genmaicha before ordering this, but I loved the aspect of the matcha dusting too much.

I love it. This felt like a snack, and the toastiness was a nice, different flavour. The leaves even stayed at the bottom of my cup for the entire duration and never turned bitter.

Genmaicha and matcha, what a match truly made; delightfully sweet, comfortingly toasty, and an aesthetic and aromatic happiness.

This tea feels playful, commanding attention with its bright colors and unusual blend. It handsomely rewards those who pay attention, though; the dry leaf starts off completely green from the matcha, then reveals a cheerful rendition of traditional genmaicha on the brew. The tea’s sunny green liquor and its sweet, nutty profile are just so lovely altogether!

It seems like this tea will appreciate smaller, fuller brews with infuser mugs and fine-mesh strainers that allow viewing, and to work with the matcha aspect of the blend. The play of flavors will shine through with just one or two cups of this tea at a time, like a treat. Anyway, I don’t think I can treat this blend with the same binge brewing of my (no less beloved) oolongs… right?

Ah, but this is such a naturally whimsical tea that I’ll end up doing just that, probably. Such an enabling blend, with the necessary cozy comfort of a genmaicha, and the magic of sweet matcha.

This is the fourth of the Den’s Tea sample. I have never tried matcha iri genmaicha before, so tasting this tea for the first time was an adventure I had been looking forward to!

I smelled the leaves before and after the first infusion. Dry, matcha dominated. When wet, the genmaicha was much stronger; the aroma was more roasted and nutty. As for the aroma of the tea, it was lightly roasted. The liquor, expectantly, was cloudy and emerald green. The flavor was unusual, one I didn’t anticipate. There might as well have been three separate flavors. Initially, it tasted of genmaicha. After allowing the tea to rest in my mouth for a few seconds, I tasted a balance between the matcha and the genmaicha. Lastly, the aftertaste pretty much consisted of the bitter matcha.

I must have done something wrong with both infusions. The flavor of the second one was weak and left no taste. Well, regardless, the first infusion was delicious. Additionally, I felt more serene with each sip. I recommend this tea for those who enjoy Japanese green tea, particularly matcha.

The best Genmaicha I have ever had. Great flavor.

This is pretty much my staple Genmaicha. It seems to be light enough on caffeine that I can drink it in the evenings or on days when caffeine just isn’t sitting well with me. It’s not a blow-you-out-of-the-water-and-knock-your-socks-off kind of tea, but the toastiness is very comforting and the matcha adds a lovely sweetness, not to mention a nice color. I probably drink this on at least a weekly basis, preferably alongside some soy-glazed brown rice balls.

How to best describe this tea…It’s bitter in the sense that it tastes like a green tea without being overly astringent. This may be due to the matcha; the first two steepings of this were not-bitter to the point of being kind of steep. Even when the matcha runs out, the tea is still tasty. Pretty too, and the rice makes the smell delicious, like the bottom of a rice cooker.

The bright green color, the smell of roasted rice filling the room on a dreary morning, it must be Genmaicha time again.

This tea is the perfect way to start the day. The vibrant color will wake your eyes up with its brilliant green and the super aromatic rice will knock you off your feet.

This tea is a great replacement for that morning cup of Joe and more than likely will cost you less than Joe as well.

All in all, a great tea for the masses.

This is my daily drinker now. It’s bright green and tasty! The first cup contains a greater portion of the matcha and thus is sweeter than normal genmaicha. I generally get about four infusion from 4g of it. Cheaper than sencha, but more interesting then standard genmaicha!