Genmaicha Satsuki

I’m once again impressed by the sample sizes that Den’s Tea provides. 10 grams— that is nearly half an ounce! This was their sample of the month, and I happened to give in to their year-end sale a couple of days ago. I have enough left now for another few cups.

So, I recently tried the Genmaicha from Obubu, and so I’m comparing this to that one, and also to the Genmaicha from 1TTEN, which up to today had set the bar for this kind of tea.

Well, no longer.
Actually, I should say, this ties; they are both delicious for their own reasons, but I can’t put one over the other. The fact that I enjoyed this tea as much as I did came as a nice surprise, because I was expecting to not really care for it (thinking “why would I’d ever order this, since Genmaicha Extra Green is available and delicious”?), but it holds its own.
I have yet to try a tea from Den’s Tea that I didn’t think was very good (ok actually Rose Sencha, but that’s because I’m not a big fan of that flavor).

The genmai in this isn’t too strong and the toasty flavor doesn’t mask the tea itself. And the tea base is delicious! It is really quite buttery-sweet, and I found it hard to stop taking sips. It was one of those experiences where a tea is so good I can’t stop sipping because it seems to induce thirst, and at the same time, I’m trying to figure out why it’s so good!

I’d say the main difference between Satsuki, and Genmaicha from 1TTEN is that this has a very good initial sweetness followed by the typical toasted rice flavors. Whereas 1TTEN starts with the typical toasted rice flavors and seems unremarkable, but suddenly the aftertaste explodes in your mouth as a sweet, almost irresistible wave.

I loooove genmaicha! This one seems pretty standard; not really wowing, but not bad, either. It’s a good tea for a hummus sandwich.

I love this tea. I drink it after lunch every day at work. It’s one of the nicest genmaichas I’ve had.

This was a nice beverage to drink last night. My boyfriend’s friend came over and cooked dinner with us. So we shared this! Delicious and nutty. I love the gentle sweetness and nutty rice flavor. Delicious and light.

I got this as the free sample of the month. Mmm, the dry leaf smell is so yummy. The tea is a chartreuse color. I really love the flavor, though I prefer the extra green flavor. I will easily drink this up today! It went well with spoon bread I ate. It’s has a great roasted vegetable flavor. Its second brew was lighter, but still nice.

I’m not sure what to make of this yet. I think I’ll leave the rating till next time.

This is only the second genmaicha I’ve ever tried. I definitely prefer the extra green to this, though this was nice enough. I can’t detect much of the satsuki.

Drank this trying to use it up. More drinkable since the 1st time I tried it although I don’t resteep it which gives it a major down grade in points in my book

This is a solid, every-day drinking kind of tea. It took a bit of tinkering to get this tea to taste good, but it was worth it. When made with boiling water, the flavor of the rice comes out in full force, to say the least of the aroma. That said, I do wish the taste of the tea was a bit, well, stronger. I tried fiddling with temperatures, using cooler water (180 F ish), but not only did that not bring out the taste of the tea, it made the tea taste overly-watery. If you like your genmaicha heavy on the genmai, don’t be delicate with this tea; it can take it!

Smells smokey, tastes roasty. Enjoyable, rich flavor, a full-palate experience. Kind of a symphony playing around the green tea flavor. This is not a tea that you sip without taking notice of its personality. 2nd steep retained the flavor profile well.

I will have to add an additional tasting note to this since I mixed it with the last of my Genmaicha Extra Green (GEG), but from what I can tell, I like this even better than GEG. It smells like popcorn and vegetables in your cup, tastes like a very soothing, delicious, buttery mix of bancha, vegetable broth, and rice. The second steep was not quite as strong, but still worth the second go. Definitely a repurchase and since the sale ends on Halloween will be ordering in the next few days.