Kyoto Rice

It’s been a real scorcher today but I just woke up from a nap (hello, vacation!) and I needed something to perk me up.

Genmaichas usually don’t impress me a lot but I like the popped corn in this one, which is something that you don’t always see. Definitely vegetal with a great, savory and brothy quality. It almost reminds me of soup. I have some genmaicha at home already so I doubt I will need to buy anymore soon, but I should probably steal this from my Dad who will never drink it. :-P

Tomorrow I am back home to chilly San Francisco and to my regular tea collection.

Really interesting. Felt like I was drinking hot rice water and I’m very tempted to try it with milk and sugar to see if it tastes like rice pudding. A hearty tea, something that would be good around breakfast time.

This is a really really tasty tea! I think I prefer Den’s Genmaicha Extra Green, but I really like this one too! (Which is good, ‘cuz I have a 4oz bag of it. :P) It’s warm and toasty, with a nice balance between the green tea and the toasted rice. Mmmm.

A little bitter.

I love this. It’s great morning and night. The most unique green tea I’ve ever tasted- the rice really adds a nice dimension of flavor.

I am actually traveling in Kyoto at the moment and almost everywhere you order green tea (vending machines, restaurants, etc) you get it with toasted rice flavour. I did not like the flavour first time I had it back in Vanuatu. But here I like it a lot, not sure if it is due to tea quality or my changing tastes or probably both. Another side note is that in most Japanese restaurants you get served hot green tea free which is a nice tradition, all you have to do is ask for hotto Ocha (not matcha).

Probably my least favorite from the tea tasting. It’s good, but I much prefer http://www.steepster.com/teas/takaokaya/genmai-cha to it.