Gen Mai Cha Toasted Rice Green

I feel sorry for this tea. Le pauvre.

If I’d tasted it before I tasted the Den’s and the Samovar, it would have gotten a better rating. It’s pleasant enough. Smells of toasty rice, as it should, though not as toasty as some. Tastes of toasty rice and a bucolic, green tea that is both sweet and a tad bitter just around the edges, and even has a silky, thick mouth feel.

But alas, I am fast becoming spoiled and the tea, while it isn’t unidimensional, isn’t as multi-faceted as others I’ve tried. It’s like a singer who is a tiny bit flat, almost not enough to notice except to someone who has spent a lot of time listening to really really good singing.

I am working on drinking the tea bags that I took from my fiancee’s house. This smells like toasted rice. It has a thick body and is nice and toasty. It is starting to make me wish I had toast for breakfast instead of cereal.

It is a little astringent, but not too much. Just enough that it makes me feel like my tongue is dry even though I just had a sip. Overall, pretty good.

I think I need to get a good system going for preparing tea in a mug BEFORE I go to school. It’d be much cheaper than buying a teabag + hot water at the caf. At least this time, I found a bigger selection of the Numi brand teas. None of them sounded terribly appealing except for chinese breakfast (which I’ve had already) and this toasted rice flavor. I’ve never had one before. Now I want to try more!
Anyway, I did some homework to wait for the water to cool down (it has a green tea base and I’m learning not to abuse them), then added the bag and set a timer. Instantly, I was slammed with the fragrance of toasted rice. Kind of like this puffed rice cereal I used to buy, or rice krispies. And it was great! I love cereal. A lot. I don’t eat it much, because it’s terrible for me, but I love it. After a fairly short steep (2-2.5 minutes) the tea was pale green and smelled extremely toasty.
The flavor was somewhat mild, but it was hard to tell with all that rice smell in my nose. I didn’t really pick out the flavor of the tea until it cooled considerably, when I found it was slightly weak (I used a BIG cup…oops) but also a little sweet and vegetal under the rice. It never got bitter, even when it was lukewarm.
Overall, I really enjoyed trying this flavor. It makes me want to try a loose tea with toasty rice! It will definitely be my go-to option on days I forget to bring my own.

EDIT: Now that I know what real rice teas are like, I’m lowering the rating. It’s just sorta watery in comparison! If I were going to settle for the selection at school, I’d still choose this over the other teas.

Not too bad, this is a bagged tea but I needed a Genmaicha and I was in Winners and.. well.. you get the picture.

The smell of the bag is really strong, woo, and I can’t see too much rice, but let’s give it a try. I’ll admit I had it a few days ago, but from what I can remember it was actually pretty nice. Not as roasty toasty as I like my Genmaichas, but not bad or bitter considering! Numi is a bagged brand I trust usually, so this will have a good life in my cupboard. Also so handy to slip one in my pocket for an emergency o_o

First of all I don’t drink very much green tea. That being said I really like this tea. This tea is mellow and nutty tasting. I like Adagio’s much better, but I bought this for use in a hotel room during vacation.

1 bag for 250mL water, bare.

(backlogging)

I am totally spoilt. Loose leaf forever.

This bagged Gen Mai Cha is a competent version, but it’s lacking something … body, nuance … I feel like I’m being very hard on Numi lately. I used to think much more highly of their bagged teas. Have they gone downhill, or have I gotten pickier?

Pleasant green tea that will get bitter if the water’s too hot. Nice enough toasty rice. But there’s no oomph to this, nothing to make me choose Numi’s Gen Mai Cha over anyone else’s.

It has a nice, prominent, bakey/malty flavour from the toasted grains, but the sencha base is somewhat lacking. Maybe I’ve become spoiled on decent, loose-leaf senchas, but to me this doesn’t have much flavour or depth.

However, to put it into perspective, it’s still quite decent for a bagged green tea.

I think the toasted rice is spot on, but it over powers the sencha. I reach for this when ever I need a snack.

Genmaichas are the toastiest teas around. They have a great nutty, roasted, toasted, buttery flavor, and maybe something a bit burnt but in a good way. Numi’s genmaicha is all of these. There is also a silky texture left in your mouth. The tea bag is VERY full. I didn’t see very much toasted rice here, and usually genmaichas have popcorn in them, which is fun and should be essential. ( I think the “fun” came from Troy on NBC’s Community saying “Kettle corn’s a fun time snack!” Watch that show! Clearly it stays in my head.) The steep color is a light green. I think with a genmaicha, the toastier the better, but you have to be careful with this one. Oversteeping will make it almost unbearably bitter. But this is GOOD and I must invest in a genmaicha, even if it isn’t this one.

I really liked the aroma of this tea. It reminded me of good-quality soy sauce sprinkled on yummy Basmati rice. Very comforting, hearty scent.

I drank it plain and thought it was a little bitter — next time will pay closer attention to the steeping time. Somehow the idea of adding milk sounds wrong, but I may sweeten it a bit next time also.

I have an idea this is kind of an acquired taste but at this point it’s one I would like to acquire. I may try another brand after I finish this box of Numi.

I once again dipped into the sample box, and this is the green tea I chose at random. I don’t think this is anything I might have chosen on my own, which is why I LOVE those sampler boxes! As soon as I poured the water over the bag I thought, ‘Yup, that’s rice.’ Strange, but not in a bad way. But I steeped it for the maximum recommended time (as is my way), sweetened it with sugar, and took a sip. The verdict? Rather tasty! I quite like this tea! And for something that I probably never would have paid to taste, I may very well be adding a box of this interesting tea to my collection!

Bitter and lacks body.

I drink this all the time at work. Its mellow, nutty flavor reminds me of the green tea served at my favorite sushi restaurant.

Deliciously nutty.

Light toasted flavor, slightly buttery. Doesn’t bitter quickly which makes it a bit more durable in an office setting when I can easily get distracted and leave the bag in too long. Lighter on the caffeine than a regular green tea.

Solid. Reminds of free Japanese restaurant tea.

My husband Will just tried this one…here’s his take on it….
a little bitter but still pleasing to the pallet, has a semi-sweet aftertaste, leaves your mouth a bit dry, and has almost a soy taste to it as it settles in the cup….brews up a pale greenish-yellow. Pretty normal as far as green tea goes. Good.

I almost never drink green tea in bags, but this one is particularly good. I reach for this when I’m dying for a cup of genmaicha, but don’t have time/resources to brew the loose leaf.

I found this tea a little light on the rice flavor.

This tastes milder than it smells, and it also has a weird aftertaste. Gen Mai Cha is one of my favorite greens, but this particular one is mediocre.