No. 1912 Rose City Genmaicha

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Bergamot Oil, Mao Feng China Green Tea, Natural Flavours, Rose Petals, Sencha
Flavors
Bergamot, Citrusy, Grass, Rose, Toasted Rice, Drying, Floral, Beany, Citrus, Nutty, Roasted Nuts, Smooth, Sweet, Vegetal, Toasty, Sweet, Warm Grass
Sold in
Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
Low
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Mastress Alita
Average preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 45 sec 2 g 20 oz / 590 ml

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12 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I know I was a little bit less than enthused about this tea the last time I had it, but I think something must have subconsciously resonated with me because I have not been able to get it out of my...” Read full tasting note
  • “A gift from a friend visiting from PDX. Filtered/boiled water allowed to cool. Infused for ~3.5 minutes at 179F. Followed up with a couple more infusions closer to 200F for 20 – 40 seconds. Verona...” Read full tasting note
  • “I’ve been trying to find a place to get a single sachet of this company’s jasmine tea to give to a friend. I remembered them mentioning this coffee shop they loved that I’d never heard of. I...” Read full tasting note
  • “I’m sure everyone else who reviews this tea would agree and has in previous posts, that this is a unique blend. I’ve seen genmaicha mixes. I’ve seen bergamot mixes. But never have I seen a...” Read full tasting note
    76

From Steven Smith Teamaker

A delicious Portland twist on traditional Japanese genmaicha. Combines the light, nutty flavor of roasted rice with the grassy green tea character of sencha and Mao Feng from China. Softly finished with rose petals, a light kiss of manuka honey and Italian bergamot oil.

Ingredients: Japanese sencha, genmai (roasted rice), Mao Feng green tea from China, red and pink rose petals, natural flavors and bergamot oil.

Steeping Instructions: Bring filtered water to 190 degrees. Steep 3 minutes. Practice a few strokes of Zen calligraphy.

About Steven Smith Teamaker View company

Company description not available.

12 Tasting Notes

15575 tasting notes

I know I was a little bit less than enthused about this tea the last time I had it, but I think something must have subconsciously resonated with me because I have not been able to get it out of my head. I ended up making another mug of it while working from home yesterday and it really resonated with me. Gently toasty with a light and almost citrusy freshness to accompany a very aromatic, delicate rose note. I was just really impressed, and the bergamot didn’t bother me at all this time around.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4fs9mOA2Y/?img_index=2 (2nd Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAQNnd7QIkk

Nik

You make this sound so good!

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73 tasting notes

A gift from a friend visiting from PDX.

Filtered/boiled water allowed to cool. Infused for ~3.5 minutes at 179F. Followed up with a couple more infusions closer to 200F for 20 – 40 seconds.
Verona green/citrine/honeydew gradient.

Sachet was perfume-like with bergamot and rose up front. Nutty pan-fried Mao Feng, faint toasted rice, and mellow grassy sencha appear when the tea is brewed.

On the palate, the green tea takes center stage – mild, sweet, nutty/toasty flavors give way to the floral/herbal/citrus notes. Very faint umami at the edges in the finish, but the grassiness of the sencha and the vanilla/floral/citrus notes from the bergamot are present long into the aftertaste. Vague hints of aspirin and elderflower perhaps.

Light bodied, low tannins.

Flavors are alternately competitive and complimentary – a delicate but creative blend.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 30 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML

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1299 tasting notes

I’ve been trying to find a place to get a single sachet of this company’s jasmine tea to give to a friend. I remembered them mentioning this coffee shop they loved that I’d never heard of. I figured it was worth a try to look up what tea they carry and what do you know? They serve just what I was looking for. Not only that but they had this tea!! This one has been on my to try list for quite a while. I’ve been to many places that serve Steven Smith tea but they never served this one.

This one isn’t bad it’s got a lot going on and is an interesting combination of flavors and ingredients. There’s a strong taste of roasted rice but alongside that is a slightly citrusy bergamot flavor and a hint of rose. I’m not sure how I feel about the bergamot, rose, and toasted rice all in one tea though. I like that this blend is a Portland-inspired one in name as well.
I don’t think I’d need to purchase this one since the bergamot rice combo isn’t one I’d often reach for vs. a classic genmaicha. I need to try this one again steeped at a lower temperature as they used boiling water. Perhaps it would be a bit more balanced steeped at a lower temp. Next time I’d take the sachet home.

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrusy, Grass, Rose, Toasted Rice

Mastress Alita

This is one of my SST favorites.

Lexie Aleah

I need to venture out and visit the store one of these days!

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76
1233 tasting notes

I’m sure everyone else who reviews this tea would agree and has in previous posts, that this is a unique blend. I’ve seen genmaicha mixes. I’ve seen bergamot mixes. But never have I seen a bergamot/genmai mixed together. It is calming and smells nice. It has a bit of umami mixed with roasted notes and a bergamot citrus finish. It is good but I’m not overwhelmed with the goodness.

Daylon R Thomas

My only nitpick with that one is how oily it can get. The bergamot combo is pretty nice with the toasty rice and green tea, but it’s a little too savory for me.

Mastress Alita

I love this one!

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45
961 tasting notes

Samurai TTB #61

This was the final teabag that I had pulled from the TTB a couple of weeks ago and has been waiting for me in my desk drawer at work. Although the quality of this seems really nice for a bagged tea, the flavor combination just isn’t working for me. The base tea is quite grassy and aggressive and seems to almost be fighting the toasted rice and floral flavors that are also present in the blend. I also find that it’s drying out my throat at the end of each sip. While I’m curious to try more from this brand, this isn’t one I’ll be returning to.

Flavors: Drying, Floral, Grass, Rose, Toasted Rice

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
AJRimmer

You’re super on top of trying all the samples you grabbed! I had the box in April, and I still have a tea or two left to try – I should get on that!

Mastress Alita

I love Steven Smith Teamaker! This is one of my favs though — I normally hate bergamot paired with green tea, but this one simply works for me.

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87
1789 tasting notes

This tea is SO GOOD. The toastiness of the genmaicha is nicely balanced with the rose and mild bergamot. The sencha itself is impressive for a bagged tea- beautiful bright green leaves, with a nice smooth flavor. Overall, very impressed!

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97
1216 tasting notes

This is the last of the Steven Smith Teamaker teas that Todd brought to share with me when we met up at Anime Oasis. I had one of the teabags in the hotel while enjoying a My Little Pony bingewatch of the most recent season (yes, two grown adults, one nearing 40 and the other nearing 50, enjoying some MLP while drinking tea!) While all the teas he brought that I hadn’t sampled yet were great, I think this one was by far my favorite. I brought the second teabag home and am having it tonight.

It produces a nice yellow color with the most wonderful aroma; it’s like a dessert somehow, with that toasted nutty smell from the genmai mixed with the sweet floral rose. The flavor is also really wonderful, if you like floral teas (which I do!); the base is sencha mixed with Mao Feng, so it has more of a beany, vegetal quality which pairs nicely with the roasted nut notes from the genmai. There is also a subtle hint of bergamot in this blend, not enough to be overbearing on the flavor, but just enough to give the base a bit of a citrusy note, which also compliments the vegetal flavor nicely. The citrus notes also pair great with the floral rose sweetness that comes in midsip and pops on the roof of the mouth and lingers slightly in the aftertaste; it is not an especially strong rose taste, and doesn’t taste like they’ve added a bunch of rose oil or tried to make the tea an especially strong rose tea, but the florality is noticable in the aroma and flavor and blends really well with the other flavor notes in the cup. The genmai adds that nice roasted flavor that I find really settling and relaxing on my stomach, and somehow the rose just adds to that soothing, relaxing sensation.

This is one of Steven Smith Teamaker’s real winning blends, in my opinion. I will absolutely pick some of this up when I visit Portland this summer!

Flavors: Beany, Citrus, Floral, Nutty, Roasted Nuts, Rose, Smooth, Sweet, Toasted Rice, Vegetal

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML

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89
168 tasting notes

Four years after I first tried this hot, I finally tried it as a cold brew. I want to drink only this for a week, LOL. I imagine this would be great sitting in a garden in Portland, Oregon, with a bright white Oregon sky. Or, instead of a garden, in the parking lot of the abandoned Fry’s Electronics building in Wisonville, Oregon.

The flavor really pops with a cold brew, about as well as hot-brewed. The vegetal/grassy toasty green tea balances nicely with the rose flavor.

Flavors: Grass, Rose, Toasty, Vegetal

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 3 tsp 64 OZ / 1892 ML

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88
81 tasting notes

this is my favourite non-52 teas flavoured genmaicha. I’m saying this and I just read that this actually has bergamot oil in it, so if I have a headache later this is why. but I don’t recall getting headaches from this? /shrugs/ we’ll see.

this really is wonderful though, the rose/toasted rice-ness. yesss.

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88
4 tasting notes

Absolutely love this tea. One of my personal favorites.
I’m a fan of genmaicha in general and this Steven Smith blend has done a wonderful job in pulling together the toasted rice and grassy notes of a traditional genmaicha with a sweet floral rose. The rose permeates both the flavor and aroma in a most pleasant way. Subtle notes of toasted rice and sweet grass reveal themselves on the backend of each sip.

Flavors: Bergamot, Rose, Sweet, Warm Grass, Toasted Rice

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

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