This was one of the many teas in my happy bag from Lupicia—not exactly a tea I was dying to try but hey, you can never have enough genmaicha! I’ve tried quite a few but only one other with matcha, Den’s Extra Green which is, to date, my favorite genmaicha.
Probably the best thing about this tea is the nuclear green color. Green tea + matcha looks like toxic goop! But, you know, in an appetizing way. The base isn’t as pleasantly grassy and sweet as Den’s version, in fact the green flavor is pretty much overrun by the nuttiness of the popped rice. Wow, is it ever strong! Not in a bad way, it’s just extra toasty. The matcha adds some thickness but I’m not sure if there’s a substantial taste from it—at least, I’m not getting any brothy, vegetal buttery notes like I do in Den’s. Not to say that this isn’t a good tea, I’m just holding it up to a pretty fantastic blend.
You know, I’ve been thinking about mixing my own matcha + genmaicha with KaiMatcha, imagine how tasty THAT would be… maybe with Den’s Houji genmaicha? Hmm… time for an experiment, I think.
I can’t recall where offhand but I think I have seen a Houjicha-matcha mix a few places.
mmm let us know how the experiment goes! I need to know :D