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This is an organic sencha genmaicha from Kyoto. The rice is brown rice from Nara Prefecture and the sencha is first harvest aka shincha versus bancha. For the most part, it is a good genmaicha and has nice toasty brown rice notes. I found it to be very temperature sensitive though.

I made it with 160Fwater in a banko kyusu. At 185F it was far too brisk for me. Astringent, extremely drying on my tongue, bitter. So I dropped the temperature down to 170F and then finally 160F. At this temperature, I got the familiar mellow aroma, umami, and a much better balance of sweet and bitter taste, less bitterness and was savory, had vegetal notes of greens, like grass, spinach. I re-steeped it 3 times. I also found making it in spring water was best. 170F was good too though.

It is a good price for organic first harvest sencha genmaicha. Recommended.

Flavors: Grass, Rice, Savory, Spinach, Toasted Rice, Umami, Vegetal

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 5 OZ / 140 ML
Cameron B.

Hi Kawaii! I’m not sure how I feel about shincha in a genmaicha… I feel like I really like the combination of the mellower bancha flavor with the rice, and it would be weird with a more vegetal, umami-forward base…

Mastress Alita

I’ve always preferred bancha in my genmaicha as well.

Kawaii433

I agree with both of you! I didn’t really care for this one compared to the bancha flavor.

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Comments

Cameron B.

Hi Kawaii! I’m not sure how I feel about shincha in a genmaicha… I feel like I really like the combination of the mellower bancha flavor with the rice, and it would be weird with a more vegetal, umami-forward base…

Mastress Alita

I’ve always preferred bancha in my genmaicha as well.

Kawaii433

I agree with both of you! I didn’t really care for this one compared to the bancha flavor.

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Bio

Longtime casual tea drinker. In the past, mainly Matcha, Gyokuro, Sencha, Genmaicha… Etc. I like all teas: Green, oolong, black & pu’erh (prefer ripe over raw).

Chanoyu (for matcha prep) and Gongfu cha (for other types of tea) are the main ways I prepare my tea (Gaiwan, Yixing teapot, Kyusu). I drink all tea… Usually unflavored. This past year, I’ve tried many flavored now because of all of you lol. As long as there aren’t artificial sweeteners, it’s all good.

Favorite stores: TeaVivre, What-Cha, Mandala Tea, 52Teas, Whispering Pines, Bird & Blend, Yunnan sourcing, White2Tea, Lupicia.

The flavors I dislike: Artificial sweetener, lavender, violet, any strong floral-perfumey tea; cantaloupe, papaya, honeydew, rose, licorice, anise, jasmine, any mints, leather.

Favorite flavors: Citrus fruits (especially grapefruit & tangerines), granny smith apple, bananas, guava, mango, tamarind, watermelon, stonefruits, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, milk, cinnamon, creme, bread/pastry, nuts, toasted, roasted.

I generally don’t add anything to my teas unless they are flavored, then I may add a splash of milk.

As I explore, my ratings may shift. 90+ generally means I’ll keep it on my shelf.

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USA

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