Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha

A tea from the return of the EU TTB round 3.

My husband is a huge fan of peanut butter and it’s one of his favourite foods, as soon as I read the name on this one he picked it to try.

It smells sweet and nutty, rather nice actually, like peanut crackers but with something sweet like marshmallow amongst it. Slightly toasted which must be the genmai.

Once steeped my tea is yellow in colour and bares a toasty genmaicha scent with notable dry nuttiness behind it. Not as nutty though much dryer than expected.

In flavour this starts as a normal genmaicha ie toasty, lightly grassy and dark but it lightens up in the after taste with a sweet and almost gooey marshmallow and butter notes. It works, the blend remains light enough to be pleasant and the two elements of savoury and then sweet compliment each other. I’m not sure why this received such a negative score.

I love genmaicha and I adore subtle sweetness, this has both. It may not be peanut buttery in flavour but the marshmallow sweetness is a wonderful treat. My only complaint is that after half a cup I’m left with a dry mouth.

Very nice, happy I got to try this one. Thank you.

A sample from VariaTEA. I was curious to try this one, as I’ve not come across many peanut butter teas before. I used 1 tsp of leaf, in 170 degree water for 2.5 minutes.

To taste, this is initially a pretty standard genmaicha blend. Smooth, relatively sweet/grassy green tea, accompanied by a deep toasty flavour. There’s a touch of creamy marshmallow towards the end of the sip, but it really is only a touch. There might be a slight nuttiness in the aftertaste, but I’m not 100% certain on that. The toasted rice/green tea combination also comes across as slightly nutty-tasting, so I may just be confusing one with the other. There’s certainly nothing that makes me think of peanuts, or peanut butter, per se.

While this is a tasty blend if you like genmaicha, and the marshmallow flavour is pleasing, I’m inevitably a little disappointed by the lack of “peanut butter”. I suppose it’s not possible to like everything, but I think it’s fair to say that my love of 52 Teas is starting to wane. The last few I’ve tried just haven’t remotely lived up to the promise of their names, and that’s disappointing.

Backlog:

Those of you who have been with Steepster quite a while may remember that there was a time when I was quite repulsed by the idea of a peanut butter tea. I’m not sure exactly why I found the idea so off-putting. I actually quite like peanut butter (especially with marshmallow, not so much as a marshmallow treat, but I like peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwiches. I hate peanut butter and jelly. Love peanut butter and banana. And really love peanut butter, banana and marshmallow cream sandwiches. Is that sort of like an Elvis?)

Anyway … I got over that strange repulsion of peanut butter flavored tea eventually. And I’m glad I got over it in time for this peanut butter marshmallow treat genmaicha because I liked it. I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked the strawberry marshmallow treat genmaicha (or the original!) I liked this tea, but it wasn’t my favorite from 52Teas (they can’t all be my faves.)

Sweet toasty rice flavor that melds nicely with the notes of marshmallow. Not an overly aggressive peanut butter taste. It comes through nicely. A nice balance has been achieved with this tea.

Thanks VariaTEA for letting me try these teas again. I was actually disappointed with this as it didn’t really taste like much. I prefer the S’mores, or the Strawberry versions a lot more!

Still, that’s good to know! (210)

I realized last night that I have not done a swap in a little while and so I started compiling a list of swap teas. Then I realized that there are some teas I have in my cupboard that I haven’t tried that have been consistently deemed mediocre by all you steepsterites. This is one of those teas and I can definitely see why it hasn’t wowed people. This tastes like any other genmaicha – had I not known, I would have no clue that this was supposed to be peanut buttery or marshmallowy which is really a disappointment given I have really enjoyed the other marshmallow treat teas 52 teas has to offer. Oh well, I suppose they can’t all be hits and this one is definitely a big ol’ miss.

thanks for sending this one my way Cavocorax sadly i think the peanut butter fell out of the envelope on the way here because this is pretty much just 52 teas genmaicha. Seems others have found the same thing to be true, so at least im not alone. I guess on the other hand as well, i’m pretty picky about my peanut butter so maybe thats a good thing haha . ON the upside? another tea tried! woohooo!

Thank you 221tea for the very generous Genmaicha sample! I feel like I’ve had so many different Genmaicha blends from 52Teas but I am always excited to try another: and this one was on my wishlist anyway, so…

Sadly, I don’t think it quite lives up to the name which is very sad because it smells like it should: intense creamy aroma and a distinct nuttiness. But now, steeped up it’s more just a really creamy Genmaicha with maybe the lightest touch of nuttiness? And I mean touch: like someone gently laying just a finger on you in a way that’s so light you’re not really sure they really did or if you imagined it. It’s possible I just want this to be nutty so badly that I’m willing it to taste slightly nutty.

But, that said – I have plenty more to burn through so I’ll play around and hopefully I can push out any nut flavour this does have hiding in the leaves…

I should start by saying I’ve never had Genmaicha before so I readily admit that my dislike may not be of this tea in particular but Genmaicha’s in general. That said, this is one of the worst teas I have ever tasted. I tried steeping it several times, varying time and temperature, but it just tasted bad. In no way did I get peanut butter or mashmallow or even any taste vaguely tea like from this blend. I debated even reviewing this tea because I disliked it so much, but I felt as though I should warn people looking for a peanut buttery tea, unless you love Genmaicha I would avoid this one.

The dry leaf aroma is slightly chemically, just like the Strawberry Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha. But just like that one, I’m not overly concerned because I expect it to dissipate soon. Besides that, the aroma is toasted rice and peanut-y goodness. Yum!

With the first sip, I literally thought, “WHOA!” This is very flavorful! I’d like to say it’s as close to liquid peanut butter as tea can get, but I have to agree with Awkward Soul that this is more peanut than peanut butter. Regardless, this is truly delicious! The roasty toastiness of the genmaicha is a perfect base for the nuttiness of the peanuts. (Yes, I know peanuts are actually legumes; but for now, I’m going to call them nuts). There’s even a little saltiness that really amps up the yumminess!

This is an interesting blend. If I’m being 100% honest, I’d say this doesn’t taste like marshmallow treats or peanut butter, which is fairly odd since I definitely tasted marshmallow treats in Frank’s other iterations. The most apt description of this one is peanut genmaicha. Even if it doesn’t entirely live up to everything its name promises, I can definitely recommend this blend to anyone who enjoys genmaicha because on that front, it is super yummy!

Mmm, peanut butter! I found this tea was light on the peanut butter – it was a bit of melty peanut nuttyness with genmaicha. The pairing is quite good though as the toasty rice flavor plus nutty just tastes great! This is a fun blend to switch up your genmaicha.

With a bit of sweetener, this tea tastes closer to the sweet treat, though still light on peanut butter.

Out of all the Marshmallow Treat genmaichas I’ve tried from 52 Teas, I’d say this one is the weakest, but has big potential (needs chocolate or moar nuts!)

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/marshmallow-treat-genmaicha-strawberry-peanut-butter-52-teas/
Now I know, don’t use marshmallows as props. Nommnommmm!!