Genmaicha

So this tea re-steeps better than I expected it to! Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised seeing as the flavor is so strong. STILL DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE TEAS!

I had a sudden craving for Genmaicha, so I went digging through my samples until I came out with this. I love the samples Zen Tea throws in when you place an order, and I really love that they’re in foil lined pouches. It makes it easy to tuck them away until I can fully enjoy them.

This is a very good Genmaicha. The savory toasted rice flavor is wonderfully strong. The green tea gives a grssy note and a sweet finish to the sip. The tea also resteeps very well. My second steep gave me a cup that had less of a toasted rice flavor, but the toastiness and the grassy notes from the green tea seemed to blend much more. Even though both steeps were good I enjoyed the second one even more than the first.

Genmaicha is something I only drink on occasion, but when I want it I really really want it! I’ll put the rest of my sample away to be enjoyed the next time a craving strikes.

Thanks Zen Tea for this sample!
I’ve recently discovered that I absolutely love genmaicha. I have tried quite a few different ones so far and this definitely ranks high among those. Its very toasty with a little bit of a sweet note at the end. A very solid genmaicha.

This is one of the teas I got as a sample from Zen Teas. I’ll start off by saying I love genmaicha teas, but this one, to me, was special. It has the trademark roasted, toasty, savory flavor that other genmaichas I’ve had possess, but it also had a wonderful grassy, sweet aftertaste from the green tea. It was a totally unexpected flavor that I was pleasantly surprised with.

As far as genmaicha goes, this one is my top pick. I’m very likely to be adding this to my cupboard in the near future.

My first genmaicha. Wasn’t a tea category I was particularly excited to try, as it seemed weird. Took advantage of the Zen Tea sale to pick up a small sample for almost nothing. I used 2.5g for 150mL water at 160 degrees. Steeps of 1m, 30s, 90s, 5ish.

Super roasty toasty aroma. The flavor was roasty and creamy sweet. I didn’t taste much of any vegetal flavor, though I think it was there. Maybe I had more rice bits than sencha bits in this scoop or something. Not sure if it’s something I’ll want to keep around, but it’s interesting to try and was definitely not bad.

My coral colored teapot has become my genmaicha pot. I realized thay it’s pretty much the only thing I brew in it because I always want a nice big pot of genmaicha when I drink it. This one really does better with less steep times but it’s a very fine line between the creamy and the bitter. Maybe I should say grassy instead. Creamy just isn’t a descriptive word I think of when it comes to Genmaicha.

I got a shipment from Zen today, I’m really excited to go through these, starting with this genmaicha. this is a really smooth tea, I’ve had a couple genmaichas in my time, and this one is by far the best yet. it’s got lovely vegetal and roasted notes, such as any genmaicha will have, but this one is really very smooth and creamy, which is lovely. the first steep was very creamy and rich, especially as it cooled, and the second was a bit more roasty and vegetal. The third steep was still pretty roasty, less vegetal, and kinda sweet, it actually seems a bit creamier than the second steep. Hmm.. it still smells like i might be able to get another steep. Are my reviews too wordy? lol I’ll update on the 4th steep

So the 4th steep was relatively bland, basically just roasted rice + popcorn notes, I guess the leaves lost all their flavour. it still tasted good though :)

Steep times:
75s, 90s, 105s, 120s

Sipdown (140)!

Yeah, I took my teaware out of my cupboard. We’ll see how I feel about that in a few days; I may want to add them back in…

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample! You know I’m always up for trying “all the Genmaicha”! This one was more roasty than green, though it still had a faintly bitter taste to it that I’m associating with the green tea. Probably a user error in brewing it, but maybe not though.

This is a buttery and smooth genmaicha with lots and lots of roasted rice goodness. Really a great genmaicha so thank you Dexter for sharing with me.

hum. how could my three minute steep have been too long for this? it has a truly bitter twang =0(

tiny bit of my sample left, i’ll have to try again. as it stands right now though i have a harsh green kick with a side of nicely roasted rice. humph!