Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
This week’s blend is a special blend of premium Japanese genmaicha, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove and black pepper. Our genmaicha blends always go fast, so don’t delay.
Learn more about this chai blend here.
Taster’s Review:
AWESOME! I’ve had one or two chai blends made with genmaicha before, but, I think that this one may just be the best I’ve had. The spices are perfectly blended with the green tea in this GenmaiCHAI Green Tea Blend from 52Teas … it’s not so overly spiced that all I taste is spice … I get a really delicious, roasty-toasty, nutty, genmaicha taste too. This is so yummy!
The genmaicha and the spices are really balanced well with this blend. It is warmly spiced – not quite “spicy-hot” but it certainly does pack a well-spiced punch! I taste cinnamon right up front and then again right at the finish and in the aftertaste. The ginger and black pepper give it a peppery taste that dances on the palate … but this isn’t overly peppered. I like that these two ingredients were not overdone in this blend.
The cardamom and cloves give this a spicy-sweet essence that is very exotic, and I think that because the genmaicha is a lighter flavor than the typical Assam tea that is found in most chai blends, I taste MORE of the cardamom and cloves than I typically would in a chai blend that is crafted with a black tea. I like this difference.
And then there is the genmaicha! It is sweet, toasty, and nutty. There is the slightest intonation of vegetation in this cup, it is a soft flavor but the palate does pick it up. This isn’t as obviously “genmaicha-y” as a straight genmaicha would be, of course, and since it is a chai blend, I don’t suppose you would expect it to be, would you? The genmaicha does fill out the background flavors nicely though, and I love that sweet nuttiness that the cup has … it pairs with the spicy notes really nicely!
Overall, I’m really enjoying this tea … so much so that the cup is nearly empty! A deliciously different twist on chai!
