Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Tea Description:
Houji-Genmaicha consists of the two harmonious yet slightly contrasting taste components. It is a good alternative to sweetened coffee. It offers a comfortable toasty aroma both from roasted leaf and brown rice. The Genmai (roasted brown rice) sweetens the roasted Bancha leaves.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Sometimes, it’s hard to get what you want in this world. Sometimes, I want genmaicha at 10 o’clock at night, but I also want a good roasty, toasty, houjicha. Thank goodness for Den’s Tea. They truly have thought of everything. Now I can have my tea and drink it too.
I used my 12oz tokoname kyusu for this one. Probably overleafing it, I intitally used my typical green tea temperature at 175, but at 3 minutes, the flavor was a bit muted. I punched up the temperature to about 190, taking care to not scorch the leaves by leaving the lid uncovered. Three minutes later – I was in tea bliss. The usual clover honey sweetness and toasted barley notes of the houjicha blended so well with the rice, I couldn’t tell where it ends and I begin. There was a touch of cinnamon spice warmth to round out the cup. I should have known that a little hotter water could coax out the houji from the cha.
This tea is really the best or both worlds. It’s got the fresh-toasted rice flavor from the genmai, and it’s got the roasty flavor of houjicha. To be honest, the bancha used is not the best houjicha base I have ever tasted, but paired with the toasted rice, it makes for an amazing pairing to almost any meal, and as a great bedtime sipper.
Toasted Apple Green Tea by Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Description:
This blend of roasted green tea, popped rice and toasty apples is a bit of a tea Marmite. Some are addicted to its grassy, savoury taste but it’s not for those with a sweet tooth. Don’t worry though, Genmaicha fans will absolutely love Bluebird’s unique twist on the classic Japanese ‘popcorn’ tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a flavoured genmaicha blend from one of the UK’s few independent tea mixologists – Bluebird Tea Co. This blend has been around since the inception of the company, so it’s one of their “original” teas, so to speak. It’s probably fair to say that they’ve come along in leaps and bounds since then, but this blend stands the test of time.
The dry leaf contains pretty much a 50/50 mixture of toasted brown rice and roasted green tea. The base tea is a blend of Chinese and Japanese greens; the Japanese being Bancha and the Chinese unspecified. The leaves are fairly small – some are darker and rolled into thin tubes, others are a lighter green and folded in appearance. There are some pieces of popcorn, although few compared to some genmaicha blends I’ve tried. There’s a generous smattering of apple cubes throughout.
I used 1 tsp of leaf and gave it 2.5 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is a bright yellow-orange, and smells primarily of sugar puffs, but with an edge of seaweed. An odd combination if ever there was one!
This is a bittersweet blend to taste. The initial sip is quite heavily toasty in flavour, presumably from the rice. It’s not quite burnt toast, but very nearly, and while it’s not acrid, there’s an edge of bitterness that’s heading that way. The mid-sip is sweeter as the apple flavour emerges. It’s a floury, mildly floral apple that puts me in mind of homemade baked apples in the winter, only without the accompanying dried fruit. The apple flavour fades slowly away, leaving the slightly dank-tasting green tea behind.
It feels a little unseasonal drinking this one in summer, as this is a blend perfectly suited to blustery autumn afternoons. The only thing I would have liked to add is a touch of spice – perhaps a little cinnamon or ginger, or maybe some dried fruit flavouring. That would have made this a true baked apple tea! As it stands, toasted apple is a completely apt name. The beautiful baked apple notes are perfectly suited to a toasty genmaicha base, and the pairing seems to bring out the best in both flavours! A delicious sweet-savoury treat.
Houjicha Gold (Roasted Bancha) from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Tea Description:
Houjicha-Gold delivers a delightful and calming cup. Highly aromatic but gentle to your stomach with a low amount of caffeine.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been wet and cooler over the last couple of days and something like this Houjicha Gold (also known as Roasted Bancha) from Den’s Tea is perfect for a day like this. It’s warm and cozy!
It has a delightful toasty, caramel-y flavor that I’m really enjoying. The sip starts out sweet and stays sweet all the way through to the finish and it’s a sweetness that lingers into the aftertaste. After that first sweet note, I start to pick up on some slightly savory notes. Flavors that remind me of freshly roasted corn and and a warm, nutty flavor that immediately brings warm hazelnuts to mind. My grandmother used to make cookies with hazelnuts in them and that’s what I’m thinking of as I sip this tea.
There are some vegetal notes to this but I find that with a roasted green tea like this, most of those strong vegetative flavors have been ‘toasted’ out – most of the grassy/vegetable flavors taste more nutty and toasted now. So now, rather than tasting a freshly steamed spinach flavor, for example, I taste more of a freshly toasted hazelnut flavor with notes of roasted corn.
So if you’re someone who is fairly new to green teas and have yet to get your palate to become acquired to the flavor of green tea, I think that a Houjicha like this is a good place to start. It’s such a warm and inviting flavor that you don’t really realize that you’re drinking green tea!
And if you’re new to Japanese Green teas, may I suggest Den’s Tea’s Green Tea Sampler for Novices? This sampler offers a nice selection of different teas from Den’s so that you can learn about Japanese teas as well as train your palate to understand the different flavors of Japanese teas. I purchased one of these collections several years ago and it was a really rewarding experience – and you get a whole lot of tea for $3!
Yunomi Tea Discoveries Club, January Review (Part 2)
As promised, this is part 2 of my review of January’s Tea Discoveries Club package from Yunomi.
We’re going to start off where we left off last night, moving on to the third tea I tried from January’s collection of teas: Bancha Green Tea from Onocha Tea Factory & Shop. Similarly to the other teas in this collection, this tea is not available for purchase from Yunomi. That’s part of what makes the Discovery Club a MUST for tea lovers. It will expose you to teas that you might never have tried! What a unique and wonderful opportunity!
This is a really pleasant Bancha. It has a crisp, uplifting flavor: fresh, vegetative and clean. There is a nice contrast between sweet and savory. It has a nice, brothy sort of texture and taste. Nutty, sweet, hints of bitter to offset the sweetness. Nicely smooth.
It’s a soothing tea that reminds me a bit of sipping broth. That warm, nourishing sort of feeling that I get when I sip broth, that’s what I get when I sip this Bancha. It’s not too sweet, not too bitter – just really pleasant.
This is the kind of green tea that I like to have on hand for “every day” sort of drinking. It is a great tea to drink with meals because it’s not an aggressive tasting tea – it’s really smooth and satisfying.
The next tea that I tried was the Sencha Suiho. Immediately, I found myself curious as to how it would differ from the other Sencha I enjoyed from this month’s Discovery Club package: Sencha Suiren.
Upon first sip, I got my answer! These are really two very different Sencha teas! This Sencha Suiho is sweet, buttery and smooth. Very little bitterness. Very little astringency. I noticed more bitterness and astringency with the Suiren – and that wasn’t even a really strongly bitter or aggressively astringent tea!
This is beautifully buttery and pleasantly mellow. Nice! The resteep is almost as nice as the first cup – still really beautifully creamy and sweet!
I saved the Hojicha for last as Hojicha is one of my favorite types of Japanese green teas! Hojicha Soybean Blend to be exact. I think of all the teas that I received this month, this was the one I was the most excited about, mostly because I found myself curious about the ‘soybean.’
Unfortunately, I’m not able to provide a picture of the tea itself because the battery in my camera thought it was the right time to die. So, I just have a picture of the package. 
The dry leaf looks a lot like … well, it looks like dried, chopped up leaves and stems. The first thought that went through my head when I saw it was “mulch.” I’m hoping it tastes better than I can only imagine mulch tasting. Since I’m not planning on brewing mulch and drinking it any time soon, I’ll have to imagine what it would taste like.
Ah … yeah! Yum! There’s that lovely sweet, nutty flavor that I’ve come to love when it comes to Hojicha. That delicious roasty-toasty flavor that evokes thoughts of autumn.
It has a smooth texture to it and it’s not an astringent tea. It’s not bitter. It’s sweet and a very soothing, calming sort of drink. Really lovely. However, I don’t know that I taste any ‘soybean’ in this tea, I just taste sweet, nutty flavor, very much like I’d experience with a top-quality Hojicha.
Overall, I found this adventure with the Discoveries Club from Yunomi to be really enjoyable. Spectacular teas – I love that these teas are exclusive to the Discovery Club. It’s certainly well worth it to take part in this adventure and discover some amazing Japanese Teas!
Hojicha Green Tea from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf here.
Tea Description:
Green tea from Japan that is rendered brown by roasting Bancha (a summer crop tea, harvested after Sencha) tea leaves. Comes with a toasty nutty flavor and slightly mesquite note. Earthy and warm quality, soothing, clean finish.
Ingredients: Roasted Bancha Tea
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Co-Op program here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice! I think that Hojicha is one tea type that I don’t offer enough praise to but I should! I love that roasty-toasty flavor of Hojicha, it’s so warm and cozy and it’s the perfect drink for autumn evenings. It’s not quite as caffeinated as some other teas – well, actually, I don’t know if that’s true or not. I’m not an expert when it comes to how much caffeine is (or isn’t) in a tea. What I do know is that after I’ve consumed Hojicha, I don’t feel as stimulated as I do after consuming an Assam black tea, for example.
So, what I’m driving at is that because I don’t feel as “charged with caffeine” after drinking Hojicha as I do after I’ve had black tea, I am of the opinion that Hojicha is a ‘safe’ evening tea.
Anyway, the warm, toasty flavor of a Hojicha has a very autumnal feel to it. The texture of the tea is smooth and light. And while Hojicha is a “green tea” it tastes quite different from just about any other green tea that’s out there because the roasting process of the bancha tea changes the characteristics of the tea.
So, instead of tasting “vegetal” … it tastes nutty and sweet. Like freshly roasted nuts. There is a delicate creaminess to it. It’s “comfort” tea much the same way that mashed potatoes or homemade macaroni and cheese (not that stuff from the box) is comfort food. It’s something that I turn to when I want a “hug”. This tea gives me a great big hug and makes me feel better about the world.
So – THANK YOU to Simple Loose Leaf for this hug!