Genmai cha is a special type of green tea with toasted rice. Some of the rice kernels have popped in the toasting process, looking like little puffed, white popcorn pieces. I’ve sometimes seen genmai chai billed as the “movie night” tea for its inclusion of these popcorn-like rice pieces. No matter what you name it, genmai cha is a unique and delicious tea experience.
It was a long time in my tea journey before I put genmai cha tea into my usual rotation. Beyond the puffed rice in the dry leaf, the next most striking impression about the tea is that it is savory. If you aren’t expecting a savory experience, the brew can be a little unsettling at first. If you know this tea won’t be fruity or floral going into it, you’ll be much better off. Tasting Harmony Tea genmai cha from Mellow Monk was no exception.
Brewed, the Harmony Blend smells like warm bread or sticky rice. With these meal-like flavors, the warm tea might seem almost more like broth than tea. Over my years of drinking genmai cha, I find this warm brew and its toasty, starchy flavors to be supremely comforting, like sitting in the kitchen when the oven is on and bread is baking.
Despite all this toastiness, it is good not to forget that genmai cha is a green tea, so brew it with slightly cooler water to avoid burning the green tea leaves. Though the toasted rice is the prominent scent and taste of the tea, there is a role for the green tea to play in the flavor profile.
Green tea on its own can sometimes have savory incarnations, but it is usually a vegetable-inspired savoriness, like buttery bok choy or dark and nutty kale. The green tea in Mellow Monk’s Harmony Blend is much sweeter, and not too vegetal. It reminds me of a smooth green tea matcha, green and grassy but still sweet like nutty wheat bread.
It is a rainy, gray day today, and a warming cup of toasty Harmony Tea was just what I needed to turn my mood around.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Description:
Harmoney Tea™ is a genmaicha — green tea mixed with roasted brown rice. The rice imparts a nutty, toasty flavor that makes genmaicha one of the most popular types of green tea in America. Unlike some tea growers, this artisan roasts his own rice, which he buys from local farmers. (During roasting, some of the rice grains pop like popcorn. This popped rice is also included in the mixture to enhance the flavor.)
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Firewater from Pelican Tea. . . . .
Firewater from Pelican Tea gets its name from the addition of hot habanero peppers to the tea. But hot peppers aren’t the only unusual ingredient, this solid black tea also has toasted brown rice, an ingredient that is usually found in green tea genmai cha teas.
I always like to get a whiff of my tea leaves before I brew them, but I was a little nervous about sticking my nose in the bag this time. Would I get a noseful of hot peppers and run away sneezing like in the cartoons? Well, I got lucky, this tea smells savory and earthy and a bit like baked bread from all the starchy brown rice, but no burning or sneezing.
I let the leaves steep and took in the scent of the brewing tea. Still no bite of spice, just more toasted cereal tones from the rice, and a robust black tea. Taking a sip, I finally get a glimpse of the hot peppers. At the back of each sip there is the slightly smoky, chipotle flavor of habanero peppers, and a warm burn of capsaicin down my throat. It’s not so spicy as to be unpleasant, but it is definitely a distinctive experience. All the forward flavors of the tea focus on the nutty, roasted rice.
This would be a great tea for those who like rice in their tea, like in genmai cha. Or this would be a winner for those of you who like the spicy soup sipping broth products out there. The brown rice and earthy black tea take over most of the flavor palette in this tea, but the passing flame of hot pepper spice with each sip makes this something special.
All in all Firewater is a really unique blend that would be a fun gift for any lover of all things hot and spicy.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Pelican Tea
Description:
The original Pelican Tea, and an instant classic. Habanero-infused Orange Pekoe black tea and toasted brown rice contribute to an unpretentious blend that’s as comforting as it is spicy.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas
Today I NEED to share with you – Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas! I’m doing a tie-in with VeganMofo on this one because it works PERFECTLY for the “Easy Cook Meal”… ‘something I make when I can’t be bothered to cook much’! Millie’s Savory Teas – also known as – Millie’s Sipping Broth – was INVENTED by a school teacher who needed a better way to snack in between classes!
After double checking the ingredients AND confirming with the company I was able to verify that Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas was VEGAN – therefore – the PERFECT PRODUCT to feature for today! WHY am I so darn excited about Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas? Because MOST Tortilla Soups that are commercial popular have chicken broth or other chicken ingredients in them! NOT Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas! The ingredients include: Green Tea, an organic vegetable blend that contains carrots, onion, and celery, tomato, sea salt, yeast extract, garlic, chipotle, herbs, and spices.
I made a cup of Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas while at work and VERY busy one day not too long ago and I will tell you the more I drank it the more I was addicted to the flavor! I drank it on an empty stomach (well the only thing my stomach had in it was other teas) but I will say I was HUNGRY going into this sipping experience and by the time I was done I was completely satisfied. I’m not making any claims here – just telling you what my stomach experienced!
The flavor of Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas was out of this world! It WAS spicy, savory, tomato-y, garlic-y, and peppery. I LOVED each of those tastes! I can see myself drinking this often! Is it a SOUP? Is it a TEA? YES. And it is FABULOUS!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Millie’s Savory Teas
Description: This Spicy Tortilla Sipping Broth is a zesty blend of chipotle pepper, spicies & green tea. This first-of-its-kind savory single serve hot beverage delivers an amazing taste using the highest quality vegan, natural, wild harvest, organic and gluten-free ingredients – NO MSG. It really is Comfort Food in a Broth™.
Millie’s Sipping Broth – The first soup/broth in a tea bag – invented by a school teacher who needed a better snack between classes to cure the crave of unhealthy salty snack foods.
– Steepable tea/Broth Bag – excellent at work, for travel or home
– 75% less sodium than a bouillon cube
– Gluten free and real all vegetable/herb ingredients
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
PRODUCT REVIEW: Spicy Tortilla Green Tea Infused Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas
Product Information:
Leaf Type: Green
About This Product:
A zesty blend of chipotle pepper, spices and green tea. The flavor and spice of a Mexican Sopa.
To Learn more about this Millie’s Savory Teas, click here.
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Taster’s Review:
I was excited to try this savory “tea” because I’ve enjoyed the other green tea infused sipping broths that I’ve tried from Millie’s Savory Teas. I felt confident that I’d also enjoy this Spicy Tortilla.
I could smell the spices of this tea the moment I opened the package! It smells like Mexican Food! YUM!
Oh, this is tasty! As I’ve mentioned in the first paragraph, I’ve tried a couple of other tea infused sipping broths from Millie’s – you can read my review for the Indian Spice sipping broth here, and for the Tomato Basil sipping broth here. If you were to ask me before tasting them which of these three I think I’d prefer, without a moment’s hesitation, I would have said the Tomato Basil. But as it turns out, the Tomato Basil is my least favorite of the three. This one might just be my favorite thus far.
It has a nice amount of spice to it, but this isn’t so spicy that it has me running to the kitchen for a glass of water to cool my tongue. It’s zesty, warm and delicious, much like a tortilla soup that I might order at my favorite Mexican Food restaurant. I can taste notes of chipotle, garlic, tomato and onion. All that’s missing, really, is strips of tortilla chips!
Oh … and the green tea is missing, too. As I’ve mentioned in my reviews of the other savory teas, the green tea is difficult to detect in these sipping broths. Of the three, I think I tasted more green tea in the Indian Spice. There isn’t a whole lot of green tea flavor to this.
That is my one big complaint about these blends. I find myself wishing there was more green tea so that I can actually think of it as a “tea.” It’s a bit like adding a little bit of tea to my soup … I’m still eating soup, not drinking tea. That’s what’s happening here too. I’m sipping broth, not tea.
It’s still really tasty, though, and something I’d sip again.
PRODUCT REVIEW: Indian Spice Green Tea Infused Sipping Broth from Millie’s Savory Teas
Product Information:
Leaf Type: Green
About This Product:
A snappy blend of curry, spices and green tea. Tastes like your eating at your favorite Indian curry restaurant.
To Learn more about this Millie’s Savory Teas, click here.
To Subscribe to Love with Food, click here.
Taster’s Review:
In my September Love with Food box, I received not one but two new-to-me savory teas from Millie’s Savory Teas to try, including this Indian Spice Green Tea Infused Sipping Broth. Even though I was a little disappointed with the Tomato Basil variety of Millie’s Savory Teas, I still found myself excited at the prospect of trying a couple more of these tea infused sipping broths.
And much to my surprise, I like this Indian Spice flavor much better than I liked the Tomato Basil. I love Tomato, so I expected that to be the one I liked best, but I think that the Indian spices work much better in this tea infused sipping broth concept.
The aroma of the dry “bag” is that of curry, but I also taste the smell of “bouillon” too. You know the smell of the bouillon cubes? Yeah, I smell that salty/savory scent of bouillon. And this broth … is a little on the salty side (don’t salt it before you taste it!) but it isn’t too salty for my taste. I taste a hint of carrot and onion to this too.
It still tastes more like broth than it does green tea … but I can taste more of the green tea here than I did in the Tomato Basil. What’s more, I’m finding this broth to be so soothing and comforting. I think this would make an ideal light meal … perhaps with a piece of fruit.
This sipping broth gets a thumbs up from me. This is one I might buy again!