Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Ette Tea
Tea Description:
Mango Sticky Rice is a blend of genmaicha, black tea, roasted barley, mango dices & candied coconut. Very much inspired by the Thai local dessert, the tea brews like a platter of roasted glutinous rice with the coconut and mango coming in towards the finish on the palette.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mango Sticky Rice green tea from the Singaporean tea company Ette tea hits the nail on the head. I have not had a tea this interesting in a long while. The aroma of the dry leaf is underwhelming, but once you dunk those deep dark emerald leaves, teeny tiny toasted rice kernels, and the stray mango or coconut piece in water, something wickedly good this way comes. The aroma of the steeped leaf is also deceiving, but I must plough through! I still smelled normal genmaicha. Sigh. How could I have let my hopes up when I was feeling a bit betrayed? But then, I took my first sip. And was transported back in time.
I am sitting at a kitchen table, my nose barely peeking over the tabletop. It is a blistering hot summer evening. I must be what, 6? 5? My mother is stirring chunks of irregularly cut mangoes into a pot of rice, sweetened with coconut milk and plenty of sugar. I am absently chewing on the skin of one of her slashed mangoes, trying to suck out all the mango goodness. I wait patiently for her to finish, chomping on my mango skins and gnawing on the massive, surfboard pit. When my mother places a small bowl of mango sticky rice that she learned how to make from her mother, I eagerly grab a spoon and begin to devour all the sweet, fruity, coconutty goodness. I could lick a bowl clean in a matter of seconds.
To me, compliments could not be higher. This tea is so spot on with it’s sticky rice-ness, it’s light hint of mango, and coconut, that I am taken back in time. You know a tea is good by it’s time travelling qualities! I love how straightforward it is. I can pick out each flavor easily and distinctly. The name tells you what you’re going to get, nothing mysterious. But the only mystery to me is, “How did they make this tea so good?”
Genmai Cha with Matcha from Sugimoto America
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea (with Matcha)
Where to Buy: Sugimoto America
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Tea Leaves, Roasted Rice, Matcha
Special blend of Genmai Cha and stone-milled Matcha, the powdered green tea for traditional tea ceremony. The added Matcha gives Genmai Cha a smooth body and vivid emerald-green color. Genmai Cha is a toasty, nutty tea and is one of Japan’s most popular varieties.
Use 1 tablespoon (5g) for 12 oz of water. We recommend steeping with 175F water or above for 30 – 60 seconds. Yields approximately 100 servings/package.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Genmai Cha with Matcha from Sugimoto America is one of those green teas that I have tried a few times but place in a special section of my cupboard because I don’t want to drink it all at once and run out.
The green tea leaves start very flat and plump up a bit when you add the hot water. The roasted brown rice looks just like popcorn as it stereo-typically would in a tea such as this. The matcha looks and smells fresh and crisp and coat every spec of the tea/popped-rice combo.
After you infuse about a tablespoon of the mixture worth in hot water for about 30 to 60 seconds – the aroma is reminiscent of a nice warm spring day in Florida with nearby neighbors mowing their already well kept lawns. I don’t know if this wicked weather we’ve been having has made me think this way – or if the aroma really DOES take me back to my childhood while visiting my grandparents. Either way…the aroma is pleasant and warming with a bit of sweetness and fresh grass or greens!
Because of the matcha – you will notice the tea water is a cloudy green/gray – but – this just adds to the overall experience of it all! The match flavor is great! The taste and texture of the sip on the tongue is more like a brothy-soup than a tea and it’s more filling that just a regular tea or tisane…it’s more like a meal than a beverage. It’s completely fulfilling and delicious!
This is a tea to savor, a tea to save for when you really NEED it, a tea to have on hand when you need an escape, and a tea to appreciate. This is a pure delight!
Product Review: Genmai Cha with Matcha Green Tea “Washi” Gift Set from Sugimoto America
Product Information:
Where to Buy: Sugimoto America
Product Description:
“Washi” Green Tea Gift – Genmai Cha features high-quality Japanese green tea packaged in a beautiful Japanese “Washi” canister. “Washi” is traditional Japanese rice paper printed with authentic Japanese patterns. Genmai Cha is a rich, aromatic blend of green tea, roasted brown rice, and matcha. Currently, it is one of Japan’s most popular teas.
Learn more about this product here.
Taster’s Review:
Not too long ago, I reviewed another Washi Green Tea Set from Sugimoto America, that beautiful blue Washi paper covered tin was filled with a delightful Sen Cha tea, and this gorgeous red Washi paper covered tin is filled with Genmai Cha with Matcha tea!
The dry leaf of this Genmai Cha with Matcha looks very much like other teas of this type that I’ve tried. It looks like a Genmaicha: green tea with roasted brown rice – some of which “pops” to look like tiny bits of popcorn. But they’re not bits of popcorn, they’re pieces of popped rice! Very cool. Because this is a “with Matcha” variety of Genmai Cha, the tea has been dusted with a coat of bright, jade green powdered green tea (aka Matcha).
When the tea is steeped (180°F for 1 1/2 minutes are the parameters that I used) the liquid is a somewhat opaque, beautifully bright, pale green color. The aroma is warm and toasty with a grassy tone.
Mmm! This is a really good Genmai cha! The overall flavor is that of roasty-toasty-nutty goodness. It is sweet from the roasty-toasty nutty flavors as well as from the green tea notes. It doesn’t taste overly “grassy” although there are some grass notes to this, I taste more of a lightly buttered, steamed lima bean flavor than that of “grass.”
I really enjoy Genmai cha because it is one of those “cozy” types of teas that I can enjoy later in the afternoon when I need something soothing and relaxing to sip. This tea offers that with the uplifting boost that comes from the energizing Matcha.
What impresses me most about this gift set is not the fabulous Washi paper covered tin – which is MOST impressive, indeed! – but the fact that the beautiful tin is filled with tea. What a lovely gift something like this would make to any tea lover. When you go to some of the expensive tea shops in the mall (you know which one I’m talking about, right?) these types of tins are very costly, and the price of the tin does not include the tea! With this gift, you not only get the beautiful tin but an excellent quality Japanese tea at a price that is probably about half what you’d spend in that expensive shop in the mall for the same type of product. I’m really impressed with the value of this product!
Nutty & Sweet SororiTEA from Uniq Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Genmaicha, Green
Where to Buy: Uniq Teas
Tea Description:
Delicious nutty genmaicha blended with sweet succulent strawberry green tea. This is Azzrian’s blend. Azzrian loves genmaicha, and strawberry teas are her weakness, so she combined the two. A mix of nutty and sweet, just like her!
Blend
55% Genmai-cha / 45% Strawberry Orchid
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A huge Thank you goes out to Uniq Teas for giving me a chance to create my own blend!
Nutty & Sweet SororiTEA from Uniq Teas is a blend of two of my favorite things, Genmaicha and Strawberries!
I love a good genmaicha, and I adore the fresh sweet flavor of strawberries. Combined it is the most wonderful flavor you can imagine! In some ways it reminds me of a Long Island Strawberry Tea, which is one of my summer staples! It has that really ripe, fresh, and not overly sweet strawberry flavor.
If you are looking for a strawberry flavor that is intensely sweet to the point of almost cloying, or an artificial soda pop flavor of strawberry then this tea is not for you. This is something very natural tasting, very refreshing, and of course add to that the genmaicha, which is savory, nutty, green, etc … its just delicious!
I named my tea to reflect my personality which is somewhat nutty, somewhat sweet, but perhaps not too much of either on its own. I also can certainly be bitter from time to time so you want to be sure that you steep my tea blend correctly or it could, like me, get a little snappy! It is fresh (I can be a little fresh at times) and refreshing, (I would like to think I can be) with its grassy natural flavors, (I do love nature), and excellent cooled or iced. Also like LiberTEA, and TeaEqualsBliss, who also created and named their own blends, I wanted my tea blend to represent our Sisterhood! It is the perfect blend when you want to get some grounding earthy goodness or when you want to feel rejuvenated!
See TeaEqualsBliss’s review and her tea here. See LiberTEA’S review and her tea here.
I love my blend and now you have a chance to win a custom blend of your own! Check it out here.
ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club, August Shipment, Part 3: Organic Gemmai cha
Leaf Type: Green
Produced for the Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations
For More Information, visit the Tea Farms webpage
About ITFA Global Tea Tasters Club:
By subscribing to the Global Tea Tasters Club, you will receive tea from ITFA tea farms 6 times per year. Each time, we will select a different region to feature and as we grow in tea farm members, so will your tea experience.
Your tea will also be accompanied by info about the tea and the tea farms themselves.
To know where your tea is coming from, who has grown and produced it, to taste the difference in teas from around the world…what could be better?
Taster’s Review:
Editor’s Note: I know it is usually spelled “Genmaicha” or “Genmai Cha,” however, the label on the package says Gemmai Cha.
Genmaicha stands out as my first really positive green tea experience. Way back (about 15 years now! yikes!) when I first started drinking tea “seriously” (err… that is, buying and drinking loose leaf tea), I had decided (rather prematurely) that I wasn’t crazy for green tea. Most of what I had tried was bitter. I have since realized that it was my fault because I had not yet learned the proper way to brew green tea. It was about the time that I started learning more about brewing temperatures and steeping time that I tried Genmaicha, and I really enjoyed it.
So I am always happy to receive Genmaicha, and was thrilled to find a package of Genmaicha along with the other teas that I received as part of August’s Shipment for the Global Tea Taster’s Club.
About this Genmaicha:
Obubu’s Genmaicha, or brown rice tea, is made with new leaves harvested in the summer. Instead of regular rice, Obubu uses sweet rice grown locally in the valley of Wazuka, creating a tea with a strong, sweet, toasty flavor and an aroma that fills the room.
While I am enjoying this Genmaicha immensely, I do disagree with the above quote regarding this tea. This has to be one of the lighter Genmaicha teas that I’ve ever tasted. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It is sweet and toasty, and it is very aromatic, but, it doesn’t have the strong flavor that I usually experience with a Genmaicha.
Yes, I do appreciate the strong flavor of a typical Genmaicha, but, I am finding the lightness of this Genmaicha to be very refreshing, and I’m liking it a lot. The green tea tastes fresh and exhilarating. It has a crispness to it, and a moderate amount of cleansing astringency.
The sweet brown rice adds that cozy, comforting toasty flavor, but it doesn’t taste overly roasty-toasty. It is the brown rice flavor where the lightness is especially noticeable. The brown rice isn’t overpowering the flavor of the green tea, which I think is often the case with Genmaicha. With this Genmaicha (Gemmai Cha?) it is the green tea that is celebrated, and not the toasty rice.
A very unexpected yet delicious Genmaicha!