Good morning everyone. Before I start geeking out over tea I just wanted to say thank you for letting me join the Sororitea Sisters! I look forward to discovering new teas and making friends with you all.
Genmaicha. Once known as the poor mans drink among the Japanese people. A big thank you to the first monks (supposedly) who created this blend. Personally, this is in my top five favorite teas. If you have not yet given genmaicha a try I highly suggest trying some!
A good tea session with genmaicha should start off with a whiff of the dry leaves. It’s amazing how your nose can pick up some qualities in the tea that you may have not even tasted. Not only that but it can be a good indicator as to what other teas have been laying around with it. If you can’t get a good scent from the dry leaves due to cross contamination from other tea then just give the wet leaves a good snuff. Either way what I like to smell is that amazing rice perfume. Like when you are cooking rice and it blossoms everywhere in your house. A very comforting aroma. The sample I have has been a bit contaminated with other tea smells and thus I’m not picking up much but the wet aroma is great. It has that relaxing rice cooked smell to it.
Most people say the smell and the flavor of the tea is nutty and while that may be the best way currently to describe it I really feel it doesn’t quite do it justice. Rice and the toasted rice flavor are something more unique then just nutty. Saying ricey doesn’t quite cut it either. Using a sticky rice is quite a unique idea on their part for this tea. Though I do feel that it makes the rice flavor a bit more subtle. Generally, I prefer a stronger rice flavor but it works well with the grassy essence from this tea. After reading that they used sticky rice I understand now why I thought this genmaicha looked different from others. The rice is bigger and seems to look different after its toasted. I would love to try a cup of this after the rice has been freshly roasted.
Did you know that even though Genmai means brown rice, the rice used in genmaicha is actually white rice that has been roasted?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: California Tea House
Description
Genmaicha tea is a traditional Japanese green tea. It is believed that the development of Genmaicha was by monks in using rice as a filler to save money. This tradition quickly caught on as the blend of toasted rice and green tea (typically Sencha or Bancha) has a very soothing, pleasant flavor.
Jump forward a few thousand years and you find California Tea House’s gourmet, Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha. You’ll find our twist on Genmaicha to be an amazing upgrade to this tradition as we spared no expense in creating the finest Genmaicha on the market. Instead of Sencha we use Imperial Gyokuro green tea to provide a very clean, crisp green tea flavor without the bitterness. Also, we use sticky rice as the base of our toasted rice for a slightly sweet and very flavorful, nutty blend. There’s no turning back to old style Genmaicha after you’ve tried this one! Buy our Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha with our 100% satisfaction guarantee!
Bring your mineral or filtered water to a boil, then let the water settle back down to around 180oF before steeping about 1 heaping teaspoon of tea per cup. Never steep more than 3 or 4 minutes.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
