I am a sucker for all flavored genmaichas. I don’t come across them very often, but when I do, I just can’t say no. I eagerly and greedily devour these blends whenever I can.
Strawberry Genmaicha from Socra Tea Detroit is no exception. Start off with a gorgeous bed of green tea with toasted rice and huge and I mean HUGE pieces of strawberries. And these are freeze dried strawberries to boot. So they are simply gorgeous. The blend itself is stunning while you look at it in your tea pot, brewing with water freshly prepped right around 195F. The recommendation is to allow the tea to steep for 2-3 minutes and that is exactly what I did.
This tea delivers on all accounts. Fruity, vegetal, with a side of tart and that familiar roasted toasted goodness only genmaichas can delilver. Unlike a lot of flavored teas, the strawberry flavor is not lost in this blend. I can’t say the strawberry flavor is the star but its standing proud for sure. What I am really loving is this wonderful marriage between the tart semi sweet strawberries and the toasted green tea flavor that genmaichas are known to yield.
A beautifully well balanced flavored genmaicha that will appease all of your senses. I found myself lost in the moment while drinking the tea, just enjoying the tastes and experience of the tea. That’s a sign of a gorgeous tea blend.
Well done Socra Tea Detroit. . well done. . .
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Socra Tea Detroit
Description
Here, the characteristic Japanese genmaicha is supported wonderfully by a smooth green tea. The added strawberry pieces perfect the creation.
Ingredients: green tea, peeled rice, flavoring, freeze- dried strawberry pieces.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry Genmaicha Green from ESP Emporium
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: ESP Emporium
Tea Description:
Here, we have two green teas, which were combined to an exceptional premium tea blend. The characteristic of Japanese Genmaicha is supported wonderfully by our smooth green tea. This creation is perfected by the added strawberry pieces and a finely balanced flavor composition.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Since I’ve tried a few ‘unconventional’ Genmaicha blends lately I wanted to do something different with this one, which is why I cold brewed it. I’m not even sure if I’ve ever done that before with a Genmaicha blend; I can’t easily bring an example to mind.
I have to admit it was a little weird tasting a cold brewed Genmaicha; the green tea wasn’t anything exceptional nor was it disappointing but the strong, drawn out notes of roasted brown rice – which took on a near barley taste, were more intense than I would expect from Genmaicha. More like a good mugicha than anything else, to be honest.
The strawberry certainly is not the most vibrant strawberry flavour though. I wouldn’t even call it all that realistic to be honest; what it does taste like it strawberry candy. Some kind of cross between those fluffy strawberry marshmallow five cent candies you see in gas stations and a really nice strawberry gummy candy? I like the taste itself, but the pairing with the green tea/roasted notes doesn’t work for me.
So overall; I’d say there were definitely high and low points to this tea and if I revisit it I’ll definitely be trying an alternative prep method (perhaps something more traditional) than revisiting this one. It’s not worth a second taste.
