Taken from the EU TTB – Round 3 return.
Since my Japanese Spirit blend went down a treat this morning I thought I would carry on with the Japanese theme for the time being, that is when I remembered seeing this sample.
I like the idea of flavoured genmaicha, I recently tried 52Teas Peanut Butter Genmaicha blend and adored it without really expecting to. With this being a cheesecake tea I’m not sure what to expect, usually I cannot taste cheesecake in the range that I have tried from 52Teas. Perhaps all I can hope for is the cherry part mixed with genmaicha, that sounds delightful.
In raw form this smells very sweet and fruity, while it does smell like cherry I’m also getting some kind of berry too, like loganberry or strawberry, it’s sweet but also sour. Also seems perfumed, not fresh as much as dry and perfumed. No genmaicha as such, ie no toast or green tea coming through.
Once steeped the tea liquid is burnt yellow in colour and bares a toasted rice scent with a some subtle fruit behind it. Couldn’t declare it as cherry without knowing, hard to do so even knowing what it is. I’m sticking to berry like fruit.
Flavour is interesting, for a second it tastes toasty like a normal genmaicha but then suddenly a sweet cherry (yes, truly definable at last as cherry) essence grabs a hold and grows in my mouth. Like a light cherry mist that spreads itself as far as it can to spritz it’s flavour. In the after taste the cherry is still present but it becomes creamy and less sweet, slightly perfumed though nothing like it’s raw scent.
I’m sorry to say that again I can’t taste cheesecake, there is something creamy/buttery but not enough to say it reminds me of cheesecake. Though I do like that it still keeps enough of it’s qualities to taste like a genmaicha.
So put simply:
Cherry? Yes
Cheesecake? No
Genmaicha? Yes
As the song says “Two out of three aint bad”. I still prefer the Peanut Butter blend over this one but this was pleasant enough.
Flavors: Cherry, Cream, Perfume, Toasted Rice
I really wish more companies would make flavoured genmaichas. Such a brilliant idea.