Sample sipdown #2 for today! I got this as a free sample with my most recent online David’s order.
I was feeling lazy, so I dumped the entire sample (5g) into a pot – and it turns out that I didn’t boil enough water to fill the pot, so chances are I overleafed this by quite a bit.
When dry, the leaf smelled lovely – salty and marine-like, like seaweed and popcorn. It smelled even more strongly like this as it was brewing. However, after I pulled the infuser out, the leaves in the infuser smelled…burnt, somehow.
This burnt taste was also present in the brewed tea itself. This is only the second or third genmaicha I’ve had (the other one being Sloane’s Grand Genmaicha) and so I don’t have enough context here. But I was expecting something a bit sweeter, or saltier, or more malty/roasty. Also, I think I brewed this with dead water that had been sitting in the kettle for too long, so it also tastes like minerals.
Ah well. At least I got a sipdown in. Perhaps others will appreciate this tea more than I.
EDIT: After it cooled down, I reheated it and gave it a few more sips. Yup, the water was definitely stale. The rest went down the drain.
