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Additional notes: It is still hands-down the best mini tuocha to this girl. It really never disappoints. The brew is a very dark color shou with a pleasant nutty aroma, the taste profile is always complex to me, minus the heavy unwanted tastes of other shou(s). Hints of hay, chestnut, chocolate, earth, comforting natural sweetness like burnt sugar or caramel. Silky, creamy texture.

Extremely comforting on a cold day.

Typical gaiwan procedure: 212℉, 5s rinse, 10s, 20s… Etc. Drank it all day. Lasted many steeps.

Really liked this one. It’s super toasty. It is a stronger buckwheat flavor than most with a nice round flavor of roasted nuts. So perfect for those cold evenings.

Almost out though. Hard to find I guess. Hope you are all doing well <3!

Got a bag of this and well, it’s not often I make 1 liter of tea so not sure why I bought it lol. I almost always gongfu cha it. Been drinking it cold brew and it’s pretty good. I think it’s overrated on Amazon but it is still decent barley tea. Good roasted flavor, roasted barley notes, that is. I think I prefer my barley even more roasted for a fuller flavor but it’s still a very convenient way to make it since they come in bags for 1 liter.

Additional notes (2 years later ^^):
The profile is still similar to good Anxi Tie Guan Yin. The dry leaves are green with a TGY light aroma, floral aroma. I’ve learned that I’m not really a Dan Cong fan but I do enjoy this version. I got a very light nutty taste, as well as some light citrus and fruit notes, and green vibes. Spinach, asparagus… Vegetal. So it’s very complex with the fruit and vegetal notes and a finish of light sweetness. It has a very slick feel to it, buttery.

I put in 8g in a 160 ml gaiwan, rinse, 10s, 20s, 30s, 1 min. and a few more.

I made it through my surgery on the 5th and I was ok’d for Barley tea (been drinking a lot of TeaVivre barley tea yum) but I thought I’d have something a little different today. My esophagitis/Gerd seems fixed but I won’t push it quite yet. :P

I hope you are all good. <3

Well, 5 days away from major surgery. Fun Fun. lol Nothing is more irritating that all the surgery clearance tests. Since that is all done, I guess I can relax. I’ve never spent the night at a hospital before so not liking being away from my kitties. However, it is what it is. ^^

I’m still drinking tea but staying on the mild side if there was ever such a thing. I bought all the different types of Genmaicha from H & S and I think this is the last to review. Matcha, brown rice, bancha. As you all know I wasn’t a fan of the Genmaicha with sencha. You all are right, bancha all the way. Anywho, I steeped for 3 minutes with 175º water as per H & S instructions. Nice instant bright green liquor, medium body with a popped rice aroma, slightly vegetal. The taste was definitely vegetal, like spinach but some say artichoke. It is very savory, roasted notes all over the place so although you get the delicious matcha taste there is a roasted flavor, some notes of nuts, as well as some citrus notes. I was kind of surprised at first at the fruity notes. It actually goes really well together.

Stay safe out there, and I’ll be back after I’m back on my feet.

Additional notes: Sipdown but sad to see this go.

It was a very cherry-tasting yancha. A nice and strong presence of dried cherries with wet wood notes, lots of minerals, floral, and barley. Extremely complex, changed every infusion. As before, it was smooth, a good mouth and throat feel. Although complex, the cherry was present throughout all the infusions… Always ending on a fruity note with a hint of barley.

I’ve had to significantly cut down my tea consumption the past few months due to GERD. I’ll be going into surgery in a couple of weeks. Sucks but… I can continue when I get out. :P As always, I keep reading your reviews, working on sipdowns.

Stay safe out there. Delta variant is a nasty one.

Sip down.

Nice berry flavor, has acai and blueberry flavor. A strong flavor of blueberries. I can taste some acai though, which comes across as blackberries. It is a very smooth matcha, no overpowering bitterness, umami, vegetal.

It tastes good ceremonial style but great as a latte, especially with oat milk and ice. Tastes like a blueberry pancake/muffin/pastry with the oat milk. Recommended if you like matcha and berries :D.

This is an organic sencha genmaicha from Kyoto. The rice is brown rice from Nara Prefecture and the sencha is first harvest aka shincha versus bancha. For the most part, it is a good genmaicha and has nice toasty brown rice notes. I found it to be very temperature sensitive though.

I made it with 160Fwater in a banko kyusu. At 185F it was far too brisk for me. Astringent, extremely drying on my tongue, bitter. So I dropped the temperature down to 170F and then finally 160F. At this temperature, I got the familiar mellow aroma, umami, and a much better balance of sweet and bitter taste, less bitterness and was savory, had vegetal notes of greens, like grass, spinach. I re-steeped it 3 times. I also found making it in spring water was best. 170F was good too though.

It is a good price for organic first harvest sencha genmaicha. Recommended.

Additional note:
Really been on a genmaicha kick lately. This is one of my favorites. Perhaps because it has a lot more rice than the normal genmaicha, no bitterness no matter how I prepare it. I can make it with boiling water for however long I want to make it. So it is great for those ultra-busy days that I don’t need a timer, and want to sip a good tea. I haven’t made it grandpa style per se but it’s probably really good that way too. It’s a really versatile and flexible genmaicha. There is a slight umami note, lots of toasted rice/barley, and popcorn notes.

I’ve had kuromame cha several times which is roasted black soybeans steeped in boiling water but this is an interesting mix. Matcha, roasted black soybeans, roasted rice. So matcha iri genmaicha + roasted soybeans.

The dry tea is pretty with dusted green matcha and a few dark-roasted large soybeans. The pale to medium golden liquor smells faintly like beans, black soybeans, vegetal.

I used 5g in 120ml, boiling water 212°F, for 4 steeps: 30 sec, 1m, 1.5m, 5 min. On the last infusion, it was smooth, mellow, slightly sweet beginning, then chased by strong roasted rice and roasted black bean flavor. That was my favorite steep. So I’ll probably keep steeping it until there is no flavor. The earlier infusions, less bean, more umami, vegetal, roasted rice notes.

I think it’s underrated but a few of the reviews enjoyed it as I did. :D