Genmaicha

Wow. Strong roasty smell.

This is a pleasant, comforting tea. I think I’ll prefer drinking this in the winter, as the rice makes it feel heavy for a green tea.

Overall, I like it, and I’ll revisit it in a couple months when the weather cools.

I never thought to try this tea, or even smell it at the store, but my coworker brought it to work one day and asked me to smell it. It smelled like seaweed to me and I wanted to eat it. Once brewed it smelled like toasted sesame. I liked the smell of it so much that I went out and bought a sample to try. It tastes like seaweed and toasted sesame too! This tea is delicious and it’s cheap! This will definitely be in the regular rotation.

Now, I’m no Genmaicha pro as this is the first Genmaicha I’ve tasted, but it’s so far a winner and I’ve had at least two cups a day since I bought it last week.

It has an incredibly savory flavor that goes well with dinner or lunch and reminds me of ochazuke. Unlike other green teas I’ve tried, it’s less grassy as the roasted rice really takes precedence in taste. It’s got a lovely smooth texture with a filling flavor. Even after the 3rd steep it still has a fantastic flavor.

I will definitely be buying way more when I run out, which will be very soon.

Day 80 of my 101 days of DAVIDsTEA challenge, and my 100th tea note on Steepster. (Wow!)

10g of this dumped into my Chinese teapot, which is approximately a 4-cupper.

This has a lovely flavour to it. It has a subtle flavou to it that really highlights the rice as well as the tea itself. I found it very relaxing to drink, which is always wonderful. Resteep was lighter on flavour, but not to the point where it wasn’t worth the resteep.
As the tea continued to steep both times, the flavour did intensify. I found that it got slightly bitter as it cooled as well (poured from the pot), but not to the point of it being off-putting.

I’ve had some genmaicha from another company in my cupboard for quite some time, and I think I’ve been brewing it wrong, after making this. I’m certainly going to want to try that as well, making sure it’s done properly to see if it will be just as good and relaxing as this was.

Genmaicha was one of my go to teas for years and years until I discovered DAVIDsTEA. I used to purchase my genmaicha from the asian grocery stores (250g for $6-7) and I didn’t think it tasted any different than the DAVIDsTEA version. The only big difference between the two is that the grocery store version contains twigs and branches from the tea plant while DAVIDsTEA doesn’t.

The look and taste of the two are very similar. When steeped, the tea is a light green colour…almost yellow. The taste is similar to freshly popped popcorn (without the butter of course!). It’s still a go to if I want a straight tea.

A personal favourite of mine. Genmai is what got me into loose tea in the first place. I always have this in my cupboard.

Great green tea flavour, lots of leaf which I like cause I like my Genmai to really taste of Green Tea. Buttery toasted rice all over the place, love it. I think what makes Genmaicha so addictive is that it doesn’t taste like anything else out there, it’s a very specific craving.

One note, don’t eat the rice kernels, they’re tasty but packed with caffeine. I ate a whole bunch of steeped kernels one evening while sipping on a cup. I was up all night.

I do love that fulfilling taste of toasted grain, with that mild grassy base. They just go so well together. Really makes me feel all zen and renewed. Today, I found the amount of rice just perfect for my needs.

What’s more, it makes me reminisce the happy days when I still lived close to good sushi all around. (I noticed this was unmistakably the general variety they serve at the sushi restaurants – is this a tradition?)

I’m also searching for a really good barley-based tea, especially since this steep used up the last bit I had in my cupboard…

It’s September 1st and a very cool, damp day outside in Cape Breton, NS. Feels like autumn is coming early.. so this definitely sets the mood for a warm tea. I searched through my collection for the perfect choice.. and stumbled upon Genmaicha. I dug my nose into the bag.. and yup, definitely going with this one. Steeped it at 165F for 2.5 minutes and it’s perfect. A warm mug of toasty green tea and a new book on the veranda. Bliss.

I’ve had this one a few times, it’s tasty, but for whatever reason I always enjoy it most in an espresso sized cup. Today I had it iced and it was delish, the cold made the nutty sweetness (from the rice) all the better!

This tea, for me, was ok. I really enjoyed the aroma and taste of the toasted rice, but I got this after taste that I did not like, something along the lines of seaweed, algae, marine water….I had to play around with the amount of tea leaves vs water, and I found that less leaves and more water seemed to suit my palate.