Genmaicha

Tasting note 101! I totally didn’t realize that I cracked 100 yesterday! :)

Another tea I picked up in my “sample” buying spree the other week. I’ve never had Genmaicha (from anywhere) before but the description sounded very interesting, especially since I really like the flavor of roasted and/or popped rice.

I was really quite surprised at the amount of roasted rice in my package; it looked almost to be half and half with the green tea which was great to see, but there were only a few popped kernels so it wasn’t quite as visually stunning as the images on DT’s site suggest. The smell though… I had to go back to it a few times… at first all I was getting was the roasted rice. Then after the second or third sniff I started to get some notes from the green tea, bright vegetal notes with a few floral hints mixed in.

The steeped liquor came out a light yellow-green and the aroma was filled with deep notes from the roasted rice. There were some sweet tones from the green tea as well which had a bit of a fruity scent now, though I still found that there also was the more “traditional” vegetal scent as an undertone. As for the flavor…. It carries over from the aroma quite nicely. I find it filled with dark puffed/roasted rice notes with slight vegetal hints from the green tea and every once and a while I get a few floral notes on the finish. It’s not astringent either which is good since I accidentally over steeped this a bit.

I have to admit though, I keep looking for a molasses/malty flavor to go with the puffed rice notes and I haven’t even had puffed rice squares in years! It’s a good, solid tea; but definitely one that I’d have to be in the mood for.

(PS I had a hard time finding this tea to log… When I searched for “Genmaicha David’s Tea” it took me to a (basically) empty page with no notes or ratings on it which I found odd so I went hunting further and eventually found this page. Weird)

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.

Absolutely disgusting. This is probably the worst tea I have ever bought from DavidsTea- the scent and flavor is gross.

My fave green tea so far… It didn’t give me stomach trouble after drinking unlike the Japanese sencha and dragonwell, which makes my stomach feel upset. Is it because of my poor digestion or what? I love drinking green tea but not all types are for me. I will continue exploring and sipping… Happy drinking, tea-lovers!

This tea is wonderful. It’s got a wonderful balance between the toasted rice and the leaves. It took me a cup to get used to it, but afterwards I was definitely hooked. It’s just the perfect light to tea have when you want to relax! And it can definitely be steeped a couple of times, which makes it feel like it’s a different cup of tea each time.

Day #6 of the advent calendar. This one was a brand new taste experience for me, I’m pleased to say. I’m not really a fan of plain green teas, but I appreciated the flavour I got from this one. Very few leaves needed for a very bold, earthy taste. This isn’t a flavour I’d normally go for, and I’m not sure if it’s one I’ll go for again after my tin has finished, but I’m glad I got to try it.

Everyone around me has been getting sick, but I feel like this has been keeping my immune system in check. Or maybe it’s all mental, either way I haven’t had much luck steeping this tea more than once. It tastes more watered down at a second steep. I’m almost out of this tea, but I think I’ll try another brand because Davids is lacking for me.

Weirdly enough this is the tea that got me a job at DAVIDs TEA. A few years ago I did not drink tea at all, and me and the girl I was seeing used to go out for sushi back in Halifax, and every time she went she would order a pot of brown rice tea despite me protesting say how I would not drink any and that she could not finish the pot by herself. Anyhow everytime she would force a cup upon me, then it grew to me having two or three cups to us needing two pots of tea when ever we went! Anyhow it was not much long after where she bought me some Genmaicha from DAVIDs TEA as a gift. Fast froward to last year I was walking around the Avalon mall in St. John’s and was handing out resumes to various companies, and it really never occured to me to apply at DAVIDs, but it did occur to me that I was out of Genmaicha, so I went in and asked for some, and as an afterthought asked if they where hiring and am still working there over a year later!

Wow, what a flavor! I am head over heels about the nutty and roasted notes that this tea provides. At first, some may overlook this simple green tea, however, with each cup it is sure to satisfy. Try this tea first thing in the morning; the savory notes pair wonderfully with breakfast! (Or any meal of choice!)

Genmaicha is another one of those teas that you have to brew properly to get the full experience of its wonderful-ness. It needs a lot of patience and TLC.

They key here is really to read the brewing instructions. It says to steep in 87C water. So that’s not the temperature of the water that comes out of your kettle. Let the water cool for 4 or 5 minutes, then steep the tea for another 4-5 minutes only. If you don’t do this, the tea will become astringent and gross (I know this from personal experience).

The brown rice gives it a nice toasted flavor that goes great with the green tea :) It is really popular in Japan and you can find it pretty much any sushi restaurant. I’d really recommend it!