Genmaicha

First, Thank you Obubu Teas for sending me a sample of this tea. I can use a bunch of fancy words to describe this tea and I will for those who prefer it but really none of that is necessary. This tea is GOOD, amazing even. I loved it and what’s more my dear husband did to. He has never liked a green tea and he not only liked it but told me he would drink it. I was shocked. If you knew him you would be too.

Fancy Words: Deep full cup. Fresh with a slighly roasted finish. Even had a bit a sweetness. Sophisticated and kept me wanting more so I ordered a bag right away. Delicious!

I love Genmaicha so when I received this sample I was very happy to try it.

This is a slightly different tasting Genmaicha than some others that I’ve tried. The tea tastes different – but not in a bad way, in a very, very good way! I can definitely tell that I’m tasting a sencha rather than a bancha – I can taste the fresh, bittersweet flavor of the sencha. This tastes a little less “roasty-toasty” (bancha has a natural sort of toasted flavor to it, in my opinion) than a typical Genmaicha, and a little more … complex.

The delicate bitter notes add a unique interest to this tea – it isn’t a strong or distasteful bitterness. I would describe it more as a semi-sweet taste rather than a BITTER taste… if that makes sense.

I really like this Genmaicha… a LOT!

Backlogging my genmaicha experience.

Obubu’s Genmaicha is a flavorful, well-balanced combination of Japanese sencha and roasted sweet mochi rice. The tea it produces is flavorful and light, with a wonderfully aromatic smell of roasted rice without a trace of bitterness. There is a slightly sweet, peppery aftertaste that adds layers of depth and complexity to the tea. For my full review and pics: http://www.leafjoy.com/2011/01/review-genmaicha-obubu-tea/

I only had one sample of this, so it’s hard to form a strong feeling after just three cups (re-infused twice).
However, the genmai is sweeter than other versions I’ve had. The green tea base seemed to be somewhat thin, as I couldn’t taste it very strongly, but what I could taste was good. I’ve had a genmaicha where there was far too much genmai for my liking and there might as well have been no tea leaves at all. This wasn’t like that, because even though it seemed thin, the popped rice was good quality and tasted a little sweet.

So far, the bar has been set by 1TTEN’s genmaicha, as that has the most delicious (bancha, I think) tea base that I’ve had. Nevertheless, this is a good one.

A very mild genmaicha. The rice flavoring is nice and lightly toasty. I prefer greener tasting, like Den’s Tea. I’ve been wanting to sample this, since the rice is different than other genmai based teas. Is this sticky rice?

This was a tasty little genmaicha. Satisfyingly roasty, but nice and sweet. It tasted lighter and brighter than others I’ve had.

Wow… this tea smells so nice! It’s a toasted, popcorn scent. The green tea is long and thicker than I’m used to. I had to taste the dry tea as I love to eat the American Tea Room’s genmaicha. It wasn’t as great for eating, unfortunately, and I’m not familiar enough with the different kinds of green tea to be able to point out the difference.

I don’t know the exact temp, boiling, then waited a few minutes for the water to cool down. I steeped it for a while as I wanted it strong. About five minutes. It’s excellent! It’s nutty, rich, not bitter (which I had worried about a bit, being a green.) The green tea is so nice. It’s strong, yet smooth and fresh. It’s a great combination of flavors that create a very different, very delicious type of genmaicha.

Very nice. I think this is only the 3rd genmaicha i’ve had, but this is easily the best. The toasted rice isn’t too overbearing, like has been the case in the previous genmaichas. Very drinkable.

Drank this tea with an old friend in honor of Ashmanra’s April Sipdown prompt: A tea you serve to tea newbies! Took me a minute to think about this prompt, my answer just kept changing in my head. The imaginary newbie in my head would shift from someone who has only had fruity teabag tisanes but looking to jump into loose leaf, to someone who has some ancient gifted Teavana rotting next to a rusted tetsubin, to someone who is trying to kick a soda habit and is diving into tea. There are so many different paths to cha, and the tea that helps you jump off the deep end is so important, yet personal.

So i decided to ask myself, what was that tea for me? I’ve been a tea person for most of my life, and the pivotal moment for me was when my cousin moved back to the US from Japan and brought us these bagged teas, I couldn’t tell you if they were Yamamotoyama or some other brand. But the two flavors, genmaicha and hojicha – blew me away. I had no idea tea could taste like that!

This is the king’s version of those teabags I had as a child. The scent of the dry leaf is verdant and savory, the soba they use is teeny and chestnut brown – a perfect complement to the big beautiful bancha leaves. I appreciate the use of bancha here, it’s more mellow and a lot less funky than a sencha genmaicha for a newbie. The slightly nutty grassiness of the bancha compliments the popcorn toastiness of the soba cha so well. I had become bored of genmaicha as of late, but this blend combo reawaken my love for my first love tea.

Now if I was starting someone out with this tea, as a true newbie, I’d send them home with some taiwanese oolong. That’ll knock their teabag socks off XD

Measuring out genmaicha for a session in grams doesn’t really…. work. The brown rice is so heavy. You have to at least double it, if not more. So, some adjustments had to be made to get a flavor out of this 5 gram sample packet.

It’s really been a few years since I had a genmaicha. The delightful aroma of the wet leaves has me wondering why. It’s so satisfying, savory, nutty. The toasted flavor is entirely different from the toasted flavor of houjicha. Something in it just feels…. extra nourishing.