Matcha Black Soybean Rice Tea

Working on sipping through a bunch of random Lucia teabags I have. This is a fine genmaicha, but I’m always a bit disappointed by it. I just wish it had a bit more of an exciting/unique flavor.

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

Go Georgia, go Georgia, you can do it! LOL.

I found this one in my focus box and felt a cozy genmaicha was just the ticket at this highly stressful hour. Normally I would probably steep this at 175 for maybe 2 minutes, but I figured I would try the very different parameters prescribed by the label. For science!

Soybean, especially roasted soybean flour (or kinako) is a very popular flavor in Japan, especially for confections. I had a mighty tasty kinako-flavored soft serve there that I loved, and kinako-dusted mochi is a very traditional sweet as well. But man, don’t even get me started on their soft serve flavors… ❤

Anyway! This is yummy. The toasted rice is the strongest note here, as is usual for genmaicha, but I do feel like I can taste the soybean as well (although really the flavors are very similar). The matcha adds a nice sweet grassy note and a little pop of roasted-seaweed-like umami, though it also somewhat obscures the flavor of the sencha.

Very tasty, and definitely hitting the spot for a comforting tea right now… :D

Thanks again Cameron B! I LOVE Lupicia’s matcha genmaicha blends. This one is no different, except for the black soybeans. I did see a soy bean in the infuser. However, I could not tell a difference in taste. It tasted like matcha genmaicha which is perfectly acceptable on its own. I love the combination: toasty yet fresh and definitely very sweet and so GREEN. Quite tasty. I love all that matcha that wafts from the infuser into the mug of bright green. I’d love to have tasted the black bean though, as this is such a unique idea I haven’t seen anywhere else. I give the matcha kirara rice tea from Lupicia a rating of 93 (which is VERY high for me for a green tea) and this tea is basically the same as that one, but since the soybeans aren’t adding much to the flavor for me here, I’m knocking down the rating a bit.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug// 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 30 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Sampler Sipdown September! I sipped down another older tea today at work… and my perfectly fine kettle from home had that same weird “burnt rubber/metallic” water taste when I took it to work! I’m beside myself now. I’m convinced the power outlet at work has done something to the heating element in my kettles, and now I’ve just given up on making tea at work at all. I’ll have to brew at home and take it in a thermos (and iced tea in water bottles like I’ve been doing over the summer) because I just can’t take it. I really hope the element isn’t fried. Now I have two kettles packed into storage, and my new Bonavita has just arrived…

I don’t particularly feel bad about the upgrade though. Nice to finally have a kettle at home that I can precision input temperatures into when the need arises. Plus, I can get really low temperatures on it, which is handy for gyokuro.

Anyway, this is a single-serve teabag from a sampler pack I bought from Lupicia during a Mottainai sale. I’m really shocked that green tea that was technically from a Christmas sampler, which I purchased last April, tastes really fresh. The tea has a very savory aroma that reminds me a bit of baked beans and roasted nuts. The base of the tea has a very clean, fresh green taste, and it has a nice, nutty, genmaicha flavor, but there is something unique about this version of genmaicha that is a bit hard for me to describe. Something about the overall flavor reminds me a bit of Chinese green teas, as there is this “savory bean/green bean” sort of flavor that mixes pleasantly with crisp, roasty nuttiness from the rice. Personally, I really am enjoying this variation on genmaicha! Genmaicha is one of my favorite teas, and the black beans seem to create this fusion of Chinese and Japanese flavor profiles for me… and since I love both Japanese and Chinese greens, I’m all for that. This is certainly a tea I wouldn’t mind restocking sometime!

Not bad! I was a bit sceptical if the black soybeans would taste okay in genmai-cha. I don’t drink genmai that often but I do enjoy it on occasion. The roasted rice flavor is toned down so you can taste the black beans; a good blending of the two flavors. I steeped it for 2-3 minutes even though it should be like 30-60 seconds.

Sipdown! I’m not a huge fan of matcha-added teas because I don’t like the detritus that ends up at the bottom of my cup and the matcha rarely adds much to the flavor. I don’t think it added much here – maybe a touch of sweetness- and there’s the familiar gunk at the bottom of my mug. Flavor-wise, this is more robust than most genmaichas. I can’t pick out the bean taste specifically but perhaps it’s supporting the roastiness of the rice.

Sipdown. I put off drinking this tea for a long time because it never looked appetizing. I’m not one for matcha. And matcha, black beans, and genmaicha to promote “healthy living” per the label sound like one of those things for you to do that you do because it’s healthy and not cause you like the taste.

Which is where I’m at with this tea. It’s cooked beans and rice that have been overdone with some added grass clippings thrown in. Yuck. But is gone now so yay!

Another tea I got in my Happy Bag from Lupicia, it is an ok gemaicha blend. I love genmaicha so I was excited to try this. It is not horrible but not great either. Just a kind of basic genmaicha for me. The black soybeans didn’t really change the flavor as much as I thought they would. Still has the basic roasty type flavor to it but it just missed the mark for me. Oh well.

Just a short tasting note here. I honestly didn’t know what this was and thought it was a black tea so I used boiling water with it. It still came out fine though, just reminds me of genmaicha. I don’t think I am picking up the black soybean flavor… it is nutty and rice-y though. Not a bad morning cuppa, I don’t think I need to get any more though.