Gyokuro Genmaicha Green Tea

Decupboarding – the hard way!

I took this to work to finish it off, unfortunately when I was on the bus the can spilled out all over the bottom of my bag and created a huge mess. There’s no use crying over spilled tea, I guess!

Second Tasting Note.
After my exciting Gyokuro tasting at Happy Luckys Tea House a few days ago, using the Shinoba Cha method of extracting flavor from the leaves by letting ice melt over them slowly (AWESOME FLAVOR CONCENTRATION!)…I thought…hey self, I have this Gyocuro Genmaicha Green Tea…so what would happen if I tried this ice method with it?

So I Did!

Here’s a video of the method: http://youtu.be/4UEZcq1qVtw

All afternoon….little drizzles of extracted flavor…concentrated drop by drop as the ice was melting. Pretty good flavor! Nutty, salty and savory. Not as extreme as the higher quality straight Gyokuro without the toasted rice that I had previously, but pretty good with a lingering aftertaste. That aftertaste is wonderful and lasts for hours.

If you have never tried this method and have a nice Gyokuro or Sencha around, you might give this method a try since it is cool for warmer weather and so easy to do.

Andy at Happy Luckys told me that he heard about a place in Japan that puts out pure blocks of ice with a groove in each running end to end. A cup is set at each end to catch drips of melting water. Then a different type of Gyokuro is placed in the groove of each ice block so that guests can go from one to another tasting each Gyokuro varietal as the melting progresses. Sounds heavenly!

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. Long time no see Steepsterites! I had a lot of fun at New Englands but now I’m back and excited to start drinking tea again.

So, I have a confession to make. And I may or may not be slightly embarrassed about it………..

I blew the $70 I made babysitting and doing chores ALL on tea. ALL of it. We stopped at a mall in Nashua, New Hampshire that had a Teavana (on the way there) and I HAD to stop by. We don’t have one in Vermont and I’m deathly afraid to order online (based on all the horror stories I’ve heard here! Also, I didn’t have to pay for shipping costs this way!) so I decided to pick up some tea. Luckily, it was a very small shop and there weren’t any obnoxious people on the floor trying to sell me tea! The only complaint I had was that they pulled the routine “You should get a tin!” and I decided to decline and just get the bag (and save myself a good $30 extra dollars it would have cost to get all the tins). Anyways, I picked up 7 kinds of tea (3 on the way there, which I was SO afraid would be damaged by all the traveling they did, but luckily remained in tact, and 4 when we stopped by the second time on the way home). I got mostly flavored teas but I also got 2 straight greens because I want to try some more of Teavana’s straight varieties (you really hear about their blends more).

This is the first straight green I picked up (the second is the Sencha Jade Reserve). I like a good genmaicha and so I decided to try Teavana’s just to test it out. It smells slightly sweet and kind of… full, if that makes sense. There’s a lot of rice, and the pieces are pretty tiny, which I kind of have mixed feelings about. ALSO, I got 2 oz of every kind of tea (except Citrus Sage Lavender which I got 3 oz of) and I have two complaints:
1.) They won’t let you go less than 2 oz which is so frustrating because they measure it out right there and they’re perfectly capable of doing it. It would be nice if I could pay for what I want, and not have to buy one flat size.
2.) I don’t think their scale worked right…. It might be just me but there definitely doesn’t seem to be 2 oz of tea in the bag…..

Anyway, on to the tea. I steeped at 175 for 45 seconds in my Noble mug. The wet leaves taste really good… Like (who would have guessed? :P) toasted rice. The tea itself smells slightly vegetal with a nice sweet note mixed into it.

This is pretty nice. It has a pretty full flavor (typical of many genmaichas in my experiences at least) and yet remains rather light in the flavor side of things. The gyokuro adds a nice grassy vegetal flavor and the rice adds a nice toasty body to it that makes for a really nice contrast. This is pretty good! I’m rather impressed! I plan on increasing the steep time for 15 seconds and I think I can squeeze two more infusions out of this.

In the mean time, I’m exhausted. I got back last night from Connecticut and besides sleeping I haven’t really had a moment of rest since. The order of events are:
Thursday-Left for Connecticut at 7:30, woke up at 5:20 on Thursday and 6:45 on Friday and Saturday
Saturday-After having a grand total of 15 hours of music rehearsal in two days, I had my concert and then retreated back to the hotel (we stayed overnight while most people went home because we had my little sister and travelling again would be too much of a hassle) and went to dinner and then bed.
Sunday-Up at 7:00, left at 8:30. Stopped at Nashua for an hour and a half but other than that I was in the car the whole trip. Got home, returned our rental car, and then went to ANOTHER music rehearsal for 2 more hours. Got home at 7:30, unpacked, went to bed.
I
Feel
Dead.

But, I have to work through it and get my work done. You don’t really realize how much not having a computer for 4 days can really impact your life until you actually do it…. But regardless, it was worth it and I had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends! Plus, I have a butt-load of reviews to read C: !

ALSO (this post is so long), I just finished reading the first Hunger Games. O. M. G. I haven’t read a better book (of that genre) since Harry Potter! It’s so good and now I’m even more bummed that I can’t go to the midnight premier this week! :(

Thank you, KallieBoo!

This is one I’ve always been curious about because it seems like an odd mixture. A typically expensive green as a genmaicha. I guess maybe it makes sense, but I’d rather savor gyokuro than try to stretch it into plenty more cups.

It’s not bad though! It’s an interesting sweet and savory mix. First it just tastes like genmaicha, but then there’s a sweetness from the gyokuro.

It is not helping my mood though. My boyfriend already bought plane tickets to go to his brother’s wedding and I have an exam scheduled for 2 1/2 hours before the flight. This professor has the worst exam policy ever…no make ups, only valid documentation gets you…90% of your next exam’s grade as the missed exam’s grade. HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT?? And my excuse might not even be valid because nobody is even my family member so I’m trying to decide if I say my boyfriend’s my fiance or the bride is my really close cousin or something. UGH.
I should say though that my boyfriend has been my boyfriend for nearly FIVE years so you know, the bride and groom are practically family…just such a rude, vile policy.

Ok, I’m sorry I haven’t been posting many reviews as of late. Life has gotten a little crazy. But I’m trying to organize it a little better these days (heck my house still isn’t unpacked from the move)! Anyway, this is me trying to get back into the swing of things.

So I was a the mall today and stopped into Teavana because I’ve been meaning to try Genmaicha for a while now and I knew they had it so why wait for an order from somewhere else? I also opted to get a cup to co with a hint of agave per the barista’s suggestion. This one is truly an acquired taste. I did like it, but I wasn’t so sure at first. It really had the toasty notes there but nothing else at first. Then halfway into the cup I really got the green tea and it was awesome! I’m going to experiment a little with brew times to see what works for my taste but I think I may have found a green tea I really like. I think I’ll have to try a few other tea locals versions of this tea…oh darn more tea to try! ;)

Bonnie graciously sent me some samples, thanks Bonnie! This was one of the first ones I decided to try since I love genmaicha and I’m extremely curious about gyokuro. I’ve gotta say, I liked this a lot. It had the same basic flavor that I’m used to with genmaicha (the flavor of the toasted rice is always by far the dominant flavor), but there was something different about this one in that it had a nice level of sweetness on top of the toasted flavor. I like it a lot, thanks again Bonnie.

This is one of my first cups of Teavana tea, and as I’ve never tried a Genmaicha before and was really curious what it would be like, I thought i’d go for it.

Bottom line: I prefer straight green tea, but the toasted rice is definietly a nice touch for a different kind of treat.

The nutty flavour brings out the sweetness of the tea, making it something I could see myself drinking after dinner or perfectly paired with dessert.

And you know those rice crackers? If you absolutely hate those then I wouldn’t suggest this tea. It’s like a wonderful green tea with that sort of rice cracker, nutty flavour with it.

Overall, very smooth, wonderful, and free of extra crud and flavourings, which I love.

Backlogging from yesterday…I went to the mall with my fiancé. It was a really fun trip! I bought my first ever full-size Coach bag and looked at Tacori wedding bands!

The bag is gold metallic textured leather, and I got a great wallet too in a fun spring pattern. My Vera Bradley purse broke recently, so I needed a replacement. I’m usually not a fan of Vera Bradley, but that purse was a gift. It was brown and white with trees, birds, flowers, and Asian-themed pagodas. Pretty, but not very durable.

The straps were completely worn out and the clasp on the inside ripped right out of the fabric! So, it was time for a replacement and nothing in my closet would do. All I have is a collection of very small handbags. But I had gotten used to the medium-large Vera Bradley. I could put whole books in there! Books, hairbrushes, lunch, pretty much anything!

The Coach purse is a dream come true!! I’ve always wanted one but never been able to justify the price. Now that the fiancé and I have had good jobs for a while, our quality of life has substantially improved. Looking at wedding bands was almost as much fun as picking out my new purse!

I’ve made a running list of all the Tacori rings I like (my engagement ring is Tacori too). The list was up to 21 different styles before our venture out yesterday. Seeing a lot of the rings in person completely changed my opinion of them. I still think they’re beautiful, but many of them didn’t match my engagement ring the way I thought they would. So, now the list is down to 13 styles. And I’m pretty confident I can knock out 5 more at least.

I’ll settle on something eventually. My fiancé wants me to get the wedding band that matches my engagement ring (like the one they made to match it). But even though it’s pretty and definitely not off the table, I have my heart set on something a little bigger and more blingy. I’m a big fan of glitz and glamour!

I’m also a big fan of reality TV shows, so I’ve been watching all the wedding shows available on Netflix (we don’t have cable). My most recent addiction is Bridalplasty, where women compete to have plastic surgery procedures and a free, celebrity-style wedding. It is ridiculously hilarious, but I just can’t stop watching it!! I highly recommend it if you like reality TV. It’s my guilty pleasure.

Ohh, I’m 100% in the wedding planning mood!! We’ve got a trip coming up in a couple weeks to go look at venues, and I’m soooo excited!!!! I just can’t wait!! I’ve been waiting for this trip for about 4 months! We’ve been working on the guest list and have cut it down from 100+ to 87. That will allow us to have a much nicer event. Prices are just outrageous! I’ll probably never get over the sticker shock.

Anyway, this post is becoming really long and not at all tea related. This genmaicha was okay. I wasn’t floored by it, but it wasn’t terrible either. Of course, it’s always an interesting experience when you go into Teavana. I only bought a cup of this to have in the store. I was really feeling like a genmaicha, and I hadn’t had any tea that morning.

I ordered one cup, which cost about $5.50. The lady making it asked if I wanted it hot or cold, sweet or unsweet. I replied hot and unsweet. She said, “Okay, well just let me know if you change your mind. That one can be a little…mreh unsweetened.” Thank goodness she wasn’t looking at me, so she didn’t see me roll my eyes. A couple minutes later she handed me the cup. I could tell just from holding it that she must have brewed it with nearly boiling water. I said thanks and asked how she had prepared it. She replied, “Well, the water comes out at about 205 and I added 4 ice cubes. So, it’s supposed to be 175 but I didn’t really measure it or anything.” She said this perfectly nonchalant as if it didn’t matter that she was admitting she put literally no effort into making my tea. That was kind of bold of her. But I knew I wasn’t going to be making any new friends at Teavana anyway. Really, who adds sugar to an unflavored green tea before even trying it?!

We walked out and went about our shopping. The tea was perfect without sugar, so I’m glad I followed my instinct there. It was roasty toasty with a nice grassy flavor underneath. Overall, a success despite the slightly too hot water. That only added a little bit of bitterness to the tea, but at a tolerable level.

After the mall, we went to go see The Cabin in the Woods. After all the raves it received, I had pretty high expectations. It definitely wasn’t a bad movie, but it wasn’t that surprising either. The twists and turns were predictable to me, and it was more of a comedy than a horror flick. It definitely wasn’t your standard psycho killer/slasher movie. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Okay, that’s the end of my un-tea related rant! Thanks for listening, and now I’m off to make lunch!

had this at my aunt’s house this afternoon and it was ok…

i liked that the flavor imparted by the toasted rice but as with the grocery store genmaicha i have at home, the green tea flavor was faint (i really am a black tea lover).

wasnt able to gauge the temp when i poured so it may have been hotter than it should’ve and maybe i didnt time it well enough. but i kinda liked the overall taste of the one at home better. i will try to steep this better on my next visit :)

I’m a sucker for a quality genmaicha, so when I found this one at 75% off last week I couldn’t leave it behind. Today I finally broke into it, and mmmm, I’m glad I got some. I did my first steep as per Teavana’s instructions, and while it was nice, it wasn’t that amazing flavour I’d been hoping to find. Determined, I did a second steep of the leaves at 85C for 75 seconds. This cup now is exactly the flavour I’d been hoping for. The rich greens flavoured gyokuro compliments the genmaicha deliciously, making it a nutty buttery brew of awesome. I’m hoping now I can get a third steep out of this one now before bed!