Gen Mai Cha Green

I have an open pop. I drank half. It is just not doing it for me. I want tea. My wife has some project going in the kitchen and I can’t get to the compost bowl to empty my old leaves. sigh. Oh wait, I have a couple sachets of genmaicha left. Yeah!

This is my only experience with this type tea. I don’t know if it is a good example – except LiberTEAS rated it well and that is good enough for me.

First time I tried this I had no idea what it was. It was so weird I liked it just for that reason. Later cups I learned to like it because it tastes good.

Today I left the sachet in the cup the whole time, like an amateur, just to see what happens – it wasn’t because I forgot my cozy and didn’t want to get up and get it – ok maybe it was. I won’t be able to get a second steep now but this cup had heft with its roasty nutty flavor. Yum.

This is an incredibly light Gen Mai Cha. Much lighter than other Gen Mai Cha teas that I’ve tasted. It has a wonderful nutty quality. Sweet and delicious.

I’m submitting a review for it to Tea Review Blog as I type this!

This is the first Gen Mai Cha I have tried. I’ve been curious about it for awhile, so after taking my kids to school I decided to sit down and enjoy some tea rather than attack the mountain of work I have to do. I’m good like that.

Since I mostly drink flavored black teas this cup took a bit of adjusting on my part. The strong taste of toasted rice on the first sip was not entirely pleasant, but it was quickly followed by the sweet grassy flavor of the tea. As the tea cooled the rice and grassy notes combined into an earthy flavor I really enjoyed. The aftertaste was subtle but sweet. Much better. The more the tea cooled (slightly above lukewarm) the fuller the flavor. An enjoyable tea, and one I’m sure I’ll try again.

Decent Genmaicha for a bagged tea. Toasty and the green is pretty mild. I enjoyed this but I probably wouldn’t buy it again, there are better genmaicha out there.

I have not been able to brew much tea lately, and for the most part I have been putting up with cheap-o green tea bags during my work day. Today at work, I thought I would give this genmaicha a try to liven up my 9 to 5 a little.

This was my first rodeo with a tea of this variety, and it is safe to say that it will not be my last. I steeped this sachet in about 10 oz of just under boiling water (which is the best I can manage at work). At first I was taken aback by the flavor profile of this tea, it tasted like soup, not tea. The tasting notes on the front end of the sip could best be described as slightly salty, and “oily”. On the back end of the sip, I clearly picked up some bitterness out of the green tea.

After getting accustomed to its unique flavor profile in the morning, I found myself craving more later in the day, so I helped myself to a 2nd cup. :)

This tea surprised me. Mostly because I’d never heard of Gen Mai Cha, so I was blown away when I found little, roasted rice nestled amongst green tea leaves. I had to do a little research on Gen Mai Cha because I couldn’t figure out why someone would want to brew roasted rice. According to good ol’ Wikipedia, Gen Mai Cha was drunk by poor Japanese people back in the day. The roasted rice was a filler to cut down on the cost of the tea.

I was skeptical of the tea because the scent reminded me of Honey Smacks cereal (minus most of the sweetness), and I was never too fond of Honey Smacks. This tea grew on me as is cooled down though. When the tea was still hot, all I tasted was the puffed rice, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was drinking watery porridge. This isn’t necessarily bad because I like porridge, but I would have been disappointed if that’s all it was. When the tea cooled down to a luke-warm temperature, the aroma of the green tea finally surfaced, and the flavors seemed to marry. The aroma of the roasted rice mellowed and became nice and nutty, which tasted good with the fresh and light sweetness from the green tea.

Bottom Line, Two Leaves and Bud’s Organic Gen Mai Cha is a win. Even though I’m still trying to wrap my head around puffed rice in tea, the flavors in this tea just worked, and they only got better with each sip I took.

GenMaiCha is my favorite green besides jasmine (and they are so different, so don’t think they’re similar and that’s why I like them both lol!) GenMaiCha is green tea with toasted brown rice! This one is so delicious, it has the aroma and taste of popcorn, is nutty and warm, and is just excellent paired with breakfast or a snack. I do like to call this tea popcorn tea :) I think this is one of those tastes where you love it or hate it, and I also think it’s not as appreciated a flavor in the States as it is elsewhere. But I love it.

This was my first Gen Mai Cha, and it took me a little bit to get acquainted with the taste. It kind of tastes like unbuttered popcorn, which it turns out I like somewhat. I put in a little sugar, which I thought might be weird, but I definitely liked the addition.