Ok, this is the weirdest thing…
Mr. LBG came to me as a surprise…name and instructions followed in a message (which I had forgotten about). Anyway, idk what possessed me to enter it in my catalog as a chai (this is the first time this has happened) and so I set out following the website instructions for Laoshan Village Chai! Boiled a tbsp w milk (smelled like it was burning) but tasted fine nevertheless. It was already somewhat sweet on its own but I wanted it sweeter and since I do put sugar in my chai, I added honey as recommended.
The taste of toasted rice was predominant and I thought it was weird to put rice in a chai..and then it dawned on me…checked the website, and yep, it’s a Genmaicha! lol.
So my second steep followed the directions ok..tho it was infused with some of the milk I boiled it with ^^’
Unfortunately, this mistake was not as “successful” as this tea’s origins. I taste the toasted rice but not much else :( Will update after the 3rd steep ^^’
Update: Yay, the milk washed off with the 2nd steep and now I’m getting lots of other notes with the toasted rice..hm, lemme see…the original sweetness I detected before the addition of honey, chocolate..some green-ness!…and something else I can’t place ^^
Many thanks to Ze Teamaker for sending me this surprise sample!
Update: I am still steeping it…I think it is the 5th or 6th…not complex as earlier steeps but still with the fun toasted rice flavor that I like!