Country of Origin: Japan
Leaf Appearance: dark green, somewhat flat with lots of genmai
Ingredients: Yanagi Bancha, toasted sweet mocha rice
Steep time: 3 minutes
Water Temperature: 195 degrees
Preparation Method: ceramic teapot
Liquor: greenish yellow, somewhat cloudy
I’ve always enjoyed genmaicha. It’s my go to comfort tea on a cold day and it even helped me survive Hurricane Sandy. This particular rendition is probably the best one that I’ve ever had. The taste was nutty and sweet with a buttery mouth-feel. No wonder genmaicha is called popcorn tea! I couldn’t resist snacking on a few pieces of popped genmai before steeping and they were delicious. I found this tea to be quite a bit sweeter than other genmaicha that I have tried. There was a light, refreshing astringency but there was no bitterness whatsoever. My second infusion wasn’t quite as intensely nutty but it was still very tasty. This tea was sourced from the Obubu Tea Plantations in Kyoto. Elyse from +Tealet tells me that the president and founder of Obubu, Akky, is quite a character. Make that you check out his grower profile to see his adorable video.
You can find out more about this tea here.