Brown Rice Tea

Tea Information:

Leaf Type: Green

Where to Buy: Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations

Company Description:

Made with a little bit of luxury, Obubu’s Genmaicha (玄米茶) or Brown Rice Tea is made with 100% Japanese-grown sweet mochi rice combined with our Sencha of the Autumn Moon. The strong, sweet flavor of the roasted brown fills the air as the tea steeps and mixes with the sweetness and bitterness of the sencha to produce a delicious and natural tea.

Taster’s Review:

Genmaicha has been a long time favorite of mine. Even when I wasn’t really digging a lot of green teas (there was a time when I was not as enthusiastic about green teas as I am now), I have always found a good cup of Genmaicha to be very enjoyable.

So when I received this sample of Genmaicha, I was very eager to try it. And I am SO glad that I did! This is a delightful Genmaicha – one of the very best I’ve ever tried.

What makes this one significantly different is the Sencha base that is used. Very often, the green tea used to make a Genmaicha is a Bancha. Now, I like Bancha tea quite a bit, and even though Bancha is actually a lower grade of Sencha, Sencha and Bancha teas taste a bit different. Bancha teas tend to have a natural toasted flavor to them that stands out. While some Sencha teas that I’ve tasted do have a slight roasted/nutty quality to them, it is not as prominent as the toasted note that I get from a Bancha.

And these differences in flavor are significant when it comes to Genmaicha. As it is made by blending green tea with toasted and popped rice, there is a roasty-toasty flavor that is one of the most prominent (and appealing) characteristics of a Genmaicha tea. So, when a Genmaicha is blended using a Bancha, you compound that signature roasty-toasty flavor of the Genmaicha. But when a Genmaicha blend is made using a Sencha, the flavor becomes slightly different… slightly more complex.

The backdrop of this tea is a bittersweet flavor – not bitter … but, as I’ve described on Steepster, it is more like semi-sweet to me. It has a pleasant nuttiness that is accentuated nicely with by the popped rice, which has its own natural sweetness. It is very delicious, pleasantly sweet, and extraordinarily delicious!

Attention Genmaicha fans: this Genmaicha is NOT to be missed!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Green Tea