Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Tea Description:
Houji-Genmaicha consists of the two harmonious yet slightly contrasting taste components. It is a good alternative to sweetened coffee. It offers a comfortable toasty aroma both from roasted leaf and brown rice. The Genmai (roasted brown rice) sweetens the roasted Bancha leaves.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Sometimes, it’s hard to get what you want in this world. Sometimes, I want genmaicha at 10 o’clock at night, but I also want a good roasty, toasty, houjicha. Thank goodness for Den’s Tea. They truly have thought of everything. Now I can have my tea and drink it too.
I used my 12oz tokoname kyusu for this one. Probably overleafing it, I intitally used my typical green tea temperature at 175, but at 3 minutes, the flavor was a bit muted. I punched up the temperature to about 190, taking care to not scorch the leaves by leaving the lid uncovered. Three minutes later – I was in tea bliss. The usual clover honey sweetness and toasted barley notes of the houjicha blended so well with the rice, I couldn’t tell where it ends and I begin. There was a touch of cinnamon spice warmth to round out the cup. I should have known that a little hotter water could coax out the houji from the cha.
This tea is really the best or both worlds. It’s got the fresh-toasted rice flavor from the genmai, and it’s got the roasty flavor of houjicha. To be honest, the bancha used is not the best houjicha base I have ever tasted, but paired with the toasted rice, it makes for an amazing pairing to almost any meal, and as a great bedtime sipper.
Sencha (Pyramid Tea Bag) from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Company Description:
Den’s Tea best selling tea bag. This is the same great quality Sencha that we offer loose, with the added convenience of a tea bag. The leaves are cut, roasted and blended specifically for our tea bags. We wrap each bag in a foil pouch to insure freshness.
Taster’s Review:
I really like Sencha tea. It is a Japanese green tea that is slightly sweet, with just a hint of bitterness and very pleasantly vegetative, but not so extraordinarily grassy that it is off-putting.
This Sencha from Den’s Tea is one of the best unflavored Sencha teas that I’ve encountered. It surprises even me to say this, since this is in a pyramid tea bag! And, yet, this tea is delightful!
Although Den’s Tea does not specify which of their Sencha teas they put in their gourmet tea bags, I suspect that this is their Sencha Extra Green with Matcha. I not only taste the presence of Matcha in my cup, but, the dry pyramid emitted a slight dusty, green powder when I first opened the package, and when infused, the tea looks like a very thin Matcha tea (imagine putting an itty bitty, tiny pinch of matcha and adding 8 ounces of tea… it would probably look a bit like what is in my teacup now).
This is a light-bodied tea, but, the Matcha gives it just a little more body than it would have without it. The flavor is very bright and fresh-tasting – and as I said before, very vegetative. The vegetal quality tastes more like steamed, buttered vegetables than a grassy taste. This would be absolutely delicious paired with your favorite Asian food.
This is another tea that I received as part of the “Green Tea Novice Sampler” that Den’s Tea offers. Even if you aren’t a green tea novice (I don’t really consider myself to be one) – you should really try this sampler package. It is truly an exceptional value and even better – it’s an excellent opportunity to try some fantastic tea!
