Light And Floral: ‘green’ Oolong
Fine oolongs from China and Taiwan are some of the most labor-intensive teas to produce in the world, but the rewards are many: brews brimming with sweetness, complex aromas, and deep rounded qualities. This is an enormous category of tea, but I’d suggest starting with one of the lighter varieties, what’s sometimes referred to as “green” oolongâdried without any roasting so its aromas are powerful right from the start.
If you’re into big fragrances with notes of honey, vanilla, fresh flowers, and sweet grass, these are the teas for you, particularly those grown at high elevations that embody the misty, airy qualities of those mountain peaks. One popular gateway oolong is the jin xuan cultivar developed in Taiwan in the 1980s, also known as “milk oolong” for its sweet, buttery, and creamy character that’s shockingly reminiscent of a cup of milk tea or freshly buttered scones. This tea is made for re-steeping, and its flavor and aroma will change over the course of several brews.
There’s plenty of junk jin xuan out there, some of which is processed with milk powder for a more obvious milky aroma at the expense of a terrible brew. So make sure you get it from a trustworthy vendor; Eco-Cha and offer exemplary versions.
Learn About Our Tea For Trees Campaign
Our Tea for Trees campaign creates a sustainable model that restores one of our most precious resources while offsetting the paper used in our products. Weve partnered with The National Forest Foundations Trees for Us, a program that annually plants millions of trees throughout our national forests. By giving back whenever possible, Buddha Teas strives to honor the earth and its many blessings. Help us plant trees while enjoying an unadulterated tea thats healthy for you and our planet.
By giving back whenever possible, Buddha Teas strives to honor the earth and its many blessings. Help us plant trees while enjoying an unadulterated tea thats healthy for you, and our planet. Read more about it here.
What Is Japanese Genmaicha Tea
Genmaicha consists of Japanese tea leaves with toasted or roasted rice, which brings a nutty flavor to the brew. Matcha can also be added to smooth out the flavor and produce a rich green hue. Youll know that matcha has been added to your genmaicha if the rice has a green coating instead of looking plain brown.
Historically, the addition of brown rice was associated with tougher times since the rice was added as a filler to stretch the remaining tea throughout the winter until the spring harvest came again. However, the unique flavor and appeal of genmaicha later grew in popularity and became widely enjoyed.
If youre caffeine conscious, one burning question you may have is, Does genmaicha have caffeine? The answer is yes, but it contains less than most other Japanese green teas. Since the composition of genmaicha is *split between tea and rice the result is less caffeine.
*Note: The proportion of tea leaves versus rice in genmaicha is usually 50/50, but it depends on the manufacturer.
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Toasty And Nutty: Genmaicha
Lots of tea drinkers start out with genmaicha for a few reasons. Its taste is bold but accessible. It’s nearly bulletproof to brew. And it’s damn cheap and easy to find; some Japanese groceries sell it by the quarter pound for just a few bucks.
Genmaicha is made by combining inexpensive late-season Japanese green tea with grains of toasted rice. The tea leaves bring a smooth, verdant verve to the brew, while the rice adds tons of toasted nut flavors, which together make for a clean but full-flavored drink a little like light roast coffee crossed with popcorn. I turn to genmaicha when I want an easygoing daily drinking tea, or after I’ve eaten a heavy meal; its mellow, toasted richness makes it a perfect digestive aid.
Since it’s so affordable and widely available, lots of large tea shops sell genmaicha, and most of it is pretty solid. The version in the photo above, from the American Tea Room, gets its green tinge from a dusting of matcha . The matcha there doesn’t impact the flavor too heavily, but it makes for a more full bodied brew.
Next up: If you like the green and nutty vibe of genmaicha, you’ll probably enjoy longjing, a.k.a. Dragon Well, a pricier Chinese green full of spring vegetable flavors rounded out by kicks of chestnut.
What Is Japanese Tea
From sencha and other straight green teas to roasted hojicha tea, genmaicha tea with roasted brown rice to matcha green tea powder for the Japanese tea ceremony, Japanese tea is a rich and varied world that is holding increasing amounts of fascination for tea enthusiasts here in the UK.
The vast majority of tea drunk in Japan is some form of green tea. All green tea, from the standard brews to the best green teas in Japan and other countries, is packed to the brim with health benefits. As well as the small amounts of caffeine some of us need in the morning to get started with the day, green tea also contains plenty of antioxidants for body function and protection, amino acids that aid caffeine in brain function without causing the jittery buzz of coffee, compounds that aid in weight loss and weight management, and anti-aging agents that are particularly good for the skin.
Read on to find out more about different Japanese teas, the numerous health benefits of green tea, and how to make each type of tea properly to derive the best flavour. If you are wondering where to buy Japanese tea items, including loose teas, teabags, matcha tea powder, matcha tea sets, Japanese tea cups and other teaware, take a look at japancentre.coms Tea and Teaware sections for one of the biggest ranges of Japanese green tea UK-wide.
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Organic Genmaicha Green Tea
Our organic Genmaicha offers a unique savory, toasted flavor and aroma with light body and limited bitterness. It blends a mixture of organic green tea and organic toasted brown rice . This traditional organic loose leaf tea is very popular in Japan for everyday use and was popularized during WWII to help stretch the tea supply. Our organic genmaicha grown in the Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan is a slightly different style than our previous offering. It has a stronger toasted flavor note and a greater ratio of rice kernel to tea leaf. As is customary with most Japanese teas, our new Organic Genmaicha exhibits mixed grading with a leaf reminiscent of Sencha style.
Ingredients: organic Japanese green tea and organic brown rice
Why Choose Buddha Teas
Buddha Teas searches the world for the very best herbs, flowers, spices, and teas to incorporate into our blended and single herb wellness products. We NEVER use additives or natural flavorings. Instead, we use substantial quantities of key ingredients to ensure our products have optimal efficacy. During our exploration for the best, we found that living in harmony with nature is ideal. We’ve realized that any time we need nature to provide for us, we must give something back. Sustainably harvesting and keeping waste and pollution at a bare minimum made sense to us. Buddha Teas is 100% chemical free, from our bleach free tea bags to our utilization of soy-based ink for our labels and beautifully colored tea boxes. When you buy Buddha Teas, youre not only enjoying a flavorful, hand-crafted, all-natural tea but you will also feel peace of mind knowing that you are buying your tea from a company that gives back to our magnificent planet.
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How To Make Genmaicha Tea
by Ishani Boselast updated – July 12, 2020 Evidence Based
Before we begin our day, it is a morning routine for most of us to wake up and grab a cup of piping hot tea. The beverage acts as a mood enhancer, energy intensifier, and an immunity booster something we need to begin our day on a good note. One such tea that meets all these criteria is definitely genmaicha tea. A Japanese green tea variant, genmaicha tea, has a strong and distinctly nutty flavor, which can be enjoyed both cold and hot. But how do you make this tea at home and how do you store it? Let us find out.
Rich And Savory: Sencha
The archetypical Japanese green tea is sencha, and when done well, it’s one of the most intense greens out there. The good stuff is downright soupy and lipsmacking, with sweet blasts of spinach, cream, or pine all tempered by just a hint of bitterness. If you want a taste of what premium green tea is like, sencha is a perfect place to start.
Unlike the lower grade leaves used to make genmaicha, the best sencha comes from spring harvests. The season’s cooler temperatures make for a more flavorful and nuanced tea, which should taste and smell like the concentrated essence of spring, all green vegetables and crisp, sweet air.
Spring’s cooler temperatures mean slower growth and lower yields, and thus higher prices. When it comes to Japanese tea, price maps pretty well to quality, and there’s a lot of low grade cheap sencha out there that, while totally fine to drink, isn’t mindblowing like the good stuff. You can get excellent sencha from shops like Ippodo, O-Cha, and Kettl.
Next up: Once you’ve developed a taste for sencha, you can start exploring even spiffier Japanese greens, such as the shade-grown gyokuro, kabusecha, and matcha, all of which deliver even more profound soupy-sweet vegetal flavors.
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Benefits Of Genmaicha Tea
The tea is a form of green tea, which is blended with roasted brown rice. Like any other green tea, it is rich in antioxidants and has numerous health benefits, which include;boosting immunity, a likely reduction in the risk of cancer, a potential fall in cholesterol levels that eventually helps improve cardiac health, and so on. To know about its benefits in detail, read our article on,11 Incredible Green Tea Benefits.
Genmaicha Green Tea Organic
Genmaicha is a traditional Japanese blend featuring green tea blended with roasted brown rice. This organic green tea has toasty, nutty, cereal-like notes mixed with a pleasant mild flavor, sweet yet slightly earthy. During the firing of the rice, kernels sometimes burst open, which lends them a popcorn-like appearance. This tea is low in caffeine.
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Japan Centre Tea Subscription
If you require a cup or several of Japanese green tea tokeep you going, japancentre.coms tea subscription service might be just whatyou are looking for. By subscribing to this special service you will be able toget your favourite Japanese tea delivered regularly to your door, and neverhave to worry about running out of Japanese tea again.
As well as being ultra convenient, a japancentre.com teasubscription will also save you money. All subscribers receive 50% off the standardUK Mainland delivery charge for each order, a 30% discount on their tea withevery third order, and japancentre.com loyalty points with every processedpayment.
Find out more by clicking below.
What Is Genmaicha Tea
While genmaicha is relatively new to the Western world, where it’s seen as a speciality tea with a complex flavour profile, in Japan this green tea has been consumed for centuries mostly by the poor and by Buddhist monks during periods of fasting.
Genmaicha means ‘brown rice tea’; in the days when green tea was a luxury few could afford, the addition of rice bulked it out and made it affordable for the working classes. The fact that the roasted rice imparted a delicious toasty quality to this distinctive cup of green tea only cemented its popularity little wonder it became known in Japan as ‘the people’s tea’.
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How Is Genmaicha Produced
The production of the tea leaves that go into genmaicha depend on the kind of leaves that are added. In most cases, bancha or sencha are used, but these days hojicha and even gyokuro can be added.
The other half of genmaicha is toasted rice. Before being added to the tea leaves, the rice goes through a five-step preparation process:
Some people may refer to Genmaicha as Popcorn Tea since the toasted rice sometimes resembles popcorn kernels. The rice popcorn is a nod to the past. Previously, it was hard to regulate the temperature in the traditional roasting process, which causes the rice to pop.
These days, with modern machinery enabling better temperature regulation, popped rice is added in genmaicha for aesthetic purposes. Yet,a majority of unpopped rice is ideal since it has a stronger aroma and flavor.
What People Say About Our Genmaicha With Matcha
This is an excerpt of a review from Ricardo Caicedo of My Japanese Green Tea:
The nutty aroma of the roasted rice becomes very apparent, and we now have an emerald liquor. It looks great.
Now the final test. I take a sip and feel the gentle taste of the roasted rice along with the deep and savory taste of matcha. The tea leaves add almost no astringency and the bitterness is very light.
As with any genmaicha, its very easy to drink.
I also made a second infusion and the taste was just like the first infusion. Its an overall good tea.
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Golden And Fruity: Himalayan Black Tea
Black tea is where most Western tea drinkers begin, and your typical tea bag black tea, the kind that make up blends like English Breakfast, comes from all over the world, but the basic script is the same: something dark, malty, and heavy on the tannins. Much of it brews up so strong it’s practically designed to be drank with milk. But if you want something more nuanced and subtle with less astringency, it’s time to look high up in the Himalayan mountains.
The teas grown thousands of feet in the air in India and Nepal deliver astonishingly complex flavors with deep aromas and long-lasting finishes. The most famousâand expensiveâof these teas come from Darjeeling, but lesser known regions nearby also produce excellent tea. Expect moody fruitiness with accents of sweet wine or dark chocolate, along with honeyed, delicately floral flavors in batches with lots of young leaves and unopened buds.
Himalayan tea goes marvelously with milk, but it’s also good enough to drink straightâwell rounded for a nice daily drinker but with plenty to hold your interest. Be sure to seek out large leaves produced in the “orthodox” style; tiny flecks of cheaper “crush-tear-curl” tea are lower quality with coarser flavors. In Pursuit of Tea and Simpson & Vail offer commendable options.
The Origins Of Our Supreme Japanese Genmaicha Green Tea
Key to the distinctive appeal of this toasty, nutty brew is its underlying grassy sweetness, which comes from the premium-quality Japanese green tea leaves. Harvested from July to August on the Pacific coast of Honshu, the leaves for our Supreme Genmaicha are plucked young from the traditional Yabukita cultivar of Camellia sinensis, then gently hand-rolled and dried. Grains of roasted rice some of which ‘pop’ during the roasting process are then added to the mix, resulting in this eye-catching blend of green, gold and white textures, which brews to a beautifully clear, pale-yellow infusion.
A winner at the Great Taste Awards, this luxury single-origin Sencha should be enjoyed without the addition of milk or sweeteners so you can fully appreciate its mild nuttiness from the roasted brown rice and hints of fresh-cut grass.
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Make Your Own Genmaicha Tea
Im a coffee drinker that also loves tea. When I chat with other coffee drinkers they often dont share my love for tea. One of the big reasons I believe is that often their only experience is with low grade bagged tea or that dreadful Genmaicha tea served at many sushi restaurants. In a future article, Ill extend my hand and guide the coffee enthusiast into the world of quality loose leaf tea. For this post, Im just going to tackle Genmaicha.
Genmaicha tea is a Japanese green tea that is blended with toasted brown rice. The history of the tea was that poor families added the rice to stretch out the tea and save money. I believe the toasted rice also serves a secondary function and that is to cover up defects in the tea itself. The most common defect being staleness.
Earlier this year, if you would have asked me what my least favorite tea was, I would have said Genmaicha. Then I challenged my assumptions. What if I made my own at home and got each step right? Would it be enjoyable?
Now I know some people who;like the Genmaicha tea served at restaurants. Good for you. I think it is nasty and can be greatly improved when you make your own. Ive discovered 4 reasons why Genmaicha tea can taste awful.
How To Make Japanese Tea
Japanese green teas are, in general, more delicate than the black teas we in the UK are more used to making and drinking. As such, their flavour can vary dramatically depending on the temperature of the water while the tea is brewing, as well as how long the tea is brewed. To get the best flavour out of the different varieties of green tea, it is important to know how to prepare each type properly.
Sencha Green Tea
To get the best flavour out of sencha, it should be brewed for one minute in water with a starting temperature of 80°C. To bring freshly boiled water down to 80°C, the water is best poured into an open-topped vessel such as a jug, and left to stand for 1-2 minutes before it is poured into a teapot containing loose tea leaves or a teacup containing a sencha teabag. If a teapot is being used to make sencha, it is important that a strainer or infuser is used and the tea leaves lifted out after one minute. When sencha is brewed for too long it becomes very bitter.
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