GOLD GENMAI-CHA Brown Rice Tea
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Commercial Description
Maeda-en's Traditional GOLD Genmai-cha is made with late harvest sen-cha, tossed with popped rice for that malty, nutty flavor. A great every day tea.
Brewing Instructions: (from Maeda-en)
To brew,steep 1tbsp of leaves in 8-12 oz of hot water (180-185F) for 30-60 seconds. Hot water is key for an delicious-smelling brew!
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
55 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 2/5Whiskey (45 reviews) on May. 14th, 2020
I really wasn't impressed with this. I was hopeful because the reviews I found elsewhere were good. But, this tea lacks taste and body. There's nothing to it. I even contacted Maeda-en because I thought there might be an issue with the product. It's not what I've come to expect from their brand. Their teas are usually very good. This was weak. It wasn't bad in taste. It just was really weak -- and that's after I used more tea per cup than normal (about 1/2tsp to 1tsp more per serving). I wouldn't recommend this unless they address the quality issue. It doesn't make sense to have to add more than 1Tbsp of tea just to get taste when making a cup of tea. That's saying that something is wrong.
Update: I let Maeda-en know that I wasn't happy with their Gold Genmai-cha tea and they were so kind as to send me replacements for both bags I ordered along with a bag of a different variety of genmaicha that they produce. I tried one of the replacement bags and the flavor still was very weak. It was a slight improvement, so I added some points. I also wanted to note how impressed I was with the company. I think it says a lot that they did this because they didn't have to. I'll update when I try the other bag, which has a different expiration date. I've been trying 1 Tbsp (heaping) with 80ºC water, 300ml, for 55s. That's the time I use for their gold sencha, though I use 2 tsp of tea for that and get a good taste. I should note that the very fact that I have to use more than 2 tsp for 300ml makes the tea seem weak to me. I will update if I get better results trying different brewing combinations and/or when I try the bag with the other expiration date. Even though I wouldn't recommend this particular tea at this point, I would recommend Maeda-en as a company given this experience. I felt like they really went above and beyond, and given a choice, that's the kind of company I want my money to go to.
50 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5Alex Zorach (1448 reviews) on May. 30th, 2010
A fairly strong, but light aroma, mostly of popcorn, a sort of light, toasty quality. Much less nutty than other genmaicha's. Very little tea presence in the aroma, even using a generous quantity of leaf and brewing longer than recommended. Flavor has an oddly strong savory (umami) quality...almost no bitterness and very little astringency.
Although some people might like the smoothness and simplicity of this tea, I didn't like it. I prefer more depth, more bitterness and astringency, and a much more noticeable tea aroma rather than one that is dominated by the popped rice. Also, the rice in this one really resembled popcorn and didn't have that deeper nutty or malty aroma that some genmacha has.
I don't want to come down too hard on Maeda-en because both of their teas that I've tried have been very inexpensive ones that I just stumbled upon--this one was at a friend's house--but so far I've been mildly disappointed with both. I hope to try some of their higher-end offerings soon though.
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
More Teas from Japan from Maeda-en
HOUJI-CHA Roasted Green Tea - Traditional Series
| Style: | Hojicha |
| Region: | Japan |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
