This was a very good genmaicha; the base is a dark, wiry green tea, seems like a sencha. Interestingly, I tried it fairly soon after Octavia's genmaicha, which is my current favorite; the two teas are like night and day. This one brews up a very clear, golden-colored cup. Octavia's is much pricier and I think has a much higher grade base tea.

Both after reading E. Alex Gerster's advice, and having similar experiences with Adagio's other Japanese green teas, I opted for brief steepings, starting with 1 minute. However, I liked upping the steeping time on the second cup. I later tried Adagio's recommendations and I found the tea came out pretty similarly.

The aroma was very toasty; this was probably the toastiest genmaicha I've had. I suspect the toastiness comes both from the toasted rice and the base tea.

The first infusion had a bit of a sour flavor but other than that I really enjoyed it. The tea made two infusions easily.

I thought this tea was overpriced. I enjoyed it less than Adagio's kukicha, and it was significantly more expensive, and as a tea that contains a large portion of toasted rice kernels, a very cheap product, I know it tends to cost a lot less than pure green teas. $14 for 4 ounces is way too much for this type of tea, given its quality.

Thank you E. Alex Gerster for this one!

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