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.

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