Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! I’m back again today with another Let’s Talk Tea post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Green Tea House’s – Genmaicha w/ Matcha (Teabags). Those of you who know me well will know that I love Genmaicha and that I drink an awful lot of it. So when I saw that Green Tea House had included this in the package of teas they sent me to try I honestly couldn’t have been more excited because I just knew I was going to love it. Surprisingly I don’t actually have much Genmaicha in my tea collection/stash; I thought I had loads but I must have gone through all of what I had while I’ve been working on my sip down over the last few months and not realised. Luckily, this arrived at just the right time and I’m so happy to have a Genmaicha back in my collection/stash.

The unique thing about this Genmaicha is that the Sencha and the rice are both dusted with Matcha. I’ve only ever had one had Genmaicha that’s been dusted with Matcha before and the added Matcha seemed to overpower the Sencha/Bancha base, so I was excited to see what it added to the overall flavour profile of this blend and see if it was a much more balanced. I’ve also never had Genmaicha teabags and I’ll be honest before I opened up the packet they came in I was a little bit worried that they were going be low quality and there wasn’t going to be enough space in the bags for the tea but I was very wrong and you’ll see why soon.Here’s what Green Tea House themselves have to say about the Genmaicha on their website: ”Genmaicha pyramid tea bags with Sencha and Matcha and puffed brown Rice to give a distinct flavour from the hills of Uji Japan where the best green teas are grown. | 65% Sencha, 30% Puffed Brown Rice and 5% Matcha”.

Ingredients: Green Tea (Sencha + Matcha), Puffed Brown Rice.

Tea Tasting Notes

The Genmaicha base is smooth with a sweet, nutty contribution from the toasted rice. Pleasantly sweet – it seems to happily glide across the palate! The flavour is much less vegetative than almost all other Genmaicha teas I’ve tried. The Matcha seems to add a pleasantly sweet note which means that there is very little bitterness in the cup. The Sencha is lightly fruity, fresh and has a deliciously mellow vegetal note. I’ve found that Genmaicha, especially with Matcha, usually hides the Sencha/Bancha base, but not this one. It perfectly balanced and by far the best Genmaicha w/ Matcha that I’ve ever had. It’s like a toasty, buttery snack with a fresh-veggie element from the green tea.Normally I have to add just a little bit of honey to Genmaicha to balance out / calm down the strong roasted rice notes and the overpowering vegetal notes but that was not the case with this one. The Sencha is slightly fruity and the Matcha is slightly sweet they seem to provide just the right amount of natural sweetness that balances the more savoury notes out and make this such a pleasant tea to drink. Since doing this tasting session a week ago I’ve had at least a cup of this a day and I’m very close to finishing all of the bag I was sent (14 bags in total). As soon as my sip down in finished and I need to add more Genmaicha to my collection/stash this will be the one I pick up. Normally I wouldn’t go for a bagged Genmaicha but this one is fantastic and I actually love that it’s bagged because the bags are huge an I can steep them twice. I would highly recommend this blend to anyone who love Genmaicha and is yet to try one dusted with Matcha it’s a whole new experience. I also think these would be great for travelling.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

If you want to find out more about Green Tea House or purchase some of these Genmaicha teabags for yourself, you can do both here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley