191 Tasting Notes
I’m doing my own Sipdown today since, despite my best intentions of sipping down yesterday, had a disastrous food and beverage day. First up is Butiki Tea’s Genmaicha, which I got as a sample from a recent order.
This is my first genmaicha, and I’m intrigued. I can smell the toastiness wafting off the mug as I type. It is rather pleasant, and totally unlike what I’ve experienced in a green tea before. The brew delivers on the promised toastiness—it is delicious! I really get the taste of the rice from the drink. The couple little pieces of popped corn I think I get more on the scent end. This is one of the few teas I’ve had where I can say “Yes! I taste what I’m supposed to taste!” This would be a great after dinner drink on one of those days when you’ve eaten just right, and don’t need any digestifs. A pre-prebedtime tea. This feels rather like comfort food for me. Its warm, savory, and delicious.
This is definitely going to go on my shopping list. There will be more in my future.
Preparation
Post dinner cuppa for my husband and I while we caught up on the Daily Show from last night. After reading all these reviews that talked about how sweetener really makes this tea shine, I bit the bullet and added some sugar to my tea to see if it really brought out the chocolately/desserty flavors. Well, all I got was sweet. Sweet taste, sweet aftertaste. Blergh. Not my thing. I wonder if maybe it doesn’t taste more chocolate-esque for other people when it has been sweetened just because sweet and chocolate rather go together. For most people, chocolate is sweet, and so the chocolate flavor becomes more pronounced by the very fact that when adding sugar, you’ve added an essential component of the “chocolate expectation”. I don’t really get chocolate, even with the addition of sweetener. Mostly coffee. I like coffee. Okay, I’m tired, I’m on the cusp of babbling. Clearly it is time to go to bed.
Preparation
Still spicy and cidery. The cardamom really came through on this steep, more assertively than on past preparations. Maybe it needed a slightly longer steep time. I steeped for four minutes, rather than the recommended three. The ginger was also more readily apparent on this steep.I might try doubling the mix next time to see if I get a more full-on nutty and less baked apple taste, which is what I get when following the directions.
I’m ratcheting the rating down a little bit, I feel like I should get more from this tea than I actually do. More strength, more nuttiness, just more in general.
Preparation
Not as bold as I’d imagined (I think I imagined it more like an English Breakfast), but not bitter, either. And that is the more important of the two, methinks. It is a lovely flavor. My first sip, I was rather “meh”, but the more I’ve sipped it, the more it has wormed its way into my heart palate.
Preparation
Chose this as an after dinner tea since I wasn’t feeling so hot. The ginger and mint are apparent immediately, an interesting combination that I wasn’t sure I’d like but it seems to work, go figure. I get a vague sense of citrus, like many others, though I’m not sure if I’m getting it because other reviewers have said they got it, or if its because I actually “got it” myself. I think I like it, especially an after-dinner/before-bed tisane. I’m not sure I’d be into it at other times.
