First off, a HUGE thanks to Nicole for arranging a group buy and doing the work of dividing the tea, packaging and mailing it all out!!!
The description of this tea says that it has black tea in it, but I mostly saw green, so I steeped it at a lower temp for a shorter time than the company recommends since I’m a little gunshy about burning my teas into a bitter oblivion. First thing I notice is a toasted rice flavor. It is a little heavier of a taste than most genmaichas, almost roasty. The mango rolls in on the aftertaste, combining with the rice, giving it that mango sticky rice flavor combo. It makes me long for good Thai food, something which we lack in Texas. We have okay Thai food in Austin, but not fantastic. Back to the tea! The flavor is subtle, but it’s in there.
Adding sugar…
Adding a little sugar to this tea makes the mango jump out sooner and explode on the aftersip with a little bit of a creamy mellowness. I really haven’t been adding sugar to my teas lately, so it’s is taking a little adjustment for my brain to register. I feel it is more true to the dessert with sugar added and I can almost imagine the sweetened condensed milk.
Adding creamer…
I’m on a soy creamer kick lately, so I had to add a little at the end of my cup. The first few sips with creamer were a little tasteless on the sip, but represented the dessert very well on the aftertaste. A few more sips in, my taste has adjusted and it is tasting really good with the cream! The flavor is still more subtle than the flavored black teas that I’m used to, but it is really nice.
I’m quite enjoying this tea and would definitely order more in the future! The mango is mellow, but true to the flavor of this fruit and doesn’t taste artificial at all. Genmaichas do well cold brewed and I’m looking forward to trying this cold steeped in my fridge, especially now that the summer is creeping in.
oh yummmmmmy