Zenkouen Tea Garden

TTB
I took a few sips of this while it was hot and it was a very rich and lovely roasted broth like flavor. Very umami. I walked away to do some things and came back to a cooled cup that is not as delicious. It still has a very bass roasted flavor, but some of the magic is gone. I don’t know if it’s the flavor along with the coziness of it being hot that makes it special when hot or if the flavors just transform. It’s not bad cooled off, but it does taste a little more flat. I am loving the idea of the popped rice with hojicha combo of this tea! I wish they would explore it more and do a flavored blend. I can imagine peach or some other stone fruit working well with these flavors.

2021 Homemade Advent Calendar Swap – Day 23
From Skysamurai.

I’ve let myself get behind on my Advent teas, so here I am at Day 23 on Christmas Day. I’ve had this one ready to go on the counter for the last two days trying to figure out how to steep it. I’m not too familiar with genmaicha and since this was a mix with hojicha I wasn’t sure about temperature or water:leaf ratio. I finally just went for it today and decided to steep strong and make a latte out of it, since I’ve been enjoying the hojicha lattes lately. I was immediately worried after steeping though because this may be the most savory tea I’ve ever experienced. No exaggeration. It’s so incredibly roasty and has a strong aroma of cooked dark leafy greens. It brings to mind a brothy vegetable soup. I’d already frothed my milk though and decided to just go for it, unsweetened and without any other additions. I was pretty hesitant to take that first sip, but it turned out just fine! I don’t know if the milk tempers it or if the aroma is just stronger than the taste, but it’s much better than I expected. It’s still not something I would purchase for myself, but it’s definitely an interesting mix.

Finished off this bag, and while I loved it at first, the final go was pretty disappointing. It seemed like almost all of the final serving was toasted rice, so I was missing any hojicha flavor.

Hojicha and genmaicha seem to make a perfect pairing. The toasted rice, and the mildly smoked/nuttiness of the hojicha make such a comforting cup. Caramel, hazelnut, and burnt sugar. I’m looking forward to enjoying this one at night.