Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha

While updating my teatiff.com website I decided I need a cuppa. It’s hard to do anything that involves tea without actually drinking a cup. I had yet to open my new pack of this and since I haven’t tried it for a few years I figured now was a good time. Though I feel anxious because I haven’t had any flavored tea in a while. The aroma is sweet. I thought it smelled a little artificial at first but I just had to give my nostrils time to adjust. Sweet brown rice. Caramel corn. Tapioca pudding. Flavor: A little bit too sweet for my taste as I generally prefer my genmai as is but for those who prefer flavored you will highly enjoy this tea. It is sweet enough that you don’t have to add any sugar but could still work as a latte for those who like to ‘milk up’ their tea. The toasty notes still hold up as the tea enters your mouth and then changes to a marshmallow-infused flavor. There is a slight astringency, as to be expected, but it helps give the tea a better body. I am going to try it as a latte later.
http://teatiff.com/2021/01/26/52-teas/

YUMMMM. Oh, I really like this one. :) The dry leaf smells intensely of vanilla, sugar, marshmallow. Once the hot water hits, that continues but the roasty toasty notes of the genmaicha are added in. The aroma translates well into the flavour, and the tea is quite sweet (I actually pulled up the website to see if there was some kind of sweetener in this) and creamy and delicious. The green tea base is subtle and in the background – no bitterness or astringency.

Am I out of my Vulcan mind for drinking this with my breakfast? No, because I am not Vulcan :)
Okay… So being in Tokyo this year I was able to taste a lot of genmiacha teas. This tea does more than justice… It has this sweetness that is not too much. I really enjoy the powderyness of this, whatever it is :p I may just have to reup with this coupon!

This is my first time trying genmaicha.

I am guessing I am not a fan of genmaicha. So, please keep that in mind with reading this review. What is not MY cup of tea could very well be YOURS!

This smells incredible! Seriously, it smells just like a Rice Krispy Treat! It does not taste like it smells, which is unfortunate.

I couldn’t even finish a cup, and I’m sad to say that. So far, I’ve been impressed with the other 3 samples I’ve gotten from the NEW 52teas! I plan to order more.

You know, being a creature of the internet (now you know the real reason I panicked when my computer died, I am literally made of internet) means that I tend to follow the various silly trends. #TBT (or Throw Back Thursday for those not hashtag savvy) is pretty much what it says on the tin, usually you post a selfie/photo of yourself taken a long time ago, and I thought, I should apply that to my blog. Basically it is my plan to make Thursday the day that I visit one of the neglected teas languishing in my stack of tea notebooks. I had originally planned on this being a Friday thing, but it didn’t feel right, so clearly I just needed the right meme. Also, I leveled up, tonight is game night and I can turn into animals (as long as they don’t fly, swim, or are too powerful) now, go Wild Shape!

So, before I get into today’s #TBT I want to point out an awesome Kickstarter that is currently in the works, Frank, the original creator of 52Teas is handing over the reigns to mother-daughter team Anne and Amethyst, you might know Anne as the cofounder of SororiTea Sisters, a very prolific tea blog, so you know that she knows her teas! I have been very hit or miss with 52teas flavors (very much so the nature of the beast when you come up with some of those wacky blends, once a week) but I am super excited to see how things go. Good luck you two, and to Frank with Southern Boys Iced Tea! So on to today’s tea, it was part of the sampler I ordered during the Indiegogo campaign and I won’t lie, it was the one I was most excited for because it has my much loved marshmallow root! Yes, I am talking about none other than Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha, as a person who has made and then subsequently eaten entire batches of rice crispy treats, you can see why I was excited. The aroma is sweet and slightly nutty with toasted rice, and a distinct note of grass. It reminds me a bit of laying in the grass while sniffing a rice crispy treat, the green notes are odd but not at all off putting, just like eating dessert in nature.

Steeping the tea is quite a treat, the aroma is rather delightful and intense. Notes of richly roasted rice and sweet marshmallow drift up from the soggy leaves (Genmai Cha always looks so sad once it is soggy) there is also a hint of grass and a bit of a savory note from both the rice and the green tea. The liquid without its soggy friends is all rice crispy treat all the time, no green tea to be found, just warm gooey marshmallows and toasted rice.

It is an odd mingling of flavors, this tea. Starting out with slightly kelp and slightly nutty umami tones along with a hint of grass, then the roasted rice builds and then boom, marshmallow explosion! It is really quite sweet and very evocative of rice crispy treats, but with a green tea twist. Something about the umami tones and the sweetness from the marshmallow mixes really well, the umami keeps the marshmallow from being too sweet and the marshmallow keeps the tea from being too savory, it is a balancing act. The finish is one of marshmallow, it lingers for quite a while making for a happy me. So yeah, of all the 52teas blends I have tried, this one might be my favorite, its other competition being the other marshmallow root teas, can you tell I have a fixation on that root?

For blog and (kinda awful) photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/52teas-marshmallow-treat-genmaicha-tea.html

Sipdown of a tea that makes me smile for ashmanra’s sipdown prompt. Sometimes I don’t key the steep in quite right, but when I do this is a rock-solid classic. I just love the combo of the chewy, creamy marshmallow leaf with the roasted rice flavor of the genmaicha. Plus I can tell myself it’s ok to drink this at 6pm and I’ll still be able to sleep tonight because there are enough fillers that it can’t possibly be all that caffeinated, right?

This is a tea that I’ve been really curious about for a while now, so I’m so excited that I got some in my swap from Roswell Strange! Thanks so much! I love marshmallow treats, and I love genmaicha, so obviously this one is a must-try. Visually, it pretty much looks like any other genmaicha, but with the addition of some mallow root pieces. There are a lot of rice kernels, along with a few popped ones. For some reason, the dry leaf smell like black walnuts to me, and I hate black walnuts. Possibly some scent contamination since there were several flavored teas in the envelope, but I’m not sure! None of the others really smell like black walnuts to me, so… Who knows? Anyway!

The brewed tea mostly smells like toasted rice, maybe with a little touch of vanilla in there. I tasted it sans sweetener and I found it mostly tasted like a plain ol’ genmaicha, albeit with extra toasty rice. So then I added sugar, and that definitely helped it to taste more like its namesake. The sweetness really helped the marshmallow/vanilla flavor to come out and play, yum! There’s a buttery taste – I’m not sure whether it’s flavoring or from the green tea itself. The green tea is there a little bit in the background, it mostly manifests as an autumn leafy taste and a slight grassiness.

Overall, I can definitely get the marshmallow treat reference once sugar is added. After all, marshmallows are mostly just sugar themselves. This is toastier than a marshmallow treat, but I think I would very much enjoy one made with toasted grains! Thanks again, Roswell Strange! I really appreciate the chance to try this one, since it’s discontinued. Luckily, I don’t quite love it enough to try to get ahold of some.

Sipdown (128)!

Heavily over leafed ‘cause if I hadn’t added extra leaf then my next cup would have been underleafed. Don’t you hate when the last bit of tea leaf doesn’t split up nicely? Taste wise this was lovely; very heavy on the cream/marshmallow aspects. Had a little bit of a powdery feeling though? Maybe from the extra leaf?

And, on a sadder note…

On my way home yesterday I had my empty double walled glass tumbler that I steep my “on the way to work” teas in tossed in my backpack, and after I got off the bus I was walking the two blocks to my house. It’s been absolutely gorgeous all week so the crap load of snow we’ve had has been melting really steadily, but since it was late at night the temperature had dropped a lot and all the melted snow had become this horrible, horrible slick of ice coating the entire sidewalk.

I was trying to walk carefully, but of course I slipped – and landed on my backpack. I heard the crunch, but wasn’t able to confirm it until I had gotten home; my poor tumber was just shattered! I do have a second, but the now broken one was the nicer one – it didn’t leak, and had a prettier pattern on it.

:(

Got this in a swap with Veronica! (You’re the best, THANK YOU!)

First sip, I fell in love. Nutty, roasty rice flavor, a very present green sencha flavor, then right when I was starting to wonder where the marshmallow was…BAM. Completely took me by surprise and completely floored me. It started with this faint creaminess, like a slow, soft hum. It built up gradually until the flavor completely covered my tongue. It reminded me of biting into a rice krispie bar. Absolutely sweet, delicious, and surprisingly potent.

The green tea was a touch bitter. I accidentally went over temp with my water. Sadly, I couldn’t finish my cup because of this strange pervasive “soapy” taste. What on earth? I don’t know if it was because there was residual soap in the cup, if it was because of water temperature, contamination or WHAT. I’m so upset with myself.

I refuse to blame the tea.

No rating until I try it again. I’ll be waiting anxiously for a re-blend.

Gods, I adore genmaichas…there’s something about the melding of toasty rice and grassy greens that I find intensely comforting. With this blend you get the added layer of sweet and smooth marshmallow (both roots and flavouring, I think) woven in between the familiar notes…

My only real complaint is that it gets sorta bitter and astringent as it cools and that clashes with the sweetness of the marshmallow. It might be better as an iced tea and for that reason I’m going to have to knock the rating down a bit.

Not sure it’s my favourite tea ever, but I’ll probably drink it intermittently.