Strawberry Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha

I’ve had this tea for a couple of weeks and am not sure what to do to it to bring forth the promised strawberry notes. The first time I had it, I brewed it like a green (around 175 at 3 minutes) and got a very faint strawberry with a very strong genmaicha flavor. Today I tried brewing it for 30 seconds with boiling water and got a nice marshmallow flavor with less of a strong green tea flavor, but no strawberry to be found.

I have to say I am a bit disappointed since strawberry is the first word of this blend. I was really expecting a lot more strawberry flavor from this though it isn’t a bad genmaicha. I’ll keep experimenting with it. If anyone has a recommended steeping method please let me know and I’ll definitely revise the rating if I can find a way to make this a bit better. I’m not sure why my experience seems to be different than the other tasters. Perhaps it is possible my bag had fewer strawberries, I didn’t see that many in the pouch.

Wow, this tea has a great strawberry flavor! Like I mixed freeze fried strawberries into my rice cripies! The dry leaf smells really strong and bubble gum red, but the steeped tea has a great natural strawberry flavor. It’s fruity sweet, but a little tart just like the real berry.

I generally find 52 Teas’ creations has more focus on the tea, with the flavor being a fun addition, but Strawberry MTGMC has quite a strong berry flavor, with the tea being closer to the background.

A fun tea that would appeal to fruity tea drinkers and kids! This tea is up there on my favorite Marshmallow treat teas from 52 Teas.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/marshmallow-treat-genmaicha-strawberry-peanut-butter-52-teas/

I’m in a lot of trouble guys. My cupboard is back over 200 different teas. O_O I’m definitely going to have to start a new sipdown extravaganza. I think I only made it to #24 on the last one before insanity took over. *Sigh.

ANYHOO…I have been neglecting my tea stash a lot lately. Oh, it’s been growing. But I haven’t been drinking it. LOL! So even though I got home super late tonight, I’m exhausted, and all I want to do is wash my face and crawl into bed, I am going to drink some tea damn it!

The dry leaf aroma is a little wonky. It’s strongly chemical smelling. I’ve had this happen before with 52teas’ blends, and I find that the chemical aroma dissipates if left alone for a week or two. So, I’m not overly concerned at the moment. I think it’ll calm down soon.

In my opinion, 52teas has been kind of chintzy on the toasted rice in their genmaicha blends in the past. Well, that is NOT the case with this one! It is chock full of toasted rice and popped kernels, along with plenty of marshmallow root bits and a few freeze-dried strawberry pieces. The brewed tea aroma is very buttery and toasty. It smells like the perfect genmaicha!

I steeped this one at a lower temp than usual. I think I generally steep greens at 185°. This one probably could have benefited from the extra 10 degrees. It is very light on flavor while the tea is in my mouth. But then, BAM! Flavor socks me in the mouth in the aftertaste! It’s toasty and sweet and definitely strongly strawberry. I’m getting a lovely roasted flavor from the base, as well as a recognizable marshmallow treat yum factor. It’s seriously like biting into a warm, gooey Rice Krispies treat! Then the strawberry kicks in and pulls the whole flavor profile together.

This is delicious! Mouthwateringly good. I am thoroughly enjoying this one and very glad that I picked up a pouch. Suuuuper de-lish!

First tasting note – so much pressure.

First off, thank you so much NayLynn for sending me a whole package of this tea to enjoy! I tried the original Marshmallow Treat in the bestsellers sampler pack and fell so in love with it that I ordered a whole pouch of the stuff. Then when S’mores Genmaicha was reblended, I got that too and enjoy that a great deal as well. Consequently, when this tea came out, I was so drawn to it because I love every component (Strawberry?Yum! Marshmallow? Delicious! Genmaicha? Mmmm!) and yet the cost to ship one package could not be justified. With that said, I am eternally grateful for your kindness :)

Anyways, when I got NayLynn’s swap package, my plan was to wait to open this until I got through some of my other genmaichas. That plan clearly went out the door. I didn’t even get a chance to smell the dry leaf in my excited though I will say the brewed cup smells 99% of strawberry and 1% of roasty-toasty goodness. Sipping on this tasty tea reveals a different story as the genmaicha is the more prominent flavor while the strawberry is present but subtle. All in all a very good cup.

And now I am looking at Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha…