Genmaicha

Cha Cha Tea is a little tea shop in Kingston, Ontario, run by a lovely Japanese lady (Kaoru Sato Miller). Most of what she sells is from Metropolitan Tea Co, but she does have a small collection of fresh Japanese green teas that she orders in directly from a Japanese tea garden. So this is one of those.

The dry leaf is gorgeous. The tea leaves are small, thin, a bit broken, and dark green. There is a generous amount of brown roasted rice. The scent of the dry leaf is sweet and fresh. After the hot water hits it, that’s when you get all the toasty aroma (I turned away to do something else while it was steeping, and suddenly noticed the toasty scent several steps away from where my mug was sitting on the counter).

Now. The brewing method listed on the package is as follows:
“Use 1 1/2 – 2 tsp/6oz cup. Pour boiling water. Steep for 1 min. Can be reinfused 2-3 times consecutively.”
I like to brew my tea in a 300ml mug with a brewing basket. I measured two “tea spoons” (the kind that actually hold 1.5 tsp) into the basket and that came out to 12g, which seemed like plenty, so that’s what I went with. Brewing green tea with boiling water is a bit taboo, but it totally works for this tea. I’ve done two steepings so far, first for 1min, second for 2min. The leaf expanded to half-fill my brewing basket after the first steeping and about 3/4 full after the second, so I don’t think I’ll try leafing any more heavily, at least not with this brewing method.

The tea liquor is golden in colour and has a light toasty/grassy aroma. The flavour is very smooth, almost no bitterness or astringency. The toasted rice flavours are nicely balanced with the sencha, which is grassy and vegetal, almost spinach-like. Very warm and comforting. Definitely recommend.