Yay, I got this in the mail today! It certainly has gotten a lot of hype recently (I blame TheTeaFairy…) so I knew it had to be good. And I love genmaicha and most straight black teas so I figured how could it possibly be wrong? So I ordered an ounce when it came back in stock just to try it out. Dry, this tea is quite beautiful. The black tea leaves are long, jet black, and twisty. There is quite the melange of rice – long grains, short grains, toasted, puffed, popped. And there are dark little cocoa nibs along with a few oxidized oolong leaves. It smells quite lovely with very strong cocoa and a bit of toastiness. I used the average preparation here on Steepster (and I got to use my new scale and filtered water!).
Mm, the brewed aroma is pure toasty roastiness! There’s a bit of chocolate in there too, but I mostly smell that lovely toasted rice goodness. Mm, definitely a genmaicha. The toasted rice flavor in this tea reminds me of lovely crisp toast. There’s also a nice strong cocoa flavor from the nibs, and some nuttiness from the rice. These combine to remind me a bit of chocolate hazelnut spread, which goes perfectly with the toast! ;) I think I also get a little bit of raisin fruitiness, especially in the aftertaste. Overall, this is very lovely and I can see why it’s so popular. If it’s still in stock when I allow myself to order more tea, I may get some more. And I really want to try that Minnesota Blend…
Flavors: Cocoa, Raisins, Roasted Nuts, Toast, Toasted Rice