Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Matcha Black Soybean Rice Tea

Tea: Matcha Black Soybean Rice Tea - 8808
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $4.00 / 50g
Vendor Description: A Genmaicha with Matcha is blended with black beans "KURO MAME", to promote "healthy (MAME) living". Good aroma of black beans and mellow flavor of Matcha have created a fascinating Genmaicha.

Leaf: This tea was very interesting. It contains a whole assortment of different components. It consists of roasted rice like a Genmaicha, it has matcha mixed with it like the extra-green teas from Den's, and it has some black soybeans tossed in as well. It's an interesting mix of all kinds of different components.

1st Infusion: The liquor smells a lot like a genmaicha, probably due to the roasted rice. The color is very green like a sencha matcha. It tastes like a very green genmaicha. The flavor is short and sweet which is followed by a toasted rice aftertaste. There is no bitterness or astringency to this tea. I can't seem to find anything flavor wise that the black soybeans are contributing.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: This tea is great for people who enjoy both sencha matcha blends and genmaicha. It feels like the two are combined. Due to the matcha washing off in the first infusion it doesn't really hold up as the same tea for the second infusion.

2 comments:

Dr.Gray said...

The reason beans are not typically put in teas is because dried beans take a very long time to release flavor. If the beans were roasted I could see a little more reason for it, but that would usually be a red bean or sweet bean not a soy bean. As far as the matcha washing off in the first infusion try out this matcha genmaicha. I can get a couple of good infusions out of that.

Unknown said...

Lupicia's Genmaicha is the best Genmaicha that I've had to date.

Maybe I'm getting better at brewing Genmaicha. :)

I've not had any success with Genmaicha in the past (Itoen & Genmaicha bought @ Shirokiya [our local japanese store]), so I wasn't expecting much.

I got this as a Xmas present, so I had to try Genmaicha again.

Overall, the best I've had so far. I'm not a big Genmaicha fan, but if I was in the mood for Genmaicha, then I wouldn't mind buying Lupicia's Genmaicha.

IMO, the black soybeans didn't add anything to the tea. If anything, the black soybean's extra weight/volume translate to less actual tea in the Lupicia nitrogen sealed package. :(