Brown Rice Tea with Matcha

Tea: Brown Rice Tea with Matcha (genmaicha w/ matcha)
Vendor: Maeda-en

About this tea: This is another tea that I picked up during shincha season, but don't have much information about now. It is essentially a genmaicha extra green from Maeda-en, 2008 shincha crop.

Leaf: The leaf for this had a lot of small pieces to it. There was a very surprising amount of rice in this tea, normally a genmaicha has a fraction of the rice that this one does. The leaf was all rather uniformly small in size, it is fairly uniformly sized and there is a hefty coating of matcha over the whole thing.

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a very murky green color to it, very much expected for a matcha coated tea though. It was surprisingly dark though for a genmaicha. The tea had an almost dusty aroma to it with a light toasted rice aroma. The flavor was very smooth and sweet. The rice was very prominent, almost a bit too prominent. The sweetness from the tea and the matcha had a medium bodied effect and left with a light sense of astringency.

2nd Infusion: Surprisingly this infusion was still a murky green color. The tea took on a bit more of a brown-green color. The flavor of the tea itself was quite light and had a light bite to it. The astringency had increased in this infusion.

Rating: 6/10

Conclusion: The first infusion of this tea was quite good. It was a bit strong on the rice though, the rice:tea ratio was a bit on the high side. The second infusion was a bit more of a lackluster showing. The flavor was enjoyable though, but not spectacular.