Genmaicha 玄米茶

Available at David's Tea, Teavana or
your local Asian grocery store. 

I've been drinking genmaicha tea nearly every day as of lately. Genmaicha is the Japanese name for a green tea combined with roasted brown rice. Might sound like a strange combination but it has a pleasant taste with a hint of roasted rice and a mild green tea aftertaste.



A good tea rarely comes without a tale and genmaicha is no exception - Legend has it that a servant was preparing tea when he accidentally dropped some rice (that was hidden in his kimono sleeve as a snack for later) into a cup of green tea. The master was enraged and beheaded the servant immediately before even tasting the tea. The delicate flavor of sweet, toasted rice with the sencha green tea leaves.

Genmaicha's addition of the brown rice is argued to enhance the already plentiful health benefits of green tea including weight loss, decrease in risk of cancer, is an antioxidant and has relaxing and calming results



Steep 1.5tsp of genmaicha for 2-3 minutes at ~80 degrees Celsius or experiment to find the green, toasty spot you like best! Genmaicha can be enjoyed hot or chilled, with or without matcha green tea powder added.

Watch out, it's addicting!