Shizuoka Genmaicha!!!! <3

Whenever I think of genmaicha, or brown tea rice, it always reminds me of a little childhood memory of mine. I was home with my family and some family friends in a local Japanese restaurant. Japanese food was quite new to me at the time, and the food was amazing! The salmon sashimi, tempura, okonomiyaki with the dancing bonito flakes… and I took a sip of the water in between bites, and I looked at my mommy and said:

“Mom, the water tastes really strange!”
She took a look:
“Because this wasn’t your cup! This is the tea of the grandma here!”

Since then, we kept our silence and no one has ever heard about the time I stole a sip of tea from this old lady. But that taste, I still remember it well. The tea wasn’t like tea that I knew. It wasn’t sweet or refreshing. It was more like warming and fulfilling, and that was my first taste of brown rice tea.

This time, I was happy to have found this brown rice tea from Shizuoka. The bag was about 350yen, and I think that is a very reasonable price.

The smell upon opening the package reminded me of my memory again. It wasn’t really the smell of tea, but something roasted and prepared. That feeling became clearer to me when I poured hot water into the pot.

Sniff, sniff.

This isn’t just tea. This is like fried rice… soaked in hot water! Oh wait, so this is just like ochazuke!!

It is true. The smell of it reminded me of food more than a drink. Seeing the brown rice getting all soaked up made me wanted to isolate the rice and turn them into a quick snack with a bit of seasoning.

When I poured the tea into the glass, it should surprise no one when I report that the tea turned out to be more brown than green. But what I didn’t expect was that the tea was clear, very clear with little residue!

I am used to seeing Shizuoka green tea to have more of a muddy form even as tea, so seeing a fully transparent glass was surprising.
The taste was magnificent. For those who enjoy tea in the winter, this is a very delicate alternative to the standard green tea.

It is kinda interesting to have a rice-y flavor in a drink, and while I imagine you might not be drinking this while eating actual brown rice, I think it would go well with sushi, which is more of a sweeten and soured rice! Genmaicha, you are lovely!!

This post is supported by Shizuoka Green Tea Guide, one of City-Cost's Supporters helping City-Cost bloggers to enjoy life in Japan and engage in new experiences.