Collection: Genmaicha

Varieties of Genmaicha

The green tea used for genmaicha is usually bancha, which works well with the genmai. Genmai itself has a strong aroma which might overpower tea that has a soft flavor. So bancha, with its stronger flavor, blends well with genmai. Additionally, bancha is a relatively inexpensive tea which helps keep the price of genmaicha attractive. 

Generally speaking, genmaicha is considered an everyday tea but, by blending in some matcha, it becomes a little more luxurious while keeping the price reasonable. 

Matcha adds a vivid color to the cup and a rich umami flavor. Also, genmai-houjicha can be very enjoyable. It is a blend of houjicha with genmai; the marriage of roasted tea and roasted rice makes for a wonderful iced tea!

How Was Genmaicha Invented?

There are several origin stories surrounding genmaicha.

One of the more plausible tales says that genmaicha was created by a tea shop in Kyoto about 80 years ago. They found that adding roasted rice cakes to their tea perked up the aroma and flavor.

Since rice cakes are an essential part of the Japanese New Year holiday menu, there are a lot of rice cakes that go uneaten. Not wanting to waste them, they broke hard rice cakes into small pieces, toasted them, and blended them with green tea.

There is another, somewhat dubious, story: one area in the northern part of Japan had a custom of adding rice, beans or grains to tea. This added more volume to the rather expensive tea leaves for those non-tea producing areas, allowing them to stretch their tea supply.

Health Benefits

Genmaicha has all the health benefits of green tea plus the health benefits of brown rice. Notable nutrients found in genmai are "γ-oryzanol", that may improve blood cholesterol, "GABA", which known as an antidepressant, and several types of Vitamin B, that may promote recovery from fatigue and slow the aging process.

Also, genmaicha contains less caffeine than other green teas like sencha, gyokuro or matcha, because half of what typically makes up genmaicha is bancha, which has a low caffeine level, and brown rice, which has no caffeine. A bonus benefit to this tea is its roasted aroma which can provide a cozy atmosphere and help one relax.

Brewing Technique

For aromatic teas like genmaicha (or houjicha), the aroma is an important part of enjoying the tea. For this reason, you brew with boiling water.  Here is a video which demonstrates a good technique for brewing genmaicha.

Great as an Iced Tea!

As you can imagine, this aromatic green tea is great for iced tea. For brewing iced tea use 50% more leaves in the teapot. Steep as directed for hot tea. Once you brew it, put ice into the glass to lock in the aroma.

Den's Genmaicha Quality

If your genmaicha tastes mostly like rice, then the genmaicha might contain more than 50% genmai or may contain a low quality green tea. Genmaicha should have a robust rice aroma, yet still offer the delicious taste of green tea. The quality of genmaicha is determined by the quality of both the genmai and green tea.

Our genmai is made from roasted sweet rice, so the flavor extracted from this genmai is sweeter. We use a good quality green tea, bancha, sencha or houjicha, even though the strong genmai aroma may mask the aroma of more delicate teas.

The green tea flavor is still the most important element for genmaicha. The matcha we used for our Genmaicha Extra Green, for example. is ceremonial grade. This gives the brew an emerald green cup and good umami. We always look for the best combination.

Genmai and Hana

Genmaicha is sometimes called "popcorn tea", because the popped rice blended in the tea looks similar to pop corn. This white, fluffy popped rice is called hana. Hana is basically for decoration, and contributes a little to the aroma and flavor. Genmai is roasted rice, but it's not that simple.

Rice is steamed first, and then roasted. This way, genmai becomes more aromatic, sweeter and fluffier. Pick a few genmai from your genmaicha when you have a chance and eat it. You will find that it tastes like a rice cracker.