Tea & drinks ── Nihoncha (Japanese tea)
Genmaicha
Genmaicha — green tea blended with roasted rice
Tea made by mixing roasted, steamed rice at roughly equal parts with bancha or sencha. The toasty aroma of the roasted rice meets the tea's freshness, said to give a light, relatively low-caffeine cup.
- Green tea
Lineage
What it's made of
Rice soaked in water, steamed, then roasted, and blended at roughly equal parts with sencha or bancha. The roasted rice's toasty aroma layers over the tea's own, and with less tea leaf in the mix, caffeine is said to run lower than other green teas. It's said to have been drunk as a light, food-friendly tea. Its look — white rice grains mixed among green tea leaves — is distinctive, the liquor a bit lighter than sencha's, with the roasted rice's aroma said to reach the nose first.
How it's made
Rice is soaked for a set time, steamed, then roasted for aroma before being blended with finished bancha or sencha. How dark the rice is roasted is said to change the strength of the aroma, and over-roasting brings a burnt smell, so judging the heat is said to matter. It's typically brewed with the tea leaf and rice grains still mixed together. The rice is roasted at around 200°C as a guide, and roasting until the surface takes on a light char is said to bring out the toastiness most.
Why it took this shape
Mixing roasted rice into tea is said to have arisen partly to stretch a dwindling supply of tea leaf, and partly as a way not to waste leftover rice. Combining rice, Japan's staple grain, with tea is said to have given genmaicha a toasty, approachable flavor that settled into the everyday table. Making use of a rice-growing region's surplus grain is said to be one reason genmaicha took root well beyond tea-producing areas themselves.
Before you go
Dishes in the same style
- Fukamushi SenchaA method of steaming the leaf far longer than ordinary sencha, said to break the leaf down finely and mellow its astringency into a deep green, richer-bodied tea. With smaller leaf fragments, more dissolves into the water, giving a notably smooth mouthfeel.
- GyokuroA premium tea made from buds shaded from sunlight for around 20 days before picking. Blocking the light is said to suppress astringent compounds while letting amino acids build up in the leaf, giving a seaweed-like aroma and concentrated umami.