Baisa Nakamura
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After discovering jasmine tea (mostly teabag) I stumbled upon genmaicha. Not bagged. Through the many years, I’ve tried every category of tea, white, yellow, green, oolong, black (red), and dark, and different flavored, blended, and scented teas and tisanes. And while I have many that rank on my rebuy and keep in the cupboard list there is something about genamicha. Not all genmaicha is made the same either. Many are made from bancha which is harvested later in the season. Which isn’t a bad thing but I often find the bite from a it to be unpleasant. However, ones made with a higher grade sencha… ooo so good.
It also helps that I have been to the shop and I know personally just how special this place is. They grow their own tea and then process it on the adorably small machinery in their shop. They even have a small temomi table!
Dry Appearance: Brown rice with an equal amount of pale green stems and pine green tightly rolled leaves.
Dry Aroma: The first time I opened the bag it was like the kind of genmai had appeared.
Flavor: Rice and slight grass.
Wet Aroma: Slightly toasty brown rice, a bit of coffee,
Located near the Uji River in Uji, Japan is the amazing tea shop of Baisa Nakamura. During the Global Japanese Association Master Course, we had the honor of seeing Nakamura-san use his mini-processing equipment to make tea for us. I don’t think I’ve ever called equipment cute but these chibi-sized gadgetry were amazing and cute. They also sell nitro brewed tea.
This tea is great when brewed US style in a mug but it’s even better in a kyusu.
Mug brewing: Grab your favorite mug and metal infuser. Be sure it is one that is never used by coffee if anyone else drinks coffee in the place you reside. It can ruin the tea. The amount you add depends on the mug but standard is usually about 1 tsp. More if you like it strong. You can brew anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes. This is a tea that is safe to forget about for the most part. The flavor is so nice. Full of squash and redwood notes.
Kyusu brewing: Japanese squash. Kabocha. With just a bit of roasting but also like you bit into a bit of a fresh one. I picked this one up in-store but unfortunately, I don’t see it listed online. Also a bit of chocolate but more so on the cacao side. I really enjoy the homeyness of the wet aroma. Like walking into a nice warm house on a blustery cold winter day. A slight hint of fire mixed with a squash stew on the stove.
