Sweet Cocoa Roasted Genmaicha

Never did taste the cocoa here. This was a light, slightly sweet, pleasant genmaicha the other day. It may have lost some of its subtleties over the years, but is still a tasty cup.

I was in the mood for something ricey, so I figured “Why not add some chocolate and drink it?”

The smell of the dry leaf is sooo cocoa-ey. It smells like a dark chocolate bar.

For my first impression of the brew, I was surprised to get popcorn. That roasted, toasted flavor comes through strongly, reminding me of a dark, sweet toasted bread. Below those flavors are a light sweetness and a back wash of dark chocolate.

If I had to compare this to a food, I’d say warm chocolate rice cakes. I think I’ll have the rest for breakfast.

I’m torn with this one…..
The genmaicha base (or blend) is just spectacular, amazing, phenomenal – it seems almost sacrilegious to add stuff to it. With nothing added this could easily be one of my fav genmaichas.
But – he did add stuff to it…..
Toasty, roasty, nutty everything a good genmaicha should be and then way in the back there is just this hint of cocoa. The sencha is there but without being grassy and intrusive. I think the hojicha is a smart addition, just adds more nuttiness to the genmaicha. I’m not really getting the caramel, but there is a sweetness here.
I really think this is a case where less is more. If this were overpowering chocolate, I would miss all the awesome notes in the tea. Perfect example of using a good quality base and then adding subtle flavors to it without loosing the awesomeness of the tea.
If you are looking for a heavily chocolate genmaicha – this isn’t it. But if you love good genmaicha – you should try this.
I’m happily drinking my 3rd cup of it – but still torn about spoiling a great genmaicha.

Oh wow, the aroma of this tea is lovely, both before and after steeping. I don’t even know how to describe it. I swear I’m tasting soy sauce though, which sounds insane, but then again I probably have a weird palate anyway. I can’t decide if this is a good dessert tea, or a good appetizer tea. I did just eat dinner, so I’m having it for dessert. But I can imagine it being awesome with pot stickers. For the first steep I’m definitely getting more of the toasted rice and sweetness more so than the cocoa or tea. Second and third steeps are increasingly less sweet, toasted rice is still there and I’m assuming I’m tasting more of the hojicha? I’m not sure as I’ve never had it before. This is a lovely warm and comforting tea. I’m hoping the caffeine content isn’t too high (I’ll find out later!) because it would be a wonderful before bed tea, especially in the winter.

I’m going to have to try this one again. I steeped it three times with the first being 90 seconds. I mostly tasted the rice and popcorn, and not so much the caramel, cocoa and sugar that I hoped for. The second time still had the toasted rice, but I could taste the sencha more which I love. I almost got the Sweet Sencha from LP, and I probably should have considering how good the base is in this one. I’m also not a huge Genmaicha fan, but from LP I had faith that it would be a good unique tea. It is, but I need to try it again. Genmaicha lovers would really like it, especially my friend, and it would be PERFECT with a bowl of miso soup in the winter months.

I don’t play favorites, but…

:)