Genmaicha
玄米茶 · Popcorn Tea
Green
The story is grim for such a gentle tea. They say a servant named Genmai dropped rice into his master's cup and was killed for it, and that the samurai then tasted the tea and regretted his temper.
The truth is more ordinary and more useful. Tea was expensive, so households stretched it with roasted rice, and a few grains would burst open in the pan like popcorn.
It was a poor family's tea for a long time before anyone thought of selling it. Green tea and toasted grain steep together into something warm and mild, nutty, without the edge you expect from green tea.
- roasted rice
- nutty
- grassy
- Origin
- Japan
- Water
- 90°C / 194°F
- Ratio
- 4 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- Low
- Rinse
- Not needed
Standard Japanese green-and-rice blend; nationwide
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~4.0g of tea
The session
3 infusions, about 3m 15s of total contact time.
- Steep 145sToasted rice, warm and round.
- Steep 21mThe green tea rises underneath.
- Steep 31m 30sNutty sweetness, grain and leaf even.
Also sold as
Brown Rice Tea, Genmai Cha
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.