Genmaicha Toasted Brown Rice Green Tea

Genmaicha is Japanese green tea blended with roasted brown rice. Some of the grains pop in the roasting, which is why it is sometimes called popcorn tea. The cup is warm and nutty, with toasted grain, fresh grass and a savory rice-broth finish. Brewed in a kyusu at 85°C.

Origin & Story

Genmaicha is tea with a snack inside it. Green tea leaf, most often bancha or sencha, is blended with genmai, brown rice that has been roasted until some of the grains pop open. They look so much like tiny popcorn kernels that the tea is sometimes called popcorn tea.

Nobody knows for certain who first mixed rice into tea. One story, set in the 15th century, tells of a servant named Genmai whose master was so angry when rice fell into his tea that he killed him, then tasted the tea, liked it and named it in his honor. It is almost certainly a legend. A plainer explanation is that rice was a cheap filler that made tea go further, so it reached people who could not afford much leaf. Several long-established Kyoto tea shops also claim to have launched it as a product in the 1920s.

In the cup the rice speaks first: warm toasted grain and a popcorn sweetness, then a green note of fresh grass underneath and a savory finish like a light rice broth. Because rice takes the place of roughly half the leaf, the tea is gentle and usually low in caffeine.

Brew about 5 g of the blend in 200 ml of water at 85°C, steep for a minute to a minute and a half, and pour the cup out completely. If the base is bancha, water closer to the boil works too. Matcha-iri genmaicha has powdered green tea added for a stronger flavor and a greener color.

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