This is the third of the teas sent to me by tea friend Storm Morales from Long Island's The Pleasures of Tea. As its name suggests. this is a tea made from Japanese roasted green tea blended with toasted rice.
One of the qualities I think distinguishes a good Japanese tea is the rainbow sheen on the bubbles when you brew it. This tea had those! The brew itself was a soothing light brown color with a lovely toasted aroma.
Genmai hoji is a prime example of the worthiness and utility of what could be called lower quality teas. The tea world is quite snobbish. When speaking to quality, top quality is reserved for tea buds, next quality is young leaves, and older leaves and twigs are considered lower quality. (An exception is the old tea trees of Yunnan, whose big leaves garner great respect.) When tea is harvested, it is sorted by quality, and subjected to different processes based on the anticipated end product. As I mention in my comments on the processing of tea, lower quality material is often put into teabags, or may be combined with flavorings as its own natural flavor may be considered lacking. Genmaicha, which is green tea blended with toasted rice, is often made from basic quality sencha. Hojicha, a charcoal roasted tea, is often made from tea twigs.
The genmai hoji, therefore, combines two basic quality strategies, charcoal roasting and a flavorful addition, to create the roastiest, toastiest green of them all. This is the green version of lapsang souchong; but where the intense smoke of the lapsang souchong process is met by sturdy bitterness in the tea, this milder green is met by a far less oppressive gentle roast. The hojicha has a lower roasty note, while the rice offers a slightly higher toasty note, for a harmonious chord of snuggly comfort. Do you get rich, complex, full bodied green tea flavor? Of course not. This isn't that tea! This tea exists to comfort you from the moment you smell its warm aromas, transporting you to a safe place where there is a cooking fire, company, shelter, and security. This is rainy day tea, bad news tea, brisk morning tea, or tea for the thermos when you set out on a hike in the woods.
I would not have thought to put genmai and hoji together. I'm glad someone did. Recommended! You can visit The Pleasures of Tea's website here.
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