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What-Cha’s Houjicha and Genmaicha
What-Cha’s
Houjicha and Genmaicha
I decided
to sample the What-Cha’s Australian teas almost immediately after trying the
Sencha & Shincha. While some of the problems with the Sencha & Shincha
are present in these teas (for instance weak aroma and thinness), but they are
not as apparent. Anyways I was not really looking forward to these two teas,
while I do enjoy Houjicha and Genmaicha I tend not to drink it that often. I
recently was going through my tea horde and discovered seven different
Genmaichas and three Houjichas (not counting the teas I roasted myself) all of
which were pretty much untouched.
Origin: Two
Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Australia
Harvest: Second
Flush, December 2014
Elevation:
200m
Cultivar:
Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Dry Leaves: The leaves are a little strange for a houjicha; while I am
not surprised to see a mix of larger twisted leaves and some broken/fragmented
segments I was a little startled to see the color of the leaves. They are
mostly blueish-black, but there is quite a bit of green mixed in. I’m not sure
how evenly roasted these leaves are, it’s almost like the farmer one batched
then mixed in some steamed leaves.
Temperature:
176oF
Brewing
Time: One Minute (+ fifteen seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Chocolate
and Tobacco
Flavor: Espresso,
Caramel, Roast and Chocolate
Tasting
Notes: This tea is amazing. Yes, I described the primary flavor of this tea as
espresso and that was the closest descriptor I could come up with; if you have
ever had an Americano (shot of espresso and hot water) than you know the
flavor. I do not think I have ever had a houjicha with this nuanced of flavors.
While I tend to avoid most heavily roasted teas since I feel that it is very
easy to cover up imperfections of a tea with a heavy roast and that I have had
few heavily (or even moderately) roasted teas that I think were done by a
skilled roaster.
Have I mentioned this tea is amazing?!
While the aroma of the leaves and liquor was kind of weak I think that was for
the best, I am not really big on teas with tobacco aromas, but it was weak
enough for me not to care. As for the flavors, once again I noticed thinness,
the more I think about it the more this reminds me of an Americano, I do not
know how many of my readers are coffee drinkers, but if you have ever had a
shot of espresso and compared it to an Americano you’ll notice certain flavors
that were not present or prominent in the shot of espresso become apparent.
While the liquor is a little light for a houjicha it is very reminiscent of a
Japanese houjicha, in fact it is better than many Japanese Hounjichas I’ve had
before. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling 50gs of this tea for
$6.90 and I do think it is worth checking out. Because this was such a modestly
priced tea I bought 50g of it rather than a sample and I am already half way
done. Even though I do not drink Houjichas that often and I just had to through
away quite a few of them I am almost running out, I think it is that good.
Origin:
Two Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Australia
Harvest:
Second Flush, December 2014
Elevation:
200m
Cultivar:
Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Dry Leaves: This is a Matcha-iri Genmaicha so it is coated with matcha
or powdered green tea. The leaves are pretty similar to the Sencha, pretty
large and mostly intact, there are some fragmented pieces in there, but not a
lot. As for the rice, I was a little disappointed by how small they are and how
little rice is actually blended in. For those who do not know rice was a filler
added to tea to make tea more affordable, it was originally known as something
as a peasant tea. Most Genmaicha and Matcha-iri Genmaicha I have had in the
past have been two parts rice for every one parts tea and this seems to be the
opposite which I am a little disappointed by, I know the irony of someone who
primarily drinks unflavored and unblended tea complaining that his tea blend
has too much tea.
Temperature:
176oF
Brewing
Time: One Minute (+ fifteen seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Popcorn
and Tobacco
Flavor: Toasted
Rice, Vegetal and Sweet Grass
Tasting
Notes: Again another thin tea with a weak aroma, and another tea with a tobacco
aroma; once again I am not bothered by the tobacco aroma because of how weak it
was. I am a little curious if the matcha/powdered green tea that coated these
leaves was grown in Australia or if it was Japanese in origin (it doesn’t taste
like a Chinese powdered tea, although I could be wrong) because of how
inexpensive it is, my best bet is it is a powdered Sencha from Japan. Anyways
this is another lovely tea, in fact I enjoyed even more than I enjoyed the
Houjicha, although I have not drank as much of it as I have the Houjicha. The
flavors are pretty standard for a Genmaicha, most interesting was that the
subsequent infusions were pretty much the same as the first, like the Houjicha
I got good four or five steeps out of this tea. At the time of writing this
What-Cha is selling this for $6.90 for 50g and is definitely worth checking
out.
In my
last post on What-Cha’s Australian teas I mentioned how I thought Alistair
needs to be selling a sampler of this, I do not imagine he’ll have any trouble
selling the Houjicha and Genmaicha individually I suspect he’ll have a little
more trouble selling the Sencha and Shincha. While I am sure he’ll get some
buyers who will buy samples of these Australian teas out of curiosity I do feel
pretty confident that more people will be coming back for the Houjicha and
Genmaicha.
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