More newbie experiences... genmaicha and ceremonial matcha

[tealing]

Ok, I tried out my kyusu today! Genmaicha - I understand why it's so popular. Yum. The brown rice hints make it sweet-'ish' I suppose...so, now hooked on that too.

The ceremonial matcha was definitely a deep emerald green, different from that grade 5 I have. I see how it is more 'fresh' but I found both types just as delicious.

The next one I try will be the kukicha.

*goes off to search for a thread on whether or not one can EAT genmaicha*

[TaiPing Hou Kui]

Welcome Tealing! Im glad you have found your way to Japanese greens! I personally have eaten the rice out of genmai-cha before......with no ill effects....U typically wont eat the leaves from genmai-cha becuase they are usually larger, less tender leaves than a good quality sencha or gyokuro. I am also glad to see that your next stop is Kukicha (just FYI it is also called "Karigane")....this is actually one of my favortie types of tea......you will find that you can find generic kukicha...in which you really dont know exactly what twigs/leaves are in it...but you can find some higher quality ones where it is a specific type of sencha kukicha or a specific type of gyokuro kukicha. Welcome to the forum and enjoy the world of tea!

-Nick

[tealing]

Hello Nick, and thank you for the welcome!

I'm glad I came across this forum - learning lots, and enjoying the tea probably too many times every day! lol

The genmaicha I have is pretty good, edible - I had some of it. This is probably nuts but I got curious - because I like to have spinach and brown rice with soy sauce sometimes, I put a bit of soy sauce on a bite of it - was yummy too.

I haven't tried the kukicha or karigane yet though, looking forward.

Thanks again

[Beidao]

Someone linked to a blog post where the poster got spent gyokuro leaves with soy sauce at a luxurous tea house in Japan. So I don't think your nuts!

Kukicha is great