genmaimatcha, american tea room

This tea combo of Genmaicha and Matcha is a little of both and not quite either. It doesn't really fulfill the craving for matcha, and it doesn't really fulfill the craving for a standalone genmaicha. It's it own delightful little niche.

Would you like a side of rice krispies with your tea?

After reading a tip on Steepster, I've started brewing this tea with extra leaf (about 2 tsp for 8 oz) and sticking with a steep time of about 50-60 seconds at 170F.  It keeps the flavor strong but prevents the sencha or matcha from getting bitter. 

The sencha here is grassy and vegetal, but smooth. And the matcha adds depth and a touch of sweetness. And there's more of than I've seen in similar blends. This is a very green genmaicha (and genmaimatcha)! There is also, of course, abundance of puffed rice which gives this tea a nice toasted brothiness.

I also really like the dusky jade color this tea turns. (Of course I forgot to snap of photo). It truly is a green green tea, which makes is almost as delightful to look at as it is to drink!

American Tea Room

la vie en rose, american tea room

If there's anything I've learned from tea sampling, it's that floral flavors are overwhelming if not done carefully. Jasmine can taste a bit like soap, and rose can taste a bit like perfume, and hibiscus is just their tart unfortunate cousin.

So, while Turkish delight might taste like rose jelly, it doesn't smell like perfume.  Rose tea, on the other hand, where you first taste with your nose can definitely come across like perfume.

These delectable sticky cubes of
rose water somehow don't taste like perfume.

Now, don't take this as me not liking these flavors. A well done Jasmine or Rose tea is heavenly. And I was excited to find a white rose tea without fruit in it!

It's a colorful and gorgeous tea with large leaves and
full rosebuds. 

This tea is described as a Bai Mu Dan style white tea with wild-harvested fushia rosebuds. And luckily it was just that heavenly floral cup I was looking for!

Opening the bag, I was a little concerned because of the immediate hit of rose to my nostrils, (of course after our freak snowfall last night, the smell of a flowery spring was welcome.) but I pressed forward.

Lovely and golden.

American Tea Room says to brew this for 5 minutes at 190 degrees, and while this seems like a bit long for a white tea, one look at the large full leaves and I knew it could stand up to it. Following those instructions, I was greeted with a light gold cup of tea that smelled of rose, but also of slightly earthy undertones.

The initial flavor I tasted was that of the rose, but that immediately gave way to the delicate almost loamy flavor of the white tea. There was very little astringency and the more I drank this tea, the more I tasted the subtleties of the white tea against its floral counterpart. It was a dusky very slightly vegetal taste that finished again on the perfumed note. The white tea more than stood up to the rose.

I could see myself really enjoying this tea in a bubble bath or with a box of chocolates. It has a  luxuriousness that I would want to save for treating myself or special occasions, but might sneak cups in to spoil myself anyway.

American Tea Room