What is genmaicha tea good for? We're going to find out in this complete guide! We'll be looking at the unique taste and health characteristics of genmaicha, and showing you why you may want to add it to your collection.
Let's get brewing! 🍵
What is genmaicha tea good for when it comes to taste
A lot of people ask what is genmaicha tea good for with regards to health benefits, but a lot of the great things about genmaicha simply come from how the tea tastes.
How is Genmaicha Made?
Genmaicha is made by combining tea leaves with toasted rice. This originated due to economic restraints, as people with less money would add rice to their tea to stretch their supplies and make each cup cheaper.
Soon, people began to take note of the delicious flavors of genmaicha, and rather than being simply a tea for the peasants, it became popular for all walks of life.
Farmers began experimenting with different blending methods to produce the perfect balance of flavors.
How the toasted rice contributes to the flavor
The toasted rice imparts a warm nutty flavor onto the tea that can be quite pleasant, particularly when it is colder outside. You may get these warm cereal flavor profiles in the genmaicha with a sweet buttery finish.
This is rare in other types of green tea, and its why genmaicha has become so popular. So if you’re wondering what is genmaicha tea good for, the taste alone should be enough!
What is genmaicha tea good for if you’re a coffee lover?
If you’re a coffee lover, you’ll be pleased to know that genmaicha shares a similar taste profile.
Because the grains of rice used in genmaicha are roasted, and the beans used in coffee are roasted, both drinks have this warm roasted flavor profile. The taste of genmaicha is much lighter compared to coffee, but they are on a similar spectrum.
If you want to find other teas that taste like coffee, we suggest you browse our article 👉 Complete Guide about Tea that Tastes like Coffee
What is genmaicha tea good for when it comes to caffeine
Of course genmaicha is good for other things besides the flavor, it is also a very low caffeine tea. Because rice doesn’t contain any caffeine itself, when it is added to the tea leaves, it brings the average caffeine level down.
For the coffee lovers in the last section, this might be a negative, but for a lot of people it makes the tea more appealing.
If you want to compare a list of teas ranked by their caffeine content, you can read our complete guide 👉 Which tea has the most caffeine
How much caffeine is in Genmaicha?
Genmaicha only contains between 15-30mg of caffeine per serving, which means you should be able to drink it in the late afternoon or evening, without being kept up all night.
On the lower end, genmaicha will have ⅙ the caffeine in a small cup of coffee, and on the higher end it will have ⅓. If you want to reduce the caffeine content even further, one of the things you can try is cold brewing the tea.
If you want a complete guide to the caffeine content of genmaicha tea, you can read our article 👉 A Scientific Appoach to Genmaicha Caffeine Level
What is genmaicha tea good for when it's cold brewed
Caffeine is one of the components in the tea leaf that is harder to extract. This means that it requires hotter temperatures or longer brewing times in order to be released into the water.
When you use cold water, you are extracting a lot less of the caffeine, and you are also extracting less of the bitter catechins in the tea leaf. The result is a more refreshing and sweeter genmaicha tea, with these nice buttery and caramel tasting notes.
Interested in cold brewing genmaicha? We have a great brewing guide you can follow 👉 Cold Brew Green Tea explained by Tea Experts
What is genmaicha tea good for when it comes to health
Finally we come to the question all of you are probably asking and that is what is genmaicha tea good for when it comes to health? In additon to being low in caffeine, genmaicha tea is also rich in antioxidants like EGCG.
These can help the body fight against free radical damage and protect it from aging.
If you want to learn more about how genmaicha can benefit your health, you can read our article 👉 Our Tea Expert Explains all the Genmaicha Tea Benefits
What is genmaicha good for when it's made with older leaves?
If the genmaicha is made from older bancha tea leaves (which many of them are) you will get a higher concentration of minerals from the tea.
If the genmaicha is made from younger, shaded tea leaves like gyokuro genmaicha, you will end up with not only a sweeter tea, but also more theanine in the final brew.
This theanine is thought to buffer some of the negative effects of caffeine to give you a longer lasting “calm alert” sensation throughout the day, without the crash or the jitters you might get with coffee.
What is genmaicha tea good for - Final Verdict
So what is genmaicha tea good for? A lot, it would appear. Genmaicha can not only be a delicious and soothing tea, it is also great for your health and it can be a good way to cut back on caffeine.
So raise a glass to genmaicha and let's have a toast for the incredible toasted rice tea!
