Genmaicha
Genmaicha is a popular Japanese tea famed for its delicious toasted flavour and irresistible aroma. Enjoyed for centuries, the tea is a mix of roasted brown rice and green tea. Reassuring and heart-warming, it's the perfect drink to raise the spirits - especially during the colder months.
Fictional in nature, there are various myths as to how the tea originated. The most popular version alludes to a 15th century samurai and his servant. One day whilst preparing tea, the servant accidentally spills grains of rice into his master's cup. Enraged, the master moves to reprimand the servant - potentially under pain of death - for ruining the tea, which at the time was an expensive commodity.
The warming aromas of the tea drifted over, stopping the master in his tracks. He decides to take a sip... Enamoured and delighted with this unexpected discovery, the servant was spared and pardoned, and thus genmaicha became highly regarded across Japan.
A more practical explanation
A more practical explanation for the popularity of genmaicha was that at the time, tea was expensive and so mixing it with toasted and puffed rice (of which there was plenty available) would make the tea last longer, as well as provide a nice roasted aroma and flavour. As a result this also made green tea more accessible to the wider public.
It's notable that at the time green tea also had a more bitter and astringent taste due to the fact that modern tea cultivation methods (such as processing and cultivar experimentation) had not yet achieved the refined, delicate sweetness of taste that we have today.
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