What is cold brew genmaicha
Now that we've shown you how to make cold brew genmaicha, let’s talk a bit more about what cold brew genmaicha is. Genmaicha is a special type of Japanese green tea that’s made by blending green tea leaves with toasted rice.
The toasted rice gives the tea these pleasant caramel or nutty flavors, which balance out the fresher, more vegetal flavors of the leaves.
Cold brew genmaicha is what you get when you brew the tea leaves of genmaicha with cold water instead of warm water. This process takes more time, but it completely changes the flavor profile. This is a great way to enjoy a cup of refreshing genmaicha tea on a hot summer day.
If you want to learn how to cold brew other types of Japanese green tea like sencha, you can read our article 👉 How to Cold Brew Sencha Tea Step by Step
Genmaicha cold benefit
There is a genmaicha cold benefit that comes from the fact that the leaves are brewed with a different temperature of water.
Catechins are the bitter components within tea leaves and these are mainly extracted with a higher brewing temperature and at a longer brewing time.
Cold brew genmaicha flavor
When you make a cup of cold brew genmaicha, you’ll find that not only is the temperature cooler, but the flavor is sweeter and smoother as well.
The cold water will even extract these nice caramel notes from the brown rice, which work surprisingly well cold!
Cold brew genmaicha has many benefits, but so does genmaicha prepared at any temperature! If you want to learn more about the benefits of this special tea, you can read our article 👉 Our Tea Expert Explains all the Genmaicha Tea Benefits
Ice brew genmaicha
In addition to making cold brew genmaicha, you can also make ice brew genmaicha. This method is called Kooridashi, and you can see it being done in certain high end tea shops in Japan.
You can fill up a kyusu teapot with ice cubes and then add 5 grams of tea leaves on top.
As the ice cubes melt, they will brew the tea at an extremely low temperature. This will really create a sweeter infusion and a perfect, refreshing iced genmaicha.
If you want to learn about other methods for preparing genmaicha, you can read our article 👉 Start Brewing Genmaicha like a pro with this tea master recipe
