Genmaicha – Redstraw Tea Bar

Russian has moved to Tuesday morning this week, because apparently the weather has decided to grace us with 100 Degrees on Wednesday. To avoid that, we moved to today, which would be slightly cooler, and in the morning, because my friend has classes later, and it’d be even cooler! We went over Russian idioms today, my favorite of which from today was “the first pancake is always a blob”!

Since I had a free drink with all the points I’ve accumulated (finally!), I decided to try the Genmaicha, which at 5.75, is among the most expensive drinks on the menu. While I get that at a place like Redstraw, where points accumulate based on how much you spend, the price of the drink doesn’t matter eventually, it still feels nice to spend those points on an expensive drink you know?

I’ve never had a Genmaicha before, though I have heard it’s a common tea to drink in Japan (I think one of my Japanese classmates in a previous class was drinking it one time). It’s described as a roasted rice green tea, and I could tell that was accurate because of the description on Redstraw’s menu and when I watched them brew my tea fresh for me, I think I saw rice kernels!

The drink itself is light and refreshing as an iced drink, and perfect on a hot weather day like this. As described, it does have a nutty taste, which comes from the roasted rice, and adds a nice depth of flavor. I think it’s definitely more nutty than an Oolong, and now that I’ve had a few Oolongs, I’d say that Oolong is a sweet kind of nutty, almost floral flavor. I’d definitely get more Genmaichas in the future! The boba today is nicely chewy, but doesn’t have any flavor to it. That’s fine if I eat it with the sweet syrup in my drink, but once I swallow the drink and chew the boba by itself, it’s kind of lacking. For the sugar and drink on it’s own, sometimes I feel like I get more sweetness than tea flavor, so if I’m in the mood for the tea, I’d get less sugar.

From the picture, you can tell that because I asked for no ice, they left out some drink. That’s fine and I respect that, and at one point in store there was a sign that said “We don’t fill drinks with no ice”. Like I said, I respect it even though I might like more drink, but there have been times I ordered no ice and still got an almost filled to the brim drink. My friend also got less drink today, and she orders no ice and the same drink every time. Consistency much, Redstraw?

Oh, apparently today is National Coffee Day, but I don’t drink coffee, so what better substitute than boba? 🙂

Details: Genmaicha; Iced; no ice; 50% sugar: with honey boba; from Redstraw Tea Bar (Irvine)