Genmaicha (brown rice tea)

If you’ve eaten at Jipan and tried their house tea, you might have noticed that it is a bit different from house teas in other Chinese and Japanese restaurants. It is pale gold and has this distinct nutty flavor. Speedy and I would scour supermarkets and oriental stores for something similar and after experimenting with several boxes of tea, we finally discovered what it was — genmaicha or brown rice tea. But that photo below was not taken at Jipan. That was yesterday’s breakfast — cold soba noodles which I enjoyed with brown rice tea.

But what exactly is brown rice tea? Can its meaning be derived literally from its name? Well, yes and no. Brown rice tea is made from roasted brown rice but, traditionally, genmaicha means a combination of green tea and brown rice. Its history is interesting as it reminds me of the way Filipinos in rural areas have taken to drinking “corn coffee.”

From Wikipedia:

This type of tea was originally drunk by poor Japanese, as the rice served as a filler and reduced the price of the tea; today it is consumed by all segments of society.

Filipinos are not traditional tea drinkers except for salabat (ginger brew) and I am not really sure if salabat can be classified as a tea. Filipinos are more of coffee drinkers. But since coffee beans are not inexpensive, in some areas where people could not afford coffee but where corn grew abundantly, rural folks discovered that by roasting corn, a coffee-like drink could be made with it.

So, that’s what I mean when I say that, in a way, genmaicha reminds me of corn coffee drinking Filipinos. Just like corn coffee, genmaicha started out as a way to make more tea out of a small amount of tea leaves. Genmaicha has since crossed socio-economic boundaries and I wonder if, some day, the same thing can happen with corn coffee.

For the cold soba noodles recipe, click here.

For a martini recipe using brown rice tea and ginger, click here.

For home-made genmaicha, click here.