Which Japanese green tea is mixed with toasted rice?

The Japanese green tea mixed with toasted rice is genmaicha. It combines green tea with roasted brown rice, producing a distinctive savory, nutty flavor alongside the tea’s fresh or grassy notes.

During roasting, some rice grains can pop, which explains genmaicha’s nickname “popcorn tea.” The blend was also historically associated with making tea more affordable, since rice served as a filling ingredient. Today, genmaicha is enjoyed across Japan by people from every social background.

Plain genmaicha usually brews to a pale yellow color and tastes gentler than many straight green teas. The rice contributes toasted, warm flavors and can make the drink feel less sharp or astringent. Some versions include matcha powder; these are often called matcha-iri genmaicha and usually have a greener color and stronger tea flavor.

Genmaicha is easy to confuse with hōjicha because both can taste roasted. The difference is central: genmaicha contains roasted rice, while hōjicha is tea whose leaves or stems have been roasted. Sencha is commonly used as the green-tea base, but the defining ingredient is the rice.