Flavour breakdown: genmaicha kombucha

I unexpectedly had the chance to try out a kombucha flavour I’ve never had before: genmaicha kombucha.

If you haven’t heard of it, genmaicha is a mixture of Japanese green tea and roasted brown rice. Apart from its traditional form, I’ve also had it as a latte. It happens to be one of my favourite latte flavours. But I haven’t tried it in kombucha.

It was unexpectedly good, better than many kombucha drinks I’ve had, with a unique medley of flavours. It was somehow refreshing and yet roasty. Which are not words I normally associate with each other.

Breaking it down into its component flavours, it had the vinegary sourness typical of kombucha, the sweetness of added sugar, the nuttiness and roasted flavours of brown rice, and the grassy green flavour of matcha. They used brown sugar rather than white, which I think went well with the roasted and nutty flavours. And of course it was fizzy (which is technically not a flavour, but for ease I will speak of it as if it is, because I believe it really contributes to the pleasantness of certain flavours in drinks.)

What does this mean? This could tell us more about what flavours are good when combined together, and use this flavour combination when creating new recipes.

For example, a young spinach salad with roasted walnuts and a lemon dressing would incorporate the grassy green, nutty, roasted and sour flavours. Perhaps adding a little yuzu jam or honey to the dressing could give it some sweetness.

I might not choose to use all the major flavours though. I might choose only a fraction of those, for example green and nutty.

Interestingly, it also shares a few flavours in common with a favourite drink of mine, matcha walnut milk: namely the grassy, nutty, roasted and sweet flavours also present in genmaicha latte. I will keep this in mind when creating new recipes in future containing at least one of the ingredients (or something that tastes similar.)