What is hojicha?
Hojicha (ほうじ茶, houjicha) is green tea that has been roasted over charcoal or in a ceramic drum. The leaves turn from green to reddish brown, and the flavour shifts from grassy into toasty, nutty, and caramel-sweet.
It's usually made from later-harvest bancha or lower-cost sencha — a traditional way of giving rougher leaves a second life. The best hojichas, though, use the stems and young leaves of high-grade tea (karigane hojicha) and taste like roasted chestnut and cocoa.
How it tastes
- Aroma: roasted grains, toasted nuts, toffee.
- Mouthfeel: light, clean, almost no astringency.
- Finish: sweet and biscuit-like.
Caffeine
Because hojicha is roasted at high temperatures, most of the caffeine breaks down. A cup of hojicha typically contains 7–10 mg of caffeine — less than a tenth of a coffee. It's the Japanese family tea served with dinner, and it's the default tea offered to children and the elderly.
How to brew hojicha
Hojicha is the easiest Japanese tea to brew well. It doesn't get bitter, doesn't mind a minute or two of over-steeping, and makes brilliant iced tea — brew double-strength and pour over ice.
Hojicha latte
The hojicha latte has been one of the breakout drinks of the last five years. The easiest home version:
- Grind 2 g of hojicha leaves fine (a spice grinder works) or use hojicha powder.
- Whisk into 50 ml of hot water.
- Top with 150 ml of steamed milk and a little sugar or maple syrup.
Recommended hojicha
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