Japan Hojicha

Hojicha (焙じ茶) roughly means “roasted tea” in Japanese – and that is exactly what it is: a roasted green tea. Essentially, Hojicha is a true green tea that undergoes a fine roasting after production. This gives it a fantastic nutty aroma, makes it lighter in taste than other green teas and removes a large part of its caffeine. That makes Hojicha a great choice for the late afternoon or whenever you want less caffeine.

Taste

The Japan Hojicha tastes mildly nutty, reminiscent of walnuts, hazelnuts and, faintly, dark chocolate and cocoa. The infusion has an amber-colored cup and wins you over with its mild, light taste. Thanks to the roasting, the tea has hardly any bitterness and tastes wonderfully smooth.

Origin

The Japan Hojicha comes from a tea garden in the Kagoshima region on the Japanese island of Kyushu. Our Sencha and Matcha also come from the same tea garden.

• Origin: Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan
• Cultivar: special blend of different cultivars
• Steaming: Asamushi (あさむし), 20–30 seconds
• Shading: none
• Caffeine: low

Preparation

The Japan Hojicha is less sensitive to high water temperatures than other green teas. We like it best when you pour 500 ml of water at 80 °C over 6 g of tea leaves and let it steep for 2 minutes.

Hojicha is also great to prepare in a kyusu, an original Japanese side-handle teapot. Let 4 g of tea leaves steep in 100 ml of water at 60 °C for 2 minutes. Why not try our KINTO Kyusu Teapot for this?

Discover more

How Hojicha and Matcha differ is explained in our blog article What is the difference between Hojicha and Matcha? (in German) – as well as how to turn it into a Hojicha Latte (in German). Also with a roasted aroma: our Japan Genmaicha.