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hojicha blues

Does anyone have any input on brewing or a purchasing hojicha?

I was traveling in Japan this spring, and encountered hojicha in all the restaurants and hotels wherever I went. (quick sidenote: I wonder if that's a seasonal thing. I had studied in Japan during the fall/winter season and didn't encounter it then, but maybe I was just oblivious!)

I fell in love with the nutty flavor of hojicha. Then I found out it was low in caffeine that was even better, since I am pretty sensitive to caffeine! I returned to the states with two types of hojicha, one a semi-pricey tin with dried sakura cherry blossoms in it, and one every-day foil packet of hojicha.

But in trying different brewing times and water temps, I still end up with a rather flat tea, not the tea with rich, hearty body that I had in Japan. Maybe I just need Japanese water to make the flavor complete :) But if anyone has any advice on brewing, or where to get good hojicha, I'd appreciate it!

Reply to
amatouTT
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Hi,

I'm the furthest thing imaginable from an hojicha expert, but I do kinda like it myself. I've tried both

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and Upton's TJ41, both of which are pretty good. If you want to go further afield,
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has a varied selection, though I haven't tried any.

Rishi recommends using a fair amount of leaves - 1 Tablespoon per 8 oz; Upton recommends 1 teaspoon or so for 6 oz. Both recommend around a 3 min. steep. You may not be using enough tea.

Doug

Reply to
Doug Hazen, Jr.

Thanks for the suggestions! One thing that caught my attention on the Uptons site is the picture of the hojicha. The leaves and twiggy bits are big (like 1" long) and textured, while they types I bought were mostly made up of quarter or half-inch pieces that look like chopped-up spaghetti noodles.

Some descriptions I've read say hojicha is "smokey", which I would have never noticed in my experiences with the tea. I think I need to branch explore other brands of hojicha; perhaps I'll try the Upton's. I also enjoyed the sencha.com site. 14 oz sizes they sold are a little too hard-core for me, but I appreciated all the background and history the site includes for each type of tea they sell.

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Reply to
amatouTT

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