The Shincha season (the first tea harvest of the new season) has arrived! The busiest, but also the most exciting season for tea farmers and tea factories, picking leaves and processing tea leaves. It’s fascinating for tea loves to see Shincha's coming in stores.
Is there anyone who wants to try new harvested tea, but, like me, still has some previous years green tea remaining in the cupboard? Actually ,the flavor of the green tea in my cupboard has reduced, as the packet has been open for a while, so I've decided to make Hojicha with the tea in my kitchen.
What is Hojicha?
Have you tasted hojicha, and how it is made? In fact, many Japanese people don't know what hojicha is made from although they've drunk hojicha all their lives.
Hojicha(焙じ茶)
Hojicha - 焙じ茶 - , literally means "roasted tea", and is made from some form of green tea that has been roasted. As it is roasted, the leaves turn brown and get a nice roast aroma. There are many variations of Hojicha depending on the part of the tea leaves used, harvested time of the leaves and the degree of roasting.
You can check them from Here.
If you want to make hojicha professionally at home, there is a special tool called a Horoku(ceramic tea Roaster).
Horoku(焙烙)
This time I'll use a small pan.
Get a pan/frying pan and spatula, and of course some green tea, then get ready for making hojicha. I can't wait to smell the very nice aroma while making it!
How to Make Hojicha
1 Sift the green tea, to remove the powdery leaves, as these are easily over-roasted or burnt.
2 Put the sifted tea in a pan, and put on low heat. It's time to start mixing when the tea gets warm and give us a nice aroma. Important- Mix with a spatula or shake the pan continuously to keep the tea from getting over-roasted or burnt.
3 Take the pan off the heat ,and let it cool.
It's done!
I used 20g of green tea, and roasted it for about 10 minutes. A lovely roast aroma had spread through the kitchen and house while making it ! It was a relaxing and happy aroma.
Here is the way of making your own hojicha from your green tea. In the next article, I'll show some hojicha experiments with a few different types of green tea in my cupboard.
The next article: Homemade Hojicha Roasting Experiments
Hojicha Steeping Information
Use 4g of hojicha with 200ml of hot water at 90℃°/194F, steep for 1 minute.
Hojicha Articles
Why Hojicha is Low in Caffeine
Today's Recommendations
Yamaki Ikai: Mini Ceramic Tea Roaster (Houroku), Black or White
Yunomi Dojo Lesson 105: 12 Japanese Green Teas Variety Set
This Japanese green tea variety pack offers Gyokuro, Kabusecha, Sencha, Fukamushicha, Kukicha, Mecha, Konacha, Hojicha, Genmaicha, Aracha, Bancha, and Tencha selected by Yunomi staff!
This naturally grown hojicha is added toasted rice grown naturally in Miyagi. Enjoy the combination of nice toast aroma of hojicha and toasted rice !
