While I’m mostly a black tea gal, I do relish my nightly cup of houjicha. I’ve been wanting to try these flavored houjichas for ages, but they were out of stock for quite some time. And when they came back Yunomius sadly removed the sample option. Cameron B. came to my to my rescue and generously sent me some samples. I’m trying to drink all my swaps/samples in the order I got them, but I decided to cheat and treat myself with one of these.
I’d had a houjicha + mint blend before and wasn’t super fond of it. The mint was too strong and the houjicha wasn’t of the best quality. But it sounded like a promising blend, so I was curious how it would work in this instance. The leaves seem to be a mix of regular hojicha and hoji-kukicha (my favorite!) and there are cute little silver balls hanging out in the mix. Sprinkles? Steeped a tsp for a bit over 2 minutes at 190ºish.
Yum! This is quite nice. The chocolate is creamy and melds right into the roasty houjicha. The mint is thankfully not overwhelming, but it’s barely noticeable. Just a refreshing bit of brightness. Not bad at all, but not really mint chocolate. The website recommends adding milk which sounds odd to me, but why not give it a try.
Added a splash and unsweetened soy and… yum! Surprisingly nice. The chocolate is very creamy and it tastes super nutty. I really like it! Sadly the mint is pretty much completely drown out, but it’s very tasty. Overall I really enjoyed this and will definitely consider picking up a package for myself. I do think it would be improved with more mint, or as a straight chocolate houjicha. But as-is it’s quite nice.
Flavors: Chocolate, Nuts, Roasted
