Hojicha

This is my first taste of Hojicha tea, so I followed the recommended steeping instructions (2 teaspoons in 16oz of water for 3 minutes). The liquor of the leaves is a brown, with a few hints of orange. Darker than the other green teas that I’ve had. The aroma isn’t so appealing to my nose. It smells like a bunch of burnt leaves and twigs honestly. I guess thats to be expected since they are roasted leaves. The taste is alright, but pretty bland with a hint of smokiness. Every time I take another sip it tastes more and more like twigs ( based off my assumption of what twigs taste like =P ). Not bad, but not too good either.

I’d gotten this as a free sample with another tea I’d ordered, because it was one of the only teas Adagio offered as a sample that wasn’t a flavored or herbal tea. The first time I tried it, I was unimpressed. However, this afternoon I was helping my dad fix dinner and I wanted to fix some tea, so I decided to give this another go.

During round 1, I was puzzled by all the reviews on Adagio.com that raved about its “nutty” flavor; I just tasted burnt grass. I would have feared I’d oversteeped it had the dry leaves not smelled exactly the same. I erred on the side of caution anyway. Adagio recommends steeping it at 180 for 2-3 minutes. This time, I veered closer to Teavana instructions with 175-180 for ~45 seconds.

I still taste burnt grass. Or toasty lawnmower clippings. But it doesn’t bug me quite as much as my first try. I can see it being an acquired taste. Or working well when blended with something else. Don’t know what. Maybe this time, I just knew what to expect.

This was apart of a green tea blending starter kit I got from Adagio. I’ve never had a green tea quite like this hojicha. When I opened it up, it had a roasted smell that reminded me of genmaicha. I brewed a pot of this, using water that had been left to cool for a moment or two after boiling. The liquor is a light golden brown. I picked the cup up after letting it come down to drinking temperature to get a smell of it. The “roasted” smell remains, though it’s far from unpleasant.

The taste is the same as the smell. It’s a very nutty, earthy taste, that ends on a slightly tart note. I think this makes for excellent cold weather tea, with its deeper flavor. I’m actually surprised this is a green tea.

This is such a great tea to drink all day. It reminds me more of a darker oolong than a traditional green tea. It gets weaker and weaker as you steep it so it’s also a great candidate for grampa style. I’ll definitely be keeping this stocked in my pantry.

This has a strong roasted flavor, though not too far in that direction so that it tastes almost burnt. I’ve discovered I’m not super into plain hojicha, and this one tastes like many others – not the worst, just somewhere in the middle. There’s just not enough going on in this tea for me. Thanks for sending the sample though, Adagio!

Ah Hojicha. My all-time favorite tea. I wish it weren’t so hard to find in my area! I’ve only tasted two brands of hojicha so far. But it was the first type of tea I fell in love with. This hojicha taste is classic (no frills). But it’s roasty, toasty, slightly nutty taste and aroma are quite lovely. I can’t help but smile when I have a cup of hojicha to enjoy.

Here goes sample 2 out of 19! (can you tell I’m excited?). This one smells really strong and roast-y. While it was brewing, I smelled popcorn, nuts, barley, and, of course, green tea. After 2 minutes, it’s a dark-ish amber color. In taste, it reminds me a lot of the genmaicha tea bags I tried earlier. The smell also reminds me of dried seaweed chips. I appreciate the novelty (for me) of the barley/roasted nuts flavor and smell, but overall, this one’s not my favorite. It’s probably also the reason I don’t like stouts and other heavy beers. Very happy I got to try it, though!

Had this one late last night – arguably a little bit too late because I was already half asleep and I didn’t really process what I was drinking much. Thankfully Hojicha is pretty dang low in terms of caffeine, and I was out of it enough already for it to not be a big problem anyway. I’ll have to try this again (ideally in my Hojicha yixing) but from what I can recall the taste was a little mineral leaning metallic – like the sensation when you lick a penny? Not unpleasant, since it was still roasty/toasty, but not as rich/deep as some of the other hojicha that I own.

I thought I was going to hate this while it was steeping, but…I think the smell I was smelling is just my new mug. Ugh. (A mugh?)

This is okay. It reminds me of genmaicha, which is my favorite Japanese tea. Would drink again.

I was drinking the 2016 or 2017. Tasted of hay. Warm and full. Low caffiene.