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“This is an excellent tea, though I will admit it took me a couple of tries before I really started to appreciate it. It has a nice earthy toasted flavor, which I find very refreshing. This tea is...” Read full tasting note
“It has been a long time since I have written anything here. A certain earthquake in 2011 kept me busy for a while, and afterwards I guess I did not find the motivation to continue logging as much....” Read full tasting note
“great tea, more mellow, because of organic buds, then http://www.palaisdesthes.co.il/products/shiraore-kuki-hojicha, but it’s better after some steeping knowledge trials. all hibiki-an teas are...” Read full tasting note
Houjicha, also called Bancha, is made by roasting Sencha tea leaves over high heat. It is a brown tea with a toasted nutty flavor. Therefore, it is also easy for to try Japanese tea for the first time.
The first three processing steps of Houjicha tea leaves are the same as for Sencha: 1) Steaming, 2) Drying and Crumpling, and 3) Shaping. But to make Houjicha, the tea goes through one special additional step: 4) Roasting. (For roasting process of Houjicha, click here.)
Like Sencha, tea leaves for Houjicha are grown with fully-flooded sunlight, so that Houjicha contains beneficial Catechin. And since Houjicha is pan-roasted, it is very low in caffeine. In Japan, Houjicha is commonly given to babies and people who are sick because it is both nourishing and low in caffeine. Besides, Houjicha is perfect for iced tea. It will cool you on a sizzling hot day.
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This is an excellent tea, though I will admit it took me a couple of tries before I really started to appreciate it. It has a nice earthy toasted flavor, which I find very refreshing. This tea is complex without being complicated.
It has been a long time since I have written anything here. A certain earthquake in 2011 kept me busy for a while, and afterwards I guess I did not find the motivation to continue logging as much. That is, however, all in the past, and I hope to keep blogging here more often from now.
During the summer holiday, some of my friends and I got the opportunity to visit Hibiki-an in Uji. I had already tasted some of their teas and was very happy to visit them. It was also my first time visiting a tea farm, and the experience was a delightful one!
As they did not charge anything for the trip(!), we were more than happy to buy several of their different teas. I have already finished a few, which I will write about later, but now I will use the opportunity to review one I am currently enjoying: Their houjicha bancha.
As most of you probably already know, the bancha part of this houjicha indicates the quality of the leaves. This is very much an everyday-tea and does not contain as high grade leaves as other houjichas I have reviewed earlier. The score will therefore be lower this time, but that does not mean that it does not fulfill its role as an everyday-tea, because that it does. It has a pale roasty flavour that has a very thirst quenching feel to it. It works well both as a hot and a cold brew. Though I think I will be sticking to the hot version for now, as the autumn cold is slowly closing in.
Good to be back!
great tea, more mellow, because of organic buds, then http://www.palaisdesthes.co.il/products/shiraore-kuki-hojicha, but it’s better after some steeping knowledge trials. all hibiki-an teas are great. 3 tablespoons for 300ml – 1min or a bit more.
“complex without being complicated”- you talk like me! hehe;)