Hojicha Basic Roast

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Green Tea
Flavors
Cedar, Espresso, Smoke, Tobacco, Wet Rocks, Wood, Roast Nuts, Roasted, Toasty
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Low
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 15 sec 5 g 10 oz / 303 ml

Currently unavailable

We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

2 Images

1 Want it Want it

3 Own it Own it

6 Tasting Notes View all

From Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms

A traditional Hojicha, Basic Roast has a rich, smoky flavour that is simultaneously sweet, nutty and round. Although it is a green tea it retains no bitterness, and the roasting process removes much of the caffeine from the leaves, making it an evening favourite.

Taste: Sweet
Body: Medium
Texture: Rounded
Length: Short
Harvest: June
Tea Cultivar: Mixed
Origin: Wazuka
Cultivation: Unshaded
Processing: Steamed, Rolled, Dried, Roasted

About Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms View company

It started with a single cup of tea. As the legend goes, our president Akihiro Kita, or Akky-san, visited Wazuka, Kyoto one fateful day. At the time, Akky-san was still a college student in search for life's calling. After trying the region's famous Ujicha (literally meaning tea from the Uji district), he immediately fell in love and his passion for green tea was born. He had finally found what he was looking for in that one simple cup of tea. After fifteen years of learning to master the art of growing tea from tea farmers in Wazuka, Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms was born and as they say, the rest is history. So what's an Obubu? Obubu is the Kyoto slang for tea. Here in the international department we call ourselves Obubu Tea. That's "Tea Tea" for the bilinguals. We love tea so much, we just had to have it twice in our name. Now Obubu means more than just tea to us. It means, family, friends, passion and the place we call home. More than just tea. Though the roots of Obubu stem from tea, it has become more than that over the years. Obubu is an agricultural social venture, operating with three (1) bring quality Japanese tea to the world (2) contribute to the local and global community through tea (3) revitalize interest in tea and agriculture through education.

6 Tasting Notes

87
280 tasting notes

Nothing surprising here, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. But there was something present, maybe a more fresh flavor, which brought out a different kind of sweetness than I’ve tasted in a houjicha. It could simply be because it has a lot more twigs present, and I’ve not had much kuki-houjicha before.

The wet leaves in the pot had a very nice aroma like coffee.

I think I liked this as much as Den’s Tea Houjicha Gold. The main difference I noticed, besides the (perhaps) fresh flavor or unique sweetness, was the presence of aformentioned twigs (HUGE ones… many 1" long!), and the size of the leaves (large). This is roasted aracha, unsorted tea, whereas Houjicha Gold is roasted bancha. That could likely explain the taste difference, but I’m actually rating this one just slightly better because of how nice the large leaves and twigs look.

I wonder if it has the same, consistent taste every year. Tea merchants (like Den’s Tea) expertly blend several tea lots together to achieve the same taste for their product all the time. However, Obubu Tea is a farm selling directly to consumers, so it makes sense that they would sell aracha. Anyway, I’m rambling, but curious to know if the flavor of this changes noticeably each year.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

86
335 tasting notes

I prefer the darker roasts, but this is wonderful iced. Very tasty, toasty and refreshing. I really like their series of houjichas. Wonderful diversity! Cold brews nicely too.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

76 tasting notes

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

78
27 tasting notes

The first thing I noticed about this tea is how intensely smokey it is compared to my usual Hojichas (Harney & Sons, MEM Tea Imports). The size of the leaves impressed me too; again, I am used to teas that run on the kukicha side, or using fairly small broken leaves.

It brewed a nice cup – heavy on the wood/cedar scents, though I can definitely see where one gets tobacco from the wet leaf. A little thickness on the tongue, but not much in the way of mouthfeel. We did a second steep (~2 minutes) that felt almost espresso-esque. Roommate commented that she might want to try this longer steeping in her next bowl of chazuke – too bad we drank the whole sample!

Flavors: Cedar, Espresso, Smoke, Tobacco, Wet Rocks

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 15 sec 5 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

74
415 tasting notes

Thank you, Zack S., for this tea!

Opening the bag of this tea I loved how rich and earthy it smelled. I couldn’t believe how dark the leaves were-everything about this tea seemed to say that this was a black tea.-even when brewed up. But alas, I looked it up on the website and it is indeed a green tea. Apparently it is virtually caffeine free due to the roasting process, so I saved this tea until after work around supper time. I’ve been trying to work 6 days/week in order to pay off my credit card and save money and although I do not work a physically demanding job, I do need a pick me up after work. This is nice because it’s “real” tea (i.e not a tisane) but without caffeine. I love the depth of flavour and the smokiness. My only concern is if my stomach can handle it- it does have a bolder flavour and sometimes my stomach can react poorly to certain foods/drinks. I’ll keep an eye on my stomach, but I’m definitely going to continue drinking this as an after work pick me up. Love it.

Flavors: Smoke, Wood

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 16 OZ / 473 ML
Zack S.

There is a recipe that I have for a Houjicha Latte that you brew on stovetop in milk instead of water. I’ll have to remember to find you the recipe!

Kristal

sure! sounds great :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
306 tasting notes

This tea is roasty and comforting. It isn’t as sweet as some houjicha I’ve had but it is really mellow. There’s a bit of sweetness in the aftertaste. The aroma gives hints of burnt cedar… and as usual with me and heavily roasted teas there is a note of dill. The flavor is of toast, a little bit nutty, mild and very relaxing. The wet leaves in the teapot smell like cigar tobacco. Now that I’ve noticed that and the tea has cooled some, I can definitely taste cigar smoke in the taste.

Not a lot to say. This is a really great houjicha.

Flavors: Cedar, Roast Nuts, Roasted, Toasty, Tobacco

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 0 sec 5 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.