2918 Tasting Notes
We tried this one last night. I am happy to say that once again, the caffeine in hojicha did not keep me awake. It must be a truly minuscule amount.
As with the other flavored hojicha, the cinnamon is pretty light here. I like this one well enough and would drink it if offered, but it is not a repurchase for me. Ashman really raved over the chocolate one but really didn’t say anything about this one, just drank it. So he didn’t hate it but it didn’t make an impression for him.
As soon as I get a few more sipdowns I plan to try more of their flavored matcha.
I made a couple of small lattes last night, served cold not hot. I did sweeten this with a little cane sugar. We had pistachios with it.
I thought it was good, and I think I tasted the hojicha as much or more than the chocolate. What surprised me was how much Ashman liked it. He proclaimed more than once that he liked it a lot, so this might be a repurchase.
The big test for me was…would I be able to sleep? Or would the small amount if caffeine overcome the L-theanine? We had it rather late. We both fell asleep pretty much as usual, so if my body continues to respond this way to hojicha, I see more of it in my future.
I have two pouches of this and will be giving one to Superanna to try to see how she likes it. I am really interested in seeing her review.
I have been looking forward to drinking this tea for a long time, because I decided last year that it would be the perfect thing to drink when Martin finishes his degree! It was a truly celebratory cup this morning!
This tea really is a burst of fruity sunshine. I think I must have been more contemplative than usual this morning as I sipped it, because I noticed the cinnamon more than usual. There was just a point well into breakfast time – toast with Bonne Maman Apricot and Peach jam – where I felt a warm and cozy feeling like I was eating fresh peach cobbler and I realized it was cinnamon pulling that off. I had forgotten that cinnamon was in this tea and had to look it up to confirm.
I don’t know if I have ever picked up the hazelnut much, but maybe I am looking for Nutella and not just hazelnut. I need to get more familiar with hazelnut flavor.
Congratulations to Martin! Three cheers!
I have never tasted anything that wasn’t an actual banana that tasted so much like an actual banana. Everything banana flavored seems to taste like candy Circus Peanuts or Runts.
The aroma was noticeable but not strong in the dry powder. It was a bit subdued even in the whisked tea. The sip was nutty and roasted and then the aftertaste was exactly as if I had just swallowed a bite of a real banana and was still tasting it. Amazing.
I detected no grittiness in the plain hojicha powder and neither did Superanna. This one did have a touch of texture but it doesn’t put me off from drinking this and I did also prepare it differently. Next time I will use maple syrup as a sweetener and use the Aerolatte to froth it and see if the grittiness goes away.
Since I added six new teas to my cupboard today, I was happy that I was going to get to record a sipdown, only to discover that this tea wasn’t listed and therefore was not in my cupboard, so my total cupboard was not reflecting it. I can’t believe that I am finishing the pouch and have never reviewed this one.
This is a smooth and sweet green tea and the cherry flavor is very similar to Harney and Sons Cherry Green. This makes a fantastic sweet iced tea, tasting like a cherry hard candy. Yums.
This made me harken back to days when I had a drawer absolutely full of flavored matcha from Red Leaf Tea. (Now called Matcha Outlet.)
This was delicious. The cake flavor is spot on and the matcha isvery nice with no bitterness. Good color and good froth. Would repurchase for sure.
Awww I miss Red Leaf, they had so many interesting flavors… :’(
They really did!
I think I had ten or fifteen flavors at a time back when you could earn points with reviews. It was soooo good. I still like their D25 matcha and my daughter drinks it. For a while they would occasionally offer one of their flavored teas in a limited edition. I don’t know if they still do.
Even their “basic” flavors like vanilla were delicious, and without having sugar in them!
Kaylee: you are right! We loved caramel, vanilla, bilberry, and there was some sort of custard dessert flavor that I can’t remember the name of that was sooo good. Really they were all good!
Just checked – they do have a pre-sweetened French Vanilla Matcha available now.
I miss graham cracker! I’m definitely thankful for 3 Leaf, but I hope they continue to add new flavors. Why is there no vanilla or strawberry?!?! :(
Had no idea flavored matcha was a thing! I really wanted to get into matcha, long ago, but never quite fell under its spell like I expected to. What would your first recommendation be for a flavored matcha?
Earthy, nutty, smokey, burnt aroma and flavor that is usually burnt popcorn-like that seems to be common for Japanese tea like genmaicha.
Superanna said it tasted like mud if mud tastes good and she likened it to “next to chocolate” in flavor.
I like it. I have the sampler and will decide which to repurchase after trying the flavors, but I would say this is a re-purchase, especially if it turns out to have the reputed mood boosting effects.
Sipdown 2 for today and 3 for the month!
I enjoy rou gui oolong and love that mineral “rock” taste. I should have realized that the black tea was going to strongly favor that profile, but I didn’t think and made this when we were really wanting a strong black tea for lunch.
It was a good tea, but not what I would consider a black tea, and really if you are craving black tea this probably wouldn’t fill the bill for you. If you are craving a rock oolong, it would.
The color was light even on the first steep. There is no roasty taste like a dark oolong, but rather a rock oolong taste and smoothness with a hint of the extra oxidation that carries it into black tea territory. Just a hint, mind you.
Nice tea, but not one that I would re-purchase unless I wanted an alternative to a rock oolong.
How is the texture of the hojicha powder? I’ve had unflavored powdered hojicha in lattes but found the texture kind of gritty. Intrigued by the idea of flavored hojicha.