Senchasou
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Found this while Christmas shopping at a totally bougie store in our tiny downtown. Think bougie World Market but small and curated, focusing quite a bit on Japan. Some people lose their money to gambling; if I were a more foolish derk, I’d lose thousands at this store that carries fine worldwide goods. It’s bad enough that I spent $12 on 8 sachets.
The yuzu here isn’t distinct but it does blend well with a lighter roast, grassy hojicha. Full flavor and aroma. Lots of roasted buckwheat. Bright, citrusy, mineral, roasted grass, tangy with some tolerable astringency. It was difficult to time the first steep to get it where I wanted and so I could do a second steep.
Overall, I’m kinda meh on this yuzu hojicha because of the price I paid. It’s also a daytime brew, high in caffeine. A snack or meal was necessary as I could get jittery.
Flavors: Bright, Brisk, Buckwheat, Citrusy, Grass, Nutty, Roasted, Roasty, Tangy, Yuzu
I picked up this package of powdered Hojicha mix in a Mitsuwa in San Jose on a vacation once. Mixed up as a latte, I found it way too sweet (and I have quite the sweet tooth!) I notice that “beet sugar” is the first listed ingredient, so there just seems to be way too much sugar in this particular mix for even my tastes (and I don’t mind when my matcha mixes are pre-sweetened, in general). I tend to use sweeter types of non-dairy milk as well, which probably just exacerbated the problem.
So today I decided to make a milkshake out of it, since that is something my brain already expects to be extremely dessert-sweet, using Lactose-free vanilla ice cream (and just a bit of vanilla oat milk to help with the mixing). I do think I preferred it that way than as a straight latte — I think, if I ever made it as a latte again, I might have to “cut” it with a straight cup of hojicha to see if that balances it out a bit better… something to try in the future!
Will try to find other creative ways to get through this (rather large) bag and use it up, and then I will definitely look for a different brand of hojicha powder in the future.
Flavors: Roasted, Sugar, Sweet, Wood
“Bougie” and focusing on Japan? I guess not Target. Nice that you’ve got access to upscale shops!
(Yes, I just read your note on B&B Organic Orange Spice — LoL!)
We did a bit of “bougie” last weekend on our way to the opera, finally trying out the Russian Tea Time restaurant for dinner in downtown Chicago. I’ve walked past it for years and always wanted to give it a shot. Great food and a nice pot of Passionfruit Tea (Ceylon base). After the opera, I shook the bougie off my shoes and stopped in to Walmart for some groceries… :-)