Hojicha Basic Roast

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.

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.

Yes, yes, and yes.

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!

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.

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.