Hojicha Roasted Green Tea

Hojicha is Japanese green tea roasted over high, dry heat, which turns the leaf reddish-brown and trades grassy sharpness for a nutty, toasty sweetness. The cup is clear red-brown and low in bitterness, with toasted grain, caramel and a hint of cocoa. Brewed in a kyusu at 90°C.

Origin & Story

A tea made from leftovers

The usual story puts hojicha's start in Kyoto in 1920. A tea merchant had bancha, the cheap late-season tea, that he could not sell, and rather than throw it out he roasted it. The leaf turned brown, the grassy taste went, and what was left smelled of toast and caramel. Whether or not it happened quite like that, hojicha has kept its everyday character. It is still mostly made from inexpensive leaf, sold cheaply, and drunk at home and with meals more than at tasting tables.

What goes into it

Hojicha starts as finished green tea, not fresh leaf. Most is bancha, the larger, tougher leaf from the second harvest or later, but makers also roast sencha, and kukicha, the stems and twigs sorted out of sencha, is roasted into a hojicha of its own. Kukicha is also called bōcha, twig tea.

The roast

Traditionally the tea was roasted in a porcelain pot or pan over charcoal, shaken so it browned evenly. The heat is high and dry; makers give figures from about 150°C to over 200°C, depending on how dark they want it. In that heat the green leaf turns reddish-brown in minutes, and sugars and amino acids in the leaf react to form pyrazines and other roasted aroma compounds, the same family of reactions that browns bread or coffee. Roasting also breaks down some of the catechins that make green tea astringent, so hojicha has very little bite.

Is it low in caffeine?

Usually, but the reasons are argued over. Hojicha is mostly made from late-harvest leaf and stems, which hold less caffeine than young spring leaf to begin with. Some tea sellers say the roast drives off caffeine too, since caffeine begins to escape as vapor at temperatures a dark roast can reach, but we found no measurement of how much is actually lost. Estimates for a cup vary widely; one Japanese tea company lists brewed hojicha at the same 20 mg per 100 ml as brewed sencha, while other sellers give far lower figures. In Japan hojicha is often served in the evening, and to children and older people, because it is mild, not because it is caffeine-free. It is not.

What it tastes like

The dry leaf is brown, in flat pieces or twigs. The infusion is clear and reddish-brown, and the aroma arrives before you sip: toasted grain, a little caramel, sometimes a touch of smoke. The taste is round and sweet, with almost no bitterness and a dry, nutty finish. Some roasts add a hint of cocoa.

Brewing it

Roasted leaf takes hotter water than green sencha. Use about 3 g of leaf for 240 ml at 90°C and steep for about a minute, or up to two for a stronger cup. Water at a full boil brings out more of the roast and a light smoky edge, which some people prefer. The leaf gives a second infusion. Hojicha also holds up to milk: powdered hojicha whisked into steamed milk makes the hojicha latte now sold in many cafés, and it takes ice well.

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