Throw decaf coffee out the window – hojicha is the tasty toasty decaf cup of warmth to keep you cozy in the evening!
People around the world adore their cups of matcha, sencha, gyokuro, and other Japanese teas, but there’s one kind that’s often overlooked. Hojicha, roasted tea, is surprisingly tasty, extraordinarily aromatic, unusually affordable, yet underappreciated in the West—I dare call it Japan’s best-kept secret.
Let’s discuss what hojicha is, and how to get the best out of this aromatic Japanese tea with each cup!
Jump to:
- Roasted Tea – Japan’s Aromatic Secret
- Not All Hojicha is Made Equal
- Defining Hojicha Flavor
- Is Hojicha Green Tea?
- What’s the difference between Matcha and Hojicha Powder?
- What is The Right Time for Hojicha?
- Caffeine – Or Lack Thereof
- Can children drink hojicha?
- How to Brew Hojicha?
- Roasting Hojicha at Home – Yes, You Can!
- Time to brew!
Roasted Tea – Japan’s Aromatic Secret
So what is hojicha tea?
In simplest terms, it’s roasted green tea.
It makes a lovely amber-colored infusion and smells like toasty heaven.
Unlike matcha, hojicha doesn’t require special growing conditions. In fact, you can make hojicha from many types of Japanese green tea.
How come?
Well, fresh tea leaves need to be steamed to become Japanese green tea. As a special kind of tea, hojicha is made by after-processing various kinds of Japanese steamed green tea like sencha, bancha, and kukicha. In particular, by roasting steamed green tea.
Thanks to the roasting process, hojicha has virtually no bitterness, giving you a tasty cup no matter how hot your water is (with green tea, you need to be careful not to scorch it).
Hojicha is also almost caffeine-free, so you can drink it day or night.
So, roasting green tea to get hojicha does 3 things:
- Changes the aroma to toasty, woody flavor and the color to a deep whiskey brown
- Reduces astringency, so you can also use hotter water
- Minimizes caffeine, with only about 7 mg of it in your cup.
Hojicha comes in the form of brown loose leaf tea or ground into fine hojicha powder.
hojicha loose-leaf tea leaves
Not All Hojicha is Made Equal
It’s important to remember that, like with many teas, hojicha is an umbrella term, so it’s hard to take into account all the possible variables.
It can come from various grades of kukicha, sencha, and bancha; and for example, kukicha contains almost no caffeine to start with, so this type of hojicha is almost completely caffeine-free. A hojicha made of fresh sencha leaves will probably have more of a kick.
The roasting process also influences the chemical contents and flavor.
Defining Hojicha Flavor
Get your yunomi out because hojicha deserves to be a full experience.
Hojicha has a nutty, toasty flavor that evokes the feeling of sitting next to a fireplace on a cold evening.
The mellow earthy and woody aromas of the roast don’t keep much of the grassiness or seaweediness of the original green. Instead, hojicha brings a new flavor note, sweeter and – depending on both the roasting process and how it’s brewed – smokier or more caramelly.
- Compared to green tea, hojicha is less bitter and grassy, but it keeps some of the mellow flavors of greens.
- Compared to black tea, hojicha is less intense and sour. The color, and to an extent the smell, of black (red) teas can be similar to hojicha.
- Hojicha is somewhat similar to the roasty flavor of coffee, minus the caffeine and bitterness, but it comes in a clear, golden-brown brew that quenches thirst and soothes the soul. Some people also compare the deep flavor of hojicha to cocoa.
Is Hojicha Green Tea?
The short answer is yes – hojicha is green tea.
The long answer is that hojicha only comes from green tea. Using the original unfermented, Japanese steamed green tea, the roasted hojicha seems like own type of tea – because it’s also very different than green tea.
While roasting on high heat, the sencha, bancha, or kukicha we use chemically change. Much of the caffeine evaporates, and so do a lot of the catechins (these make green tea bitter but oh-so good for you).
The tea itself becomes darker and has a different flavor, the leaves don’t grow as much when you soak them, and its health benefits change, so I think it’s fair to say hojicha is a unique type of green tea.
As far as health benefits go, hojicha doesn’t provide all the famous catechin-powered cardiovascular advantages of green tea, but it’s a healthy tea that won’t upset your stomach and it can improve digestion after dinner.
What’s the difference between Matcha and Hojicha Powder?
Along with loose leaf hojicha, hojicha powder is a popular variety you can try. It’s light brown in color, ground into a fine powder, and it’s whisked with a chasen, just like matcha powder.
Production method
Hojicha powder is made by milling loose-leaf hojicha tea, so it’s also decaffeinated and toasty-flavored.
Matcha is made of specially-grown tea leaves prepared in an intricate process. Unlike hojicha powder, matcha is more expensive, is caffeinated, and comes with a vast array of known health benefits.
Clumping
Matcha and hojicha powder are whisked the same way. Made from steamed leaves, matcha has a higher water content, so it tends to clump. On the other hand, the roasted-dry hojicha powder doesn’t even need sifting.
Uses
Just like matcha, hojicha powder is used in frothy drinks, lattes, or to make desserts like ice cream, cookies, and cakes with.
hojicha soft-served ice cream from Chavaty in Omotesando, Tokyo
What is The Right Time for Hojicha?
Always.
Hojicha contains very little caffeine, despite the fact it comes from green tea. This is especially true if your hojicha contains many twigs compared to leaves. So, feel free to enjoy a cup day or night.
Its flavor profile also goes well with food, so hojicha is sometimes served in restaurants during or after meals. Like genmaicha, it aids digestion.
Caffeine – Or Lack Thereof
How little is little caffeine? The final amount of caffeine in any cup of tea will change greatly depending on how you brew it.
But, speaking in averages:
- Cup of coffee: ~80 mg of caffeine
- Cup of matcha: 60-70 mg
- Cup of black tea: ~50 mg
- Cup of sencha: 30-40 mg
- Cup of Coca Cola: ~20 mg
- Cup of hojicha: 7-8 mg of caffeine.
So, if you’re used to consuming caffeinated drinks or sodas, you likely won’t feel the effects of the much lower caffeine content that hojicha has.
However, measuring caffeine in tea can be tricky business, as more or less can be extracted depending on your brewing method.
Rules to make sure you get minimum caffeine in your brew: don’t use boiling water (around 80°C is great) and don’t steep your tea for a long time.
Can children drink hojicha?
Yes! Japanese children start drinking tea quite early, and for young children that’s usually hojicha or mugicha (barley tea). As it’s a low-caffeine beverage, hojicha tea is a popular drink among the caffeine-intolerant, children, pregnant ladies (make sure you get kuki hojicha – stem hojicha), and the elderly.
Hojicha latte – made using powdered hojicha, it’s the perfect decaf alternative to milk coffee
How to Brew Hojicha?
Loose leaf hojicha is fairly easy to brew, and it’s hard to go wrong when making this tea.
You can use hot water ranging from 80° to 95°C (175°-200°F) because it’s hard to burn this roasted sort of tea – so feel free to explore, adjust the water temperature and see how that affects the flavor of your hojicha.
Remember that the hotter the water – the more caffeine is extracted. So if you’re caffeine-sensitive, make sure to use water around 80° and shorter steep times. Hotter water will also give you a smokier brew, and you’ll get mellower flavors if you let the water cool beforehand.
You can experiment with how long you steep your hojicha too. Anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes will be fine – the longer you leave it in, the more intense the flavor, and possibly more caffeine in your cup, so you can gauge that to your liking.
Can you brew hojicha more than once?
Don’t throw out the leaves after brewing because you can get two or three steeps from your leaves (like with other loose-leaf green teas).
Roasted leaves do get spent quicker, so you probably can’t brew it 7 times like you can with some Chinese teas, but you should definitely brew the tea at least twice.
When serving, pour until the last drop of liquid drains out of your teapot, and don’t leave the hydrated leaves sitting for more than 12 hours. You can use hotter water or longer steeping times on the second brew.
Roasting Hojicha at Home – Yes, You Can!
Though a bit expensive and wildly fluctuating in quality, matcha is easy to buy internationally. After all, it is a recognized superfood.
Hojicha lovers may not be so lucky, and good hojicha can be difficult to purchase locally. However, while you wait for that shipment of mastercrafted hojicha, you can roast some sencha or bancha you have at home too.
This is a great way to give a new life to old tea. Unless it gets moldy, tea doesn’t really expire – but it will lose flavor and poignancy. So, if you have a bag of older leaves of Japanese green tea that has been sitting on the back of the shelf for a year or longer, whip out your roasting pot. If you do it right, you’ll end up with unique-flavored homemade hojicha.
The process is simple.
- Get a roasting vessel. Traditionally, a ceramic houroku (焙烙) or hojiki (焙じ機) is used to roast the tea over charcoal. However, I successfully roasted tea using a metal coffee pot on my electric stove (a saucepan with a thin bottom also works).
- Put tea leaves into the pot while it’s still cool. You can use any old steamed green tea leaf. Use just enough to cover the bottom, don’t put too much. No need for oil or grease, use a clean, dry pot for this.
- Start heating the pot on a hot stove. Once you see a bit of smoke starting to come out (and feel the lovely aroma that comes with it), reduce the temperature and shake the pot on the stove for a few minutes until all tea leaves become dark brown. Shake continuously to avoid burning the smaller tea leaves.
- Transfer your roasted tea to a cold container as soon as you’re happy with its color and smell.
Time to brew!
Hojicha is more than just another type of green tea—it’s a cozy, aromatic, relaxing experience for any time of the day. Whether you enjoy it as a warm, toasty brew on a cold evening, a refreshing iced latte on a summer afternoon, or a tasty help to digestion after dinner, its unique roasted flavor and versatility make it a delightful tea everyone should have.
Do you love hojicha? If you have any questions, leave a comment below.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dunja Djuragic Dugandzic
Dunja believes simple, straightforward, a little cheeky, and very informative writing can change the world. From teenage years, her fascination with the Japanese way of life continues to grow - and so does her research. Since 2015, she writes content about Japan, travel, world cultures and heritage, crafts and art, printing technologies, and a variety of digital products.
FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER
Eri Nakamura Kobe-Based Freelance Photographer Specializing in Culinary Art
With roots in Kyoto and training from the Japan Institute of Photography and Film, Eri has built a career capturing the beauty of food. Eri is passionate about creating images that make culinary creations shine, helping brands tell their story through stunning visuals.
(Photos with model and hojicha ice cream: Matt Eisenhauer)
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