The aroma will warm your body and soul! Basic knowledge about roasted green tea

What is Houjicha?

Hojicha is written in kanji as "hojicha" and is made by roasting tea leaves such as sencha and bancha over high heat until they turn brown.

Although it is not a high-quality tea, its fragrant aroma leaves the mouth feeling refreshed, making it a pleasant tea to have after a meal.

In addition, the hojicha boom that began around 2015 has led to the creation of many hojicha sweets, such as lattes and puddings. Its popularity has increased among the younger generation, and its appeal is being rediscovered.

The story behind the birth of Hojicha

Surprisingly, the history of Hojicha is relatively short.

It is said that about 100 years ago, from the end of the Taisho period to the beginning of the Showa period, a tea merchant in the Yamashiro region of Kyoto Prefecture, who was troubled by sluggish sales of tea leaves, devised this method to make effective use of his mountains of unsold tea leaves.

A tea merchant in Kyoto decided to bring his unsold old tea leaves to Kyoto University and ask for the tea to be recycled.

The professors seemed to be struggling to come up with a good idea, but one of the students accidentally burned the tea leaves in a pot, which is how Hojicha was born.

By roasting the tea leaves, new value was created and it grew into a popular tea.

Ingredients for Hojicha

Bancha tea is often used as the raw material for hojicha. It is made by picking the leaves that sprout again after the first harvest.

It has generally been thought to be of inferior quality to first-catch tea, but as an ingredient in roasted green tea, it brings out its fragrant flavor and plays an important role in creating the unique flavor of roasted green tea.

It is said that tea made from the latest leaves of the first harvest is of high quality. For this reason, in some regions, hojicha is known as o-bancha. There is also kuki hojicha, which is made from high-quality kukicha.

Caffeine-free roasted green tea that is gentle on the stomach

Hojicha is made by roasting the tea leaves, which makes it less bitter and astringent than sencha and has a low caffeine content, making it safe for children and pregnant women to drink.

It is also recommended for those who are concerned about caffeine or who drink a lot of tea on a regular basis.