This is a solid loose-leaf hojicha that would be my go-to brand for the dark roast stuff, if it weren't so hard to get my hands on it.

Pretty heavy roast for a hojicha. A good mix of stem and large leaves...brews a very dark color with a strongly roasty aroma...woody/twiggy but without being at all smoky. There's a faint suggestion of vanilla in the aroma, like a lot of good hojicha.

Flavor is moderately bold, with a little bitterness and a little sourness. Crisp mouthfeel, with a little up-front bite, but only a little lingering astringency.

I enjoy adding milk to this--I know that seems odd because it's not traditional, but it has a coffee-like quality and I like my coffee with milk. It is strong tasting enough to take milk well and I enjoy it both with milk and plain.

Stays fresh much longer than the expiration date on the bag. Hojicha is a tea that I think ages well (I've tried aged variants of it) and I think this would be a decent one to age, if you wanted. I find that after storing it for a couple years after buying it, just clipped, it still tastes similar to when I bought it, and the woody tones are perhaps a bit more complex, at the expense of some increased sourness in the flavor (still pleasant though).

I've found it surprisingly difficult to obtain. I last bought it at a Korean store in Delaware, on Kirkwood highway, outside of Wilmington. Many Asian markets only sell the Yamamotoyama tea bags, and I've found stores that sell loose-leaf Japanese green tea are more likely to sell plain (unroasted) green teas like sencha or bancha. I've seen it on Amazon, in 6 packs.

This is the best Hojicha I've tried in this price range though. It was under $5 for 100 grams (3.5 oz)...that's a pretty great price for tea of this quality...flavor-wise this one is up there with a lot of hojicha that has been at least twice as expensive.

Add your own review

Login or Sign Up to comment on this review.