I still don’t have a working scale, so these pre-measured Nio samples are the perfect solution. This is my first hojicha, and unless the name has changed, it’s a different one from what other reviewers received. There’s a lot of tea in this pouch, and I hope they didn’t actually give me 10 g instead of 5. I steeped the contents in 150 ml of 175F water for 60, 20, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of caramel, autumn leaves, roast, and cacao. The first steep is full of cozy roast and caramel, with notes of barley, minerals, and charcoal. I understand why people compare hojicha to coffee. It looks like this is a 5 g sample after all, as it doesn’t destroy my tongue with bitterness; the larger leaves must have made me think there was more. The next couple steeps have notes of roasted grain, caramel, coffee, autumn leaves, minerals, wood, faint grass, and charcoal. The final steeps are weaker, but similar in terms of flavour, emphasizing the roast and minerality. The tea never gets excessively bitter or grassy.
This is a perfect winter tea, though one I’d need to be in the mood for. I’m enjoying these “nontraditional” Japanese green teas quite a bit!
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Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Cacao, Caramel, Charcoal, Coffee, Grain, Grass, Mineral, Roasted, Roasted Barley, Toasty, Wood
I love lapsang with ice cream but since I have become more caffeine sensitive I have started doing a pot of hojicha with my ice cream instead! It is very good!
I imagine this would present a nice contrast of flavours!