TeaChat

Your favorite currently available hojicha: Go!

ippodo's kuki hojicha. mmmmmmmmm, guilty pleasure.

+1

I'll have to +1 as well...
though I also like Hibiki-an's houjicha karigane.

wow thats a sweet deal on the refill bags less then 5 bucks for 100g.
https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/kyoto/sho ... gcd=602612

Sounds like I'm going to have to give that Ippodo kuki hojicha a try. Thanks!

tenuki wrote:ippodo's kuki hojicha. mmmmmmmmm, guilty pleasure.

How do you brew Ippodo's kuki houjicha?

Poohblah wrote: How do you brew Ippodo's kuki houjicha?

I eyeball everything nowadays and never use a timer or thermometer, but my best guess would be at ~190 (boiling plus a rest of 20 seconds or so) for 3-5 minutes with around 2g/100ml in a dedicated 320ml tokoname pot ( ie around 7g). so not the ippodo recommended way, twice the ratio of tea and less than half the time. probably comes out a little lighter. <shrug> I usually get 2 or 3 brews out of a set of leaves, but often my fix is satisfied with 1 1/2. YMMV.

How do you do it?

I haven't had their kuki hojicha yet, so I'm just curious. Owing to the price I was thinking of tossing some in my shopping cart on my next purchase from them.

If I ever make it to the NYC store I'll buy some Ippodo houjica to try. My current favorite is Dens Tencha-Kiki houjica.

Right now I'm drinking hibiki-an houjica Karigane that's part of their Karigane tasting set. I'm following their brewing instructions and ending up with a slightly sour taste.

Maybe reroasting will help?

I don't really like Houjicha. The taste is like chinese tea. Roasted Tea leaf.

jasonlee88 wrote:I don't really like Houjicha. The taste is like chinese tea. Roasted Tea leaf.

Interesting - like a merger of two divergent schools of tea preparation.

I like both chinese and japanese greens so I do enjoy a well-made hojicha. I'm just not sure that's what I have at home right now.

(four months later...)

Got the kuki hojicha from Ippodo recently.

I tried the method mentioned above as well as Ippodo's method, which is 10gr of tea in 240mL of boiling water for 30 seconds, followed by flash brews. I cut this in half to 5gr of tea in 120mL of water.

I haven't had hojicha since my trip to Japan over two years ago, so I lack good comparison, but I was impressed by this tea. It was not bitter at all like I remember the hojicha that was served in restaurants and sushi joints in Japan. It was rich and sweet. So far I prefer the Ippodo method which seems to brew a thicker-bodied and richer liquor, as was mentioned.

Thanks for the suggestion, all, this is a wonderful and different treat. Definitely worth the price... EMS shipping is another story