TeaChat

gunbuster363 wrote: As a 'brown' tea it does not compare to sheng Pu-Erh ( I know, hojicha is cheaper, but what if money is not a problem or you have your own stock of sheng Pu-Erh? )

The color's brown but hojicha is a green tea. You can't compare it to puerh. Anyhow, I like hojicha, especially if it's from karigane.

rdl wrote:I agree on the kuki-houjicha, I had the hibiki-an selection as my first (karigane) kuki-houjicha and thought it great. I will try your 70 degree brewing but I thought that closer to boiling is best for the leaves and twigs that make up bancha, which need that hotter water to bring out the flavors.

One of the things I like about the toasty greens like hojicha and kyobancha is that you can brew the hell out of them and they don't go bitter. I'm a cold tea fan and rather than brew these cold (which works well for almost everything), I use boiling water and then stick the whole mess in the fridge overnight. I get great results. Very hot water is the way to go with hojis, I think, unless the vendor tells you otherwise.

Really don't like Hojicha. But that's more to do with whatever I'm drinking I'll always prefer sencha over it.

In japan (well Kyoto at least) the notion seems to be Sencha and gyokuro for enjoyment, Hojicha and other Bancha for when you are thirsty or need a drink to accompany food.