What do you think of hojicha?

[MacGuffin]

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.

[MacGuffin]

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.

[Alex]

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

[blairswhitaker]

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.