I've been drinking a lot of Den's Houjicha Gold, which is pretty good for a low price. Den's has a few other types of Houjicha as well. I've also tried the hoji cha from Enjoying Tea as a free sample, and while it was good, the Den's was better. I haven't tried the houjichas from other vendors, but you also might want to check out O-cha, Yuuki-cha, Lupicia, or any of the other more popular green tea vendors.
If you search back a bit through threads in the green tea section of the forum, there are a few houjicha related topics that might help you as well.
If you search back a bit through threads in the green tea section of the forum, there are a few houjicha related topics that might help you as well.
Mar 17th, '09, 23:05
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bsteele
I hear the hojicha from Den's is nice, particularly the Houji-Kukicha: http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_p ... f9e7cad815
Edit: yeah what CK said
Edit: yeah what CK said
Mar 18th, '09, 00:36
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Space Samurai
I actually wasn't really impressed by the Den's hoji. SA's hojicha is good, it's just stupid expensive for hoji. Lupicia has some interesting flavored hojis, but no pure hoji. Ippodo's hoji was quite good, the roasting was a bit interesting. O-cha's hoji is a pretty solid offering, good price. Adagio's is decent, but I didn't really like it too much.
Mar 18th, '09, 15:55
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I say unobjectively!Yeah, I'm not sure how it is done. It may be roasted first and then pulverized. A friend had it in Japan. Her hotel provided it for each room; I think. She offered to buy some from them because she loved it so much. But they would not sell her any. Now stateside, she cannot find it anywhere. I saw one vendor selling hojicha powder, but I don't even know if that was the tea they used. I'm sure the whole leaf tea would taste the same.Pentox wrote:Never seen a vendor for it. Although I would imagine it would be somewhat difficult to roast well.spot52 wrote:Thanks for all the input! Hopefully I can get some my way soon.
Has anyone ever had roasted green tea powder?
Mar 20th, '09, 17:04
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I just got my shipment including Hoji and was excited to try it. The aroma reminded me of the tea they serve at a local Chinese place. But that tea has a real strong dark flavour. The hoji was much more mellow. I liked it a lot.
However, the tea guide suggests only steeping for 15 sec. Does anyone else agree with this time? It seems like a very short amount. I steeped for 3 min. and I liked the flavour, but am I missing out?
However, the tea guide suggests only steeping for 15 sec. Does anyone else agree with this time? It seems like a very short amount. I steeped for 3 min. and I liked the flavour, but am I missing out?
I usually steep my houjicha for 30-45 seconds... depending on the temp of the water. usually instructions will tell you to add boiling water and in that case I would steep for 30, but these days I've been letting the water cool off a bit, down to 184 degrees or so (just to take the edge off) and steeping for closer to 45 seconds. gives a bit mellower flavor which I like.
3 minutes sounds like a lot, but doing what you enjoy is the most important. instructions that come with tea are almost always bunk.
3 minutes sounds like a lot, but doing what you enjoy is the most important. instructions that come with tea are almost always bunk.
I find that Houjicha can sometimes be more mellow in flavour and sometimes be very dark. I use 85-90 degrees Celcius and always more than a minute, often two or three. I find Houjicha to be a tea that can take high temperatures and long steeping time.
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