Japanese teas are so fun to say. Hojicha … HOOJICHAA! :)
It always interests me when a green tea is not actually green in colour much like this tea. In appearance Hojicha is brown and looks like autumn leaves with no real significance. They are sharp, crisp and smell like toasted rice cakes.
The Jing packaging says to measure 1 tea spoon of leaves per cup and infuse for 3 minutes. I’m thinking of trying this in my Gongfu so I’m putting one and half spoons of leaves to get two cups worth of tea. (One for me and one for my husband).
Whilst the leaves are steeping I notice that they are floating in the top of my Gongfu, slowly they are sinking down one by one as they expand in the water.
Once infused the tea is a golden yellow colour with a thick rice and floral scent. Very similar to it’s raw form in smell.
My first sips reveal sweetness with toasted rice behind it. It starts of reasonably strong before mellowing out quickly in my mouth which leaves a sweet foggy after taste. It’s similar to Genmaicha or Lan Gui Ren but not as thick or heavy, it most certainly does not taste like a green tea.
The second steep was infused for 4 minutes and it’s much more delicate and for me preferable. It picks up a more pronounced floral hint and the sweetness is much more subtle.
Overall I don’t think this tea is for me, it tastes too similar to many other teas I already have and well it’s just not as nice. I think I will stick with my Lan Gui Ren the next time I want a rice cake tea.
