As I said earlier today there are a handful of new teas that launched this past week and one of them (maybe the one I’m most excited about) is this one! It’s a first for DAVIDsTEA as we’ve never carried hojicha powder before.
As I think most people here on Steepster know, I fucking love hojicha. Straight. Flavoured. Powdered. It’s all just fanastic. I own so, soooo many different hojichas in my personal collection and it’s just an ingredient that I get so excited about whenever I have an oppertunity to professionally work with it. I think it’s just so distinct and delicious – and the powder form is honestly just the next natural evolution to not only DAVIDsTEA’s matcha assortment (I know it’s not the same, but it’s made the exact same way) but the matcha boom/trend that’s been taking place in North America for the last handful of years. It’s honestly wild to me that flavoured hojicha powder hasn’t really hit the market yet…
So, all that to say that getting to put my own stamp on hojicha powder as a product not just for DT but within the industry as a whole was pretty incredibly meaingful to me both personally and professionally.
So what does this taste like? Well, it’s hojicha forward for sure which means it’s got that lovely, dark roasty flavour of different grains and nuts with a hint of caramel or coffee. Perfectly suited to really compliment the peanut butter and chocolate notes of this tea! We did initially try doing this blend using chocolate flavouring, but chocolate flavouring really just couldn’t deliver the richness that I felt the tea needed in order to stand up to the hojicha itself. That’s why we switched to cocoa powder, which adds to both the mouthfeel and the taste. The peanut element was very cool because we ended up using a totally peanut (and nut in general) free natural roasted peanut flavouring which means that the blend is actually allergy friendly. Hooray for accessibility!
On its own, I do find it a little bit harder to distinctly taste the peanut butter notes as they blend very seamlessly into the natural nuttiness of the hojicha itself. Where this tea really shines is when you make it as a latte (or even just add a splash of milk) – both hot or iced. The creaminess accentuates both the chocolate and peanut butter type flavours and makes this feel like a more elevated or mature Reese’s peanut butter cup profile. So decadent but not as superficially sweet tasting.
I’ve gotta say that I really hope this does well because boy oh boy would I like to release more flavoured hojicha powders. I have many, many ideas of different flavours that would be so fun to explore!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvxwhKiug1V/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKB2o_E0jf4
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Congrats!!
I was am definitely going to order this tea. I love hojicha also. The chocolate peanut butter flavor sounds interesting. I want to try more hojicha powders too it is a nice change from matcha.