Big Green Hojicha

the leaves reminded me of bonito flakes, kinda smelled a little fishy. The end product has an aromatic wisp of cotton candy, but it’s a pretty typical green tea with a itty bitty smokey tinge. Overall, it’s simply good. I may have over steeped it because my pupkins grabbed my attention after the timer went off.
I took a nap, woke up and finished off the pot of now cold tea. This tastes a lot like genmaicha

Interesting story about this tea.
The first time I ever had houjicha, it was one of those Yamamotoyama teabags at a sushi restaurant near my college. I had no idea how long to steep it, but I fell in love with the result of the union of this one tea bag with one cup of water out of the hot side of the cooler. My immediate reaction was “I need this in loose-leaf, DUH”, so I snagged a tin of this while visiting a friend in Oklahoma. I brewed it perfectly according to the instructions on the back. It tasted…not like the houjicha I knew and loved. No nutty caramel goodness, only that woody taste I know from oolong and most decidedly am not a fan of.
Approximately five billion fine-tuned brewings later, ladies and gentlemen, I have reached HOUJICHA EQUILIBRIUM, and I now have sweet toasted goodness at my beck and call. Bravo, Republic of Tea.

Not as enthusiastic as the others here. I thought this was ok – then I got some Hojicha from Ma Cha Tea House in Madison. Way better! I think it has to do with the amount of roasting and my own personal preference, but this tea started to taste like cardboard compared to the other, which is greener but has the same roasted woody notes. Much more flavor, imo, than this Republic of Tea houjicha.

I love this tea. I always find it very grounding whenever I drink it.