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“Thanks to Mastress Alita for this wonderful sample. Wow, this tastes really good. It’s not just a maple tea, as the toasted flavor also comes through really clearly. I would never have known that...” Read full tasting note
“Steepster Freeze 2021 #1: 01/12/21 I don’t typically review teas I’ve reviewed before, and I reviewed this one three years ago now (Original review here:...” Read full tasting note
Full-bodied (especially for a green tea), very aromatic, very maple-y, naturally toasty, and slightly sweet.
Ingredients: Hojicha green tea, sliced almonds, calendula petals, maple flavoring.
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Thanks to Mastress Alita for this wonderful sample. Wow, this tastes really good. It’s not just a maple tea, as the toasted flavor also comes through really clearly. I would never have known that this is green tea. I steeped it for a long time at a temperature close to boiling, and it’s not the slightest bit bitter. The flavor really lingers in your mouth. I’m so glad I have enough to make a few giant mugs of this. I don’t eat actual maple syrup much, but maple tea is so so good.
Steepster Freeze 2021 #1: 01/12/21
I don’t typically review teas I’ve reviewed before, and I reviewed this one three years ago now (Original review here: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/373785 ). Needless to say, it is getting quite old and really needs some proper sipdown love soon. Though the planed almonds included in the tea do little for the flavor and seem more decorative to me, the overall “nutty” flavor profile of houjicha (and the fact it is one of the few “non-herbal” teas I can safely drink after my caffeine cut-off hour) made this a suitable pick for my evening cup for National Marzipan Day.
Time has definitely not done this tea any favors. It does still have its mapley aroma and some maple notes are holding on in the flavor, it isn’t as potent as I remember it once being. Mostly, the houjicha itself just feels a bit stale and had a stronger “bitter woodiness” that is coming across almost bark-like now. It was time to experiment and see if there are other ways I can creatively use up this tea (I did cold brew it and mix it in a smoothie not long ago with DAVIDsTEA Maple Matcha, which worked great for the remainder of that matcha sampler packet!)
Tonight, I decided to try a latte. 16oz, 12oz water to 4oz plain oat milk, frothed. I steeped two heaping teaspoons of the houjicha in 205F for around five minutes to create a strong infusion, then mixed in the milk. It wasn’t quite the super creamy, indulgent cuppa I was hoping for, so while I normally don’t sweeten my tea, I did add a teaspoon of maple syrup to this one. That was a game changer! It helped bring out the maple notes from the houjicha blend and smooth the edges on some of the stronger woody/barky notes. Now my cup tastes very much like sweet roasted nuts, maple, and smooth (as opposed to biting) wood. Very soothing!
Flavors: Bark, Maple, Roasted nuts, Toasty, Wood
Houjicha is roasted Japanese green tea, which gives it that brown color and woody, toasted, roasted nuts flavor. It is interested how roasting the leaves changes the flavor profile so much, but it is a personal favorite. And yes, it is very hardy as well, it just doesn’t get as astringent as plain green tea needing the cooler water and shorter steeps. The roasting also removes most of the caffeine, making it more suitable for evening sipping, too.
It’s so interesting because I’d heard of roasted green teas before but never had much interest. Now you could say that I’m very interested!