Ocharaka: Hojicha Japanese Pumpkin

This one is quite intriguing. Thanks for sending a sample my way, getanzt! I don’t usually love hojicha, and this one smells as overly toasty as ever. However, the flavor is way fruitier. Apparently this is supposed to taste like Japanese pumpkin, which I’m not sure I’ve had before, but I could imagine this working. I also taste a burnt toasty flavor that I don’t love. I wish I could have the fruity pumpkin flavor without that burnt taste. I ended up sharing the mug with someone who didn’t like it either. Maybe a hojicha fan would enjoy this though.

Wait, I’ve had this in my stash since 2018 and still haven’t tried it yet?! What is wrong with me?! Anyway, using this for the February sipdown prompt “Drink a tea flavored like your favorite muffin.” Pumpkin muffins are hands down my favorite! (Especially when they have added chocolate chips!)

This is a roasted stem style houjicha, which I tend to like just a bit better than the leafy sort. The dry aroma is super oaty, but with a noticable sweet squashiness… it’s a bit strange, since in America “pumpkin flavor” is typically utilized in food stuff as either “pumpkin spice” (the spice blend sans the squash) or as “pumpkin pie” (still mostly the spices, but with a very desserty-vanilla sort of squashiness). This is more of a savory scent… it smells quite nice on the houjicha. I’m uncertain if it will translate into the flavor, though!

The brewed cup does smell pretty on point to the dry leaf, with that fresh woody aroma of roasty hojicha blending with the oaty/squashy notes. None of the flower bed barky notes that I often get from (typically lower quality) hojicha. Huh. It’s hard to describe the flavor! Certainly I tasted wood, oats, and roasted walnuts, but there is a sweet squash taste to it. I’m not sure if my brain distinctly pegs it as “pumpkin” without the sweetness/spices that usually accompany the taste of pumpkin, but I can see it. It’s an umami sort of taste, but not vegetal. I actually really like it! It’s subtle, but gives a sort of added dimension to what would be a delicious hojicha on its own.

I’ll have to pull this one out more often! (I’m thinking a luxurious latte at some point…)

I absolutely love kabocha, and I have a newfound love of hojicha. So, I was very excited to see this offering by Yunomi. I bought 2 20gram bags because it was almost sold out, and I thought I would love it. While I do enjoy it, there isn’t much of a pumpkin flavor. It’s a bit savory, but the flavor is very mild. Still quite enjoyable, just not what I was expecting.

I’m not much of a houjicha person – I’m just starting to appreciate roasted teas more – but when I saw these flavoured hoijicha on Yunomi and then reviews here, I was really intrigued.

This is really excellent. The dry leaf is rich and roasty smelling, with a note that keeps making me think really milky milk chocolate, but I don’t think it’s actually chocolate.

I’ve tried this twice, once steeped per the directions on the packet – 2tsp, 2min, 90C, and once as a latte, 2tsp, 94C, extended steep and then into the blender with sugar and warm milk. It is awesome both ways.

The flavour of it is just so soothing and relaxing. It’s sweet and delicately roasty, with that same note that I want to associate with chocolate, and then there’s a lovely flavour of roasted pumpkin seeds (shelled) and just a hint of zucchini.

I’m really into this as an evening drink. It feels like the perfect thing to sip while winding down.
Thank you to Yunomi for the sample!

This was my other purchase from Yunomi. I’ve been pondering over these flavored houjichas for a while now, and decided this was the most unusual flavor and the one I wanted to try first. The packaging was pretty cute, though not resealable (http://instagram.com/p/wWy1temgAn/). It’s the large kraft packet. I will say, 30 grams is a lot more than I expected, I suppose because this is a very lightweight tea. It also appears to be more of a houji-kukicha than a houjicha – it’s almost all stems. This is actually a good thing, since I prefer the kukicha version personally. Dry scent is extremely rich and creamy, almost as if there’s some kind of dairy element involved.

This is actually quite delicious! I can taste the lovely mildly roasty kukicha base quite clearly. However, I can also taste the lovely and rich Japanese pumpkin flavor, which actually reminds me quite a bit of butternut squash mixed with sweet potato. It’s creamy and decadent. The description recommends this as a milk tea, and I’m sure it would be phenomenal that way. Will definitely try it! :)

Find this tea here: https://yunomi.us/shop/13439/ocharaka-h04-houjicha-japanese-pumpkin-30g-id-13439/?ref=12