Hojicha

Thé hojicha

What it is

A Kyoto merchant in the 1920s put stems and coarse late-season leaf over charcoal rather than throw them out, and the roasting turned the cheapest grade in the shop into a category of its own. The heat drives off most of the caffeine along with all the grassiness, which is why it is the tea poured for children and at the end of a meal.

In the kitchen

Brew it at 95 °C, near boiling — unlike green tea it cannot turn bitter, and a cool infusion tastes of nothing at all. For a cream or a panna cotta, steep 15 g of leaf per litre off the heat for ten minutes and strain hard; go longer and the roast reads as ash.

Goes with

Cream Milk chocolate Chestnut Kinako Hazelnut Honey Adzuki bean Vanilla

Same species

Assam tea Ceylon tea Da Hong Pao Darjeeling tea Earl Grey Genmaicha

Also used with

Buckwheat tea

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