Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations
Product Description:
This Houjicha is special! Made by roasting mature sencha instead of bancha, Houjicha Gold boasts a much more intense flavour with lingering buttery sun flower tones. Relying on the name it turns bright golden in a cup and gives off a room-filling pleasant roasted fragrance. As it is made from sencha we recommend steeping it shorter than other houjicha.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love hojicha (or houjicha, or Hoji Cha)! I just love that toasted flavor that comes of roasting the green tea leaves. The roasting process changes the green tea flavor, converting the “vegetative” or “grassy” taste of a Sencha and/or Bancha tea into a sweeter flavor that tastes like sweet, freshly roasted nuts.
And in this “line of work” I have had the opportunity to try MANY different hojicha. Some I’ve liked better than others (although I can’t really recall ever not liking a hojicha that I’ve tasted.) But this Hoji Cha Gold – also called Houjicha Gold – from Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations is one of the very best, if not THE best, that I’ve tried!
What makes this tea different? This houjicha consists of only roasted Sencha leaves (rather than a combination of Bancha and Sencha, or just Bancha leaves) … maybe that’s the reason for the better flavor. I don’t know.
What I do know is that I taste a really deliciously sweet, roasty-toasty, nutty flavor. I taste not just nutty flavors, but hints of caramel and even a slight floral tone that is interesting.
I like that is not just sweet. There is a savory note in this tea that hits the palate right about mid-sip. This savory note comes from the slight floral note … it’s slightly sharp and intriguing!
At the start of the sip, the palate is washed with sweet, nutty flavors, and then as the sip progresses, the palate perks up with the introduction of this savory note. It sort of wakes up and says “Hello, what is this?” and this allows the palate to really explore this tea.
I find myself appreciating this contrasting note because as much as I do enjoy hojicha teas … sometimes they are just a little too sweet. I like this uplifting sharpness to the cup, it cuts through some of the sweetness, and makes the tea taste more balanced.
A really enjoyable Houjicha, one that I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience!
Yunomi Monthly Mystery Tea Sampler’s Club: Light Roast Houjicha from Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantation
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yunomi
Tea Description:
Roasted green tea, or Houjicha, is unlike any green tea you’ve tasted before. With a smooth, smoky flavor that is simultaneously light and sweet, houjicha has none of the bitterness of traditional green teas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Yunomi’s Monthly Mystery Tea Sampler’s Club here.
Taster’s Review:
This Light Roast Houjicha from the Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantation is the third and final tea that I received in this month’s Yunomi Monthly Mystery Tea Sampler’s Club package.
As I’ve professed before, I am quite fond of Houjicha (or Hojicha) because I love that roasty-toasty flavor! This particular tea is “Light Roast” and the difference is noticeable in the flavor.
It is a much lighter taste – a mild smokiness and a gentle toasted flavor is what I’m enjoying with this cup. It is sweet and mellow and lacks any bitterness whatsoever. The astringency is also quite light here – it’s barely noticeable.
The roasting process of Houjicha seems to mute out the strong vegetative or “grassy” notes that is often found in green teas, and replaces them with a sweet, toasty taste, and I think that’s what I like best about Houjicha. Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy that grassy taste from a Japanese Sencha just fine, but, sometimes, it’s nice to change things up a bit.
I like how the lighter roasting of this allows some of the smoky tones to be explored. It isn’t a strong smoky overture, but I can note the complexity in the smoky tones. This seems much more complex to me than a typical, “medium” roast or stronger roast Houjicha. Smooth with layers of flavor that are smoky, nutty, sweet, earthy, somewhat woody, and deliciously toasted.
A very tasty Houjicha … very relaxing to sip, and a very smooth, comforting cup!
Alishan Charcoal Fire Medium Roast from T-Oolong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: T-Oolong Tea
Tea Description:
This quality Alishan Charcoal Fire Medium Roast Oolong is handpicked, handcrafted and produced from Alishan oolong. Use only the charcoal made of either Taiwan Longan wood or Taiwan Acacia wood to roast the tea (NOT by electric roasters), and follow old traditional method. This tea has a strong charcoal aroma and taste mixing with flavors of Alishan oolong. The aftertaste is enjoyable and long lasting. It tastes very smooth, sweet, rich and complex, and stands up very well to multiple infusions.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s probably no surprise to people out there that I’ve accumulated a vast quantity of tea. I’m pretty much surrounded by tea, and that’s just the way I like it. But even with all this tea around me, I still get really excited when it comes time to try an Alishan Oolong – which is my favorite type of Oolong tea. And when it is an Alishan Oolong from T-Oolong Tea, the excitement multiplies, because I’ve come to appreciate the level of quality that T-Oolong Tea offers. Their teas are always top-notch, and this Alishan Charcoal Fire Medium Roast is no exception! This is outstanding!
It’s the charcoal roasting that makes the difference here, creating an Alishan experience for me that is quite different from others I’ve had. I still taste some of what I recognize as Alishan – the smooth, sweet, floral-y notes, but these notes seem to fill the background while the notes of charcoal and toasty, wood-roasted flavor take the foreground.
The crisp, floral sweetness of the Alishan peeks through the more rugged taste of the charcoal notes, and I notice a bit more of a mineral-y kind of taste and texture, a bit more earthiness, and even notes of sweet, toasted nuts. The charcoal firing has added such a lovely dimension of flavor, creating a taste that is quite different from other Alishan teas that I’ve tasted … not better or worse, really, just different, and I am really enjoying the differences.
Deliciously different!
Fo Shou (Bergamot) Oolong Charcoal Roast from Life in Teacup
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Tea Description:
The origin of Fo Shou tea cultivar is a mystery. Many people say it was obtained by engrafting tea tree with Fo Shou (bergamot) tree. The engrafting theory of Fo Shou oolong has never been proved. But the characteristics of this tea do remind a drinker of fragrance of Fo Shou fruits.
This product was made with traditional oxidation method and traditional light charcoal roast. Charcoal roast can induce richer flavor of a oolong. Today with greener style dominating the market, charcoal roast workers have mostly aged and retired. Real charcoal roast Fo Shou is very hard to find.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was excited to try this Charcoal Roast Bergamot Oolong from Life in Teacup, as I had previously tried and quite enjoyed the Superior Grade bergamot Oolong and I wondered how it would differ. I have since learned that these teas are not actually scented with bergamot, but instead the tea leaves come from the Fo Shou trees and carry qualities that are reminiscent of bergamot.
That makes sense to me, especially having tasted the Superior Grade and now this Charcoal Roast. In both tastings, I notice that a significant bergamot flavor was lacking, more of a distant hint of bergamot essence rather than a more obvious flavor.
In the first few infusions, the charcoal flavor greets me at about mid sip, and it is quite pleasant. It isn’t a strong, overwhelming flavor but enough to bring a nutty character to the cup. Sweet with barely-there hints of smoke.
In later infusions, I found that the charcoal flavor emerged to become a more significant flavor. It brought a beautiful roasted flavor to the cup. Hints of wood-burning smoke in the distance. Nutty and sweet, with a delicious savory quality that arrives mid-cup. And yes, I can also taste those bergamot-like tones and they add just a touch of brightness to this cup.
A really lovely tea!
Sweet Roast Green Tea (Dark Roast) from Mauna Kea Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mauna Kea Tea
Tea Description:
Selectively harvested for naturally low caffeine contents.
Organically grown at our farm in Hawaii
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Of the three teas/tisanes that I received in this month’s Steepster Select box, this was the tea I was most excited about, because it was the one of the three that I had not yet tried. (OK, technically, I had not tried the Honey Bush from The Tea Smith, but I have tried honeybush on many occasions, just not from that particular vendor)
When I opened the pouch, I was surprised to find smaller leaf pieces that have been cut and torn. It actually looks a bit more like a green Yerba Matéthan a green tea, the leaves even had a lighter feel to them than what I’m typically used to with Camellia Sinensis; the leaves have a lightness to them, almost wispy, much like what I’d expect from Yerba Maté or Guayusa.
But, even though this looks a bit like green Yerba Maté, it doesn’t taste like it. Then again, it doesn’t really taste like a typical green tea either. It is very light-bodied with a nice roasty-toasty taste. When I think of a roasted green tea, immediately I think of Houjicha, but this doesn’t quite taste like Houjicha either. With the first couple of sips, it almost tasted like a thin, toasty Matcha, which I thought was a little weird until I did a little bit of snooping around on the Mauna Kea website and found this:
The tea leaves used here are for our “Sweet Roast Green Tea”. Our sweet roast process is a hybrid process between matcha, or powdered tea used for Japanese tea ceremony, and orthodox style leaf tea. Because of type of leaf used in sweet roast process, roasting becomes critical part of sweet roast flavor.
It’s a very unique flavor – quite unexpected! – and I really like it. I recommend this to those who are looking for something a little different! It would also be an excellent choice for those who find the roasted quality of Houjicha to be somewhat heavy for their palate, I think that this is lighter than Houjicha while maintaining that sweet, toasty flavor.