Organic Japan Hojicha Powder – Green Tea

Brew & Taste

Organic Japan Hojicha tea has a round, calming, and surprisingly chocolatey taste. You can look forward to a subtly smoky aroma, notes of nuts, a hint of cocoa, and a pleasant sweetness that’s prominent in its loose-leaf tea form, too. However, powdered hojicha offers a more compact, velvety experience, so it’s suitable for hojicha lattes (with dairy or non-dairy milk), iced beverages, or smoothies. It also goes well with chocolate. And feel free to add a drop of syrup, a pinch of cinnamon, or some vanilla.

Thanks to the low caffeine content, you can savor this tea in the evening without worry. It’s extra popular in Japan, even among older children.

Origins

Hojicha has its roots in Japan, and its story combines tradition with ingenuity. It all starts with ara-cha, a blend of whole leaves and small stems typical of bancha teas. In the Kagoshima region, where tea is grown in pure organic quality, this mixture is used to prepare the base: after wilting, the leaves are carefully rolled by workers and spread out on metal sheets. Then comes a short but very intense roasting, traditionally on charcoal. It is at this moment that the "green" aromatic notes transform into warm, roasted, nutty, and slightly caramel tones. The astringency softens, and the caffeine content decreases.

Where did this peculiarity come from? To discover the "discovery" of hojicha tea, we must travel to Kyoto in the 1920s. A local merchant tried to quickly roast older green tea to try and make it fresh again. The result was a drink that Japan immediately fell in love with. Since then, hojicha has been produced from various "green" bases (most often from bancha, sometimes from sencha or kukicha), but the principle remains the same: a short heating that preserves the purity of the taste and adds an unmistakable roasted aroma.

Our powder follows this tradition exactly, adding a sweet cherry on top. After roasting and final sorting, the tea is finely ground into powder. This locks in the full spectrum of flavors in a form that can be mixed with water or milk and invites experimentation.

It’s no coincidence that ground hojicha has emerged as a versatile ingredient in Japan over the past two decades. It’s used in everything from café lattes to iced drinks to desserts. Try it yourself!

Tea packaging preview

We pack our teas in a strong, zip-lock aluminum packet which allows you to easily re-seal its contents. This container protects the quality of the tea against humidity, light or foreign odors, all of which could noticeably affect the quality of the brew.