Tea Kitamura

knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 4 (my pick)
Theme: A Green Tea
Her pick: Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding from Dessert by Deb

We mixed in a few days that have a specific type of tea as the theme, just to mix it up and allow for sharing some teas that might not fit another theme. Funnily enough, we both chose a hojicha for green tea day! I guess that makes a lot of sense, it is very appropriate for the season he he.

This is a simple blend of hojicha and powdered ginger, and in teabag form. I really like how a lot of Japanese companies tend to use the paper pyramid teabags instead of the silky ones. They work just as well and better for the environment! Plus no questions around whether or not microplastics are a thing or will give everyone cancer, etc, etc. :P Anyway, the tea. The ginger is actually very subtle, moreso than I would like it to be or than I remember it being. Luckily, it’s a smooth and tasty hojicha that’s just so cozy for a drizzly day like today. The ginger is more of a subtle accent, adding a touch of warmth and earthiness. Can’t wait to sip Marjorie’s pick later today – an old favorite! :)

Oh, and the jam! Today it’s Orange-Yuzu-Grapefruit Spread. I’m not a marmalade fan, but I thought the grapefruit really helped to brighten it up so it wasn’t just sweet and bitter orange peel. I could taste the yuzu as well, which added an interesting piney note.

So I have this tendency to focus on sipping down all the time, which means generally the teas I’m drinking are either older or in small packages that are easy to finish, or fit some other sipdown criteria I’ve set for myself. And that’s all well and good, but what ends up happening is that I don’t ever drink my “favorites” and whenever I buy new teas, if they’re not sample sizes they tend to get ignored as well. Because of that, I have many teas in my cupboard that I haven’t even tried yet.

All that to say (sorry for the ramble lol), I decided to start drinking a random tea every day just to spice things up and add some variety. And this is the first one, selected by the random number generator in my spreadsheet!

This was an impulse purchase from my favorite local Japanese market. I’ve had ginger in hojicha before and really enjoyed it, so I figured why not give sencha a try? The dry scent was very potently ginger, but I’m pleased to find it’s not overpowering in the taste. It’s a very smooth and somewhat nutty green tea, with pops of that vegetal/umami/grassy sencha vibe going on. The ginger adds a nice earthiness and a gentle warmth.

Very enjoyable. I see on their website that they also offer a hojicha version, I may have to try that in the future… :P