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“I received this from Heather at the swap meet today. It smells like baked rice crispy squares with chocolate caramel drizzling. The flavour leans more heavily towards the strong roasted profile of...” Read full tasting note
“Sip down! Sample from Heather at the Victoria tea meet. I really like this one, and if it was available, I’d consider picking some up – either bags like what I received, or loose. The toasty tea...” Read full tasting note
“Steepster tantrum backlog Heather kindly passed down her last bag of this. Thanks a bunch! I love hojicha so I’m always up for trying more. This is one of the toastiest teas I’ve ever smelled. So...” Read full tasting note
“Had a cup of this tonight. Decided to add a little genmai hojicha from my amoda box from January. Didn’t really make much of a difference, to be honest, in terms of flavour. Still, I like this tea....” Read full tasting note
This Houjicha is infused with caramel for a sweet treat. It is baked or oven roasted, which causes its leaves and brew, to have a darker, browner hue. As a result, this tea is also lower in caffeine and tannin content — making it comparable to decaffeinated teas. It is said to have some relaxing effects on the body and is traditionally drunk during meals or before bed.
Origin: Japan
Brew: Amber Orange
Flavor: Light toasty flavors with a subtly sweet caramel finish
Company description not available.
I received this from Heather at the swap meet today. It smells like baked rice crispy squares with chocolate caramel drizzling. The flavour leans more heavily towards the strong roasted profile of the houjicha, with the sweet syrupy quality of the caramel appearing near the finish. It gives an overall impressing of oozing syrup from dry crisps.
This is the kind of tea I want near the end of a late night dinner and I think it was a good way to end the evening. Casual, firm, and sweet. Time to curl up and read some Terry Pratchett.
Second day Edit: the roasted sweet flavour gives off a coffee-like impression.
Sip down! Sample from Heather at the Victoria tea meet.
I really like this one, and if it was available, I’d consider picking some up – either bags like what I received, or loose.
The toasty tea with the caramel is really lovely. And as a bonus, it’s lower in caffeine, so I won’t make myself vibrate with caffeine today. :)
mmmmm
I keep almost buying this from their online shop, but never go through with it. One of these days…
I know this is an old note, but I had some of this tonight and re-read all the notes. I’m heading to LA in a few weeks and can try to get some for you if you would still like some. I’m gonna see if I can refresh my bag too. Let me know, k?
Oh, that would be lovely. Loose or bags, and I don’t need much. :) I have a lot of tea right now but low caffeine stuff for evenings is always appreciated.
Which would you prefer? I was gonna get loose, presuming I am able to get to them at all. But they have both.
Loose should be fine, and would be easier for you, I think.
Yeah, I’m thinking about getting $10 worth. I got $5 last time, so it should be enough to share. I’m trying to decide what else i might want to get. They have a lot of straight teas. If you spot something on the site, let me know, as I may get that to share too. Nothing too much I’m sure, mind you, since you have a lot of tea already. :P
Oh right! They had a couple I was interested in.
Royal Buckwheat Tea or
http://birdpick.com/teas/loose-teas/herbal-tea/double-ginger-tea.html or
http://birdpick.com/teas/loose-teas/herbal-tea/instant-natural-plum-tea.html
They don’t have the ingredients for the ginger or plum tea though. The buckwheat tea is listed as gluten free. :)
I’ll see what I can do. :)
Thanks! :D
I got the caramel houjicha and double ginger. The said the ginger is just ginger bits and ginger juice. They were out of the plum and there were a few buckwheat teas that I was not sure which one to get. I picked up the osmanthus milk oolong too.
:D Awesome! The ginger should be SUPER POWERFUL, which will be awesome out hiking or if I get a cold.
That’s what I was thinking.
Steepster tantrum backlog
Heather kindly passed down her last bag of this. Thanks a bunch! I love hojicha so I’m always up for trying more.
This is one of the toastiest teas I’ve ever smelled. So roasted that it’s like how coffee beans go a little bitter when they’re super roasted. Or even some roasted matés.
But that said, caramel is the perfect flavour to pair up with hojicha. It beats downing a sugar-laden caramel latte at a coffee shop.
The caramel comes a little more out of hiding as this cools.
Had a cup of this tonight. Decided to add a little genmai hojicha from my amoda box from January. Didn’t really make much of a difference, to be honest, in terms of flavour.
Still, I like this tea. It was the right tea for tonight. I’m glad I picked up the bag when I was in LA.
I was looking for a particular tea today, one I think I left at someone else’s house, when I caught a whiff of this and needed a cup. It’s strange that I likely have a couple hundred teas to choose from, but I’m focused on one that I noticed was missing and not there when I wanted it. I’m glad this tea was there to distract me.
The caramel smell is much stronger than the flavor, but the flavor is quite nice. The roastiness goes well with the caramel making a well rounded tea. No sugar in my cup today. I still get a lot of flavor on the aftertaste. I think I have about a serving left of this tea and I may cold brew it since I don’t think I have tried it that way yet. I can’t believe I got this tea two years ago according to my first tasting note! Time… she is a flying!
ooooh, this is soooo gooooood.
Another tea from Plunkybug (I’m having a Plunkybug tea day today! Thanks!).
I don’t think I’ve ever had a flavoured houjicha, and this is really, really good.
Perfect nighttime tea, actually. :)
Hints of caramel add to the warmth that houjicha brings to the mug…so comfy and yummy!
I’ve been wanting to try this one for an eternity and cookies was kind enough to send a sample my way for me to try. turns out? it’s kinda like most of the other hojicha’s that i’ve tried. Same woodsy sort of taste that i rather enjoy, but certainly lacking any sort of caramel taste that i expected of this. It’s not BAD – like i said, i like hojicha…but i guess i just wanted more! haha thanks cookies!
Final Count: 80 (still not quite at 6 months old cupboard though…) bring it december!
Full disclosure: I have yet to find a houjicha that I don’t actively love. And this one is certainly no exception. The dry leaf smells exactly like kettle corn. It’s kind of amazing. There were no instructions on the little sample packet so I brewed it the way I usually do with my greens. 1.5 minutes at 175˚. Brewed, it still smells like kettle corn, just a bit less potent.
And the taste… yum! Oh so delightfully roasty and just a bit more caramely than a traditional houjicha. I like that the caramel is subdued as I could see it turning out too sweet otherwise. Absolutely delightful.
I do wish Bird Pick offered smaller sizes though. I’d love this one, but with 4oz being the only option I’m not sure I’ll pick it up. At least not until I finish all the other houjichas I have hanging around.
Flavors: Caramel, Roasted, Toasty
that sounds good …the Houjicha you sent me was great!But i wonder about the added caramel..
They give free samples if you want to try http://birdpick.com/faqs/#A7 It’s really quite yummy.
This is very good.
I’m not sure, but I might have some sort of tea powers. While I was searching for another caramel houjicha, somebody mentioned this company, and I found this tea. It smells nicely nutty and like caramel. The flavour reminds me of this soft serve I got from the Japanese market. This will now be one of my evening teas.
Flavors: Caramel, Nutty
Sipdown (141/148)!
Thanks VariaTEA and by extension Amariel for the small sample. I have to say, I’m really not sure how I feel about this one though. Taste wise I’m getting some really weird stuff from it.
I definitely pick up on a vegetal roastyness characteristic of a Houjicha, but on top of that is a really intense metallic taste and zero caramel notes. I also really vaguely, under all the metallic taste, get a sort of coffee like flavour which I have seen a few people mention in tasting notes so maybe I’m not totally crazy.
But overall I’m not really enjoying this one.
Flavors: Coffee, Metallic, Roasted, Toasty
Mmm… Good tea? Curling up? Reading a fantastic book ? SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN! Thank you Crowkettle :-)
Which Pratchett? I just started Good Omens!
Isn’t that the best combination of things after not being home all day, TeaFairy?
Equal Rights! I’ve read a random order of his books but haven’t gotten around to Good Omens yet.
Good Omens is the only one I’ve read. :p (just don’t know what to read next)
Wait…! I read Good Omens a couple years ago when I “discovered” Neil Gaiman. I don’t know where my mind is today.
As for other Terry Pratchett books, they’re all connected with the discworld tie in but there are “character” series, like Vimes (Guards! Guards!), Moist (Going Postal), Rincewind (The Colour of Magic), Death (Mort), and various stand-alone books (Small Gods, Equal Rights, Pyramids, etc.). You can kind of jump around in a quasi-character order and things will make sense usually. Lots of Character and concept crossovers though.
The nice thing about this tea is that it is, in fact, perfect for this, because hojicha tea has less caffeine because it is roasted…so it likely won’t keep you up late if you drink it in the evening.
Agreed! While this isn’t my favourite tea I think I’d want a small amount of this around when I’m in need of an easy evening. :)