Hojicha Powder — First Harvest

Hojicha powder is our strong-roast hojicha (Taiyo) milled to a fine powder, so you drink the whole leaf instead of steeping it. It dissolves in hot water or straight into milk, which makes it the easiest way to a hojicha latte at home: 2 g, milk, done. Caramel-sweet, toasty and low in caffeine, from first-harvest spring leaf grown in Kizugawa, Kyoto.

Not roasted matcha

Matcha is shaded, unroasted tencha; hojicha powder is roasted sencha-grade leaf ground fine. The farm roasts its spring first flush rather than coarse autumn leaf, so the powder is sweet and smooth and has none of the ashy edge of cheap hojicha. Because roasting breaks down much of the caffeine, a hojicha latte is a drink you can have at 9 pm.

Taste

Caramel, toasted grain, cocoa, a soft smokiness and a naturally sweet finish. In milk it tastes like a gentle, less bitter cousin of a mocha.

How to use it

Hot tea: 1 g (half a teaspoon) in 200 ml of hot water, stir. Latte: 2 g whisked with 30 ml of hot water, then 200 ml of hot or iced milk; oat milk works very well. Ice shake: ice, 2 g of powder and cold water or milk in a bottle, shake 20 seconds. Sparkling: dissolve 2 g in a splash of water, top with soda, add honey or a slice of yuzu or lemon. Baking: fold into whipped cream, chiffon cake, cookies, panna cotta or ice cream.

Good to know

30 g makes about 30 cups of tea or 15 lattes; 100 g makes 50 lattes. Roughly 10–15 mg of caffeine per 1 g serving. Store airtight and away from light; use within three months of opening.

From Morii Farm, Kizugawa, Kyoto

Every tea in our online shop comes from one farm. Morii Farm is a small family farm in Kizugawa, in the hills of southern Kyoto Prefecture next to the Kizu River, run by Masakazu and Tomomi Morii, the fourth generation on this land. The slopes are steep and the gap between day and night temperatures is wide, which slows the leaves down and concentrates their sweetness. Since 2017 the fields have been managed without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, herbicides or animal manure; the only fertilizer is natural rapeseed cake. This is the farm's own practice, not a certification, and it is the reason our teahouse in Tallinn carries the family name.

Frequently asked questions