What is hōjicha, and how is it different from matcha?

Most hōjicha is made by roasting ordinary steamed green tea, usually bancha or sencha, over high heat, typically somewhere around 160 to 200°C. The heat drives off the green, vegetal notes and creates the toasted aroma the tea is known for. The name simply means roasted tea: hōji (焙じ) is to roast, cha (茶) is tea.

Ours is different in one important way. Raku Hōjicha is roasted tencha from Uji, Kyoto Prefecture: the same shade-grown leaf that becomes matcha, roasted instead of milled green. That is why it is a fine powder you can whisk, rather than loose roasted leaves you steep.

Toasty and mellow, with a gentle natural sweetness and almost no bitterness or grassiness. People compare it to roasted nuts, caramel, cocoa or even a light coffee, without coffee's acidity. It is much easier to like on the first sip than matcha, which is why it is often the tea that converts people who say they do not like green tea.

Yes, but less than matcha. Roasting breaks down some of the caffeine in the leaf. Steeped hōjicha is one of the gentlest caffeinated teas there is. Powdered hōjicha, where you drink the whole leaf, carries more caffeine than a steeped cup, but still less than the same amount of matcha. Of our three teas, Hōjicha has the lowest caffeine, which is why most of our customers drink it after dinner.

It is not caffeine free. If you avoid caffeine entirely, hōjicha is not the answer.

For powdered hōjicha like ours, use 3g of powder to 60ml of hot water, then whisk until smooth. Roasted tea is forgiving with temperature, so water a little hotter than you would use for matcha is fine. Drink it as it is, or top up with warm milk: the full method is in how to make a hōjicha latte. A 30g tin makes roughly 10 servings.

It is a low-caffeine, unsweetened tea, which makes it a sensible evening drink. Beyond that, be sceptical of big claims: roasting changes the chemistry of the leaf, and most green tea research is on unroasted tea or on extracts. We cover what the evidence does and does not say in is matcha good for you?

If you want a morning drink with a clear lift, matcha. If you want something warm, comforting and low in caffeine for later in the day, hōjicha. If you cannot decide, most people end up with both.