Hojicha is Japanese green tea that has been roasted. The heat turns the leaves from green to reddish brown and replaces the grassy notes of sencha with a toasty, nutty aroma and a soft, natural sweetness, with very little bitterness.

Ours comes in three forms: loose leaf from Shizuoka for brewing in a teapot, tea bags made from first-flush leaves for an easy cup, and stone-ground hojicha powder from Mt Fuji, sand-roasted the traditional way, in 30g and 100g tins.

To brew the leaves or a tea bag, use water just off the boil, around 95°C, and steep for about 40 seconds. The powder is whisked like matcha, or stirred into warm milk for a hojicha latte. Hojicha is also good cold brewed: leave the leaves or a tea bag in cold water in the fridge for three to four hours.

Every hojicha here is grown and roasted in Japan. For sencha, gyokuro and genmaicha, see our Japanese green tea collection.