HOUJICHA (autumn harvested loose leaf tea), Ujitawara, Kyoto Prefecture

Ingredients: Japanese green tea

Bancha harvested in autumn is roasted by open fire. You can enjoy the warm winter and ice in summer. The strongly roasted aroma is loved by most people.

Hojicha or Bancha Hojicha is a Japanese roasted green tea. Bancha (meaning ordinary tea) is made from the last tea harvest, which takes place in October. It is often harvested mechanically and the leaves are picked even when they are fully developed. This low quality tea, however, takes on a very high taste value through roasting. The method was invented in the 1920s in Kyoto. It consists of roasting the bancha over charcoal at a high temperature (200 degrees), similar to the way coffee is roasted.

The roasted tea, called Bancha Hojicha, has woody and roasted flavours reminiscent of coffee, mixed with the iodine notes typical of Japanese teas. Its liquor also has caramel flavours. Moreover, roasting reduces the catechin content, so the tea has very little astringency. Its infusion has a bronze colour, sometimes tending towards black. This tea is extremely popular in Japan. It is commonly served in sushi restaurants, with which the Japanese consider that it goes very well. It is also drunk before bedtime because of its low caffeine content.

The Sencha green tea from Ujitawara, a renowned region in Japan for the production of high-quality teas, offers an exceptional sensory experience. This tea is cultivated under ideal conditions in the rolling hills of Uji, in the ancient city of Kyoto, where the Japanese tradition of green tea began over 1,000 years ago. Today, in Japan, when people think of high-quality green tea, they think of Uji. The misty climate, sloping hills, warm days, and cool nights provide an ideal setting for tea plants to thrive. If you take the train to Kyoto, you will pass through many beautiful green tea farms in Uji, and you can sample the wide variety of delicious green teas available in specialized shops and restaurants in the area.