Hojicha: the green tea that smells of caramel
What hojicha is, what roasted green tea tastes like, how much caffeine it has, how to brew it and how to make a hojicha latte.
1 min read, 14 October 2026
Hojicha is a Japanese green tea that, after the usual processing, is roasted at a high temperature until the leaves and stems turn brown. According to a popular story, it was first made in Kyoto in the first half of the 20th century, as a way to use tea from later harvests.
What it tastes like
Roasting takes the grassiness out of green tea and adds notes of caramel, roasted nuts, cocoa and wood. The infusion is the colour of amber, mellow, with almost no bitterness. Many people who don't like green tea start with hojicha.
How much caffeine it has
Usually less than sencha. Hojicha is often made from more mature leaves and stems, which contain less caffeine, and some of the caffeine is lost during roasting. In Japan it's often drunk with meals and in the evening.
How to brew it
3 g of leaves to 200 ml of water at 90–95°C, 30 seconds. The second infusion just as short. Hojicha forgives mistakes: you can brew it with almost boiling water and it won't turn bitter.
Hojicha latte
Pour 80 ml of hot water over 6 g of hojicha, leave it for 2–3 minutes and strain. Top up with frothed milk, dairy or plant-based. Sweeten with honey, or not at all: the roasted notes give an impression of sweetness anyway.
In our shop: Hojicha. It's also in the Japan Starter Set, alongside sencha and genmaicha.
