What is houjicha green tea?
Houjicha (or Hōjicha) is a pan fired or oven roasted Japanese variety of green tea, different from other green teas because of the high temperature roasting that the leaves undergo. It's a popular blend in Japan, first invented in the 1920s in Kyoto, and a good choice if you decide you want to experiment with a very different style of green tea from the norm.
Houjicha is generally made out of bancha leaves from the final harvest of the season – although other varieties are sometimes used instead. Some varieties are made from kukicha, the unusual green tea produced using the stems, stalks and twigs of the tea plant instead of the leaves. It is also fairly common for tea drinkers at home to make their own houjicha as a means of recycling old or stale tea leaves, by roasting old sencha leaves in a pan on the stove. This is deceptively simple to do – you simply heat a pan to a high temperature, then add and toss the leaves constantly and rapidly for about a minute, or until they are browned. Don't leave them still – they'll burn! But if you keep up the movement, you'll smell the pleasant aroma that lets you know you've just created a successful batch of houjicha.
Houjicha is a green tea, but its dark color often leads to it being mistaken for a black tea. The difference is that the color of houjicha is achieved not through oxidization, as with black tea, but through roasting. This means that although the tea may be more palatable to drinkers accustomed to black tea, it still retains some of the nutrients and antioxidants of green tea, as it is the oxidization process (and not the roasting process) which destroys the beneficial enzymes that make green tea good for the health. The leaf color changes during roasting from green to a reddish-brown, and the resulting infusion has a similar reddish-brown color.
As an added bonus (at least in the eyes of most green tea drinkers), the tea is less bitter than many green tea varieties, since some of those astringency-causing catechins are lost during the high temperature roasting process. Additionally, the vegetal tones of normal green tea are not evident in houjicha, because they will be replaced during roasting with an almost caramel-like, toasty flavor. This mild flavor, together with the fact that houjicha also loses much of its caffeine content in the roasting process, makes it a popular drink to have before going to sleep – soothing and gentle. For the same reason, it is often the beverage of choice amongst children and the elderly, as well as being a good tea to serve with meals.
The two main kinds of houjicha are light-fired and deep-fired, with the more deeply fired leaf resulting in infusions with more obvious roast aromas and heavier roast flavors. It's an interesting variety of green tea, and its warm, nutty flavor makes it a good choice to have with oily foods in particular. Or simply sip a cup before you go to sleep, and enjoy the relaxing, gentle aroma and mild flavors.
Useful Links:
http://www.arborteas.com/houjicha-green-tea.html
http://www.teacuppa.com/Houjicha-Green-Tea.asp
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