Houji-Kukicha (Roasted Kukicha)

I love this tea, and I love Den’s.

This is like sweet, roasted nuts. It is making my head and stomach feel better. It’s so comforting. And, completely obscenely well-priced.

Got my order from Den’s tea today! And now begins my neverending search for the brown-colored green tea my host mother in japan made every day.

I apparently have no sense of smell right now, so I smelled nothing after pretty much sticking my nose in the actual bag and taking a huge whiff. My roommate and her friend both described it as smelling “fishy” and like “fish food”… not really pleasant apparently. (I think they are too used to smelling my fruity teavana blend teas!)

The color is very very brown, almost like dirt. I looks very dark in the cup I’m using, along with the bad lighting in the room but it’s still fairly dark, especially for a green tea. It seems its cooled off a bit, Here goes. Hmmm…..

I’m not really tasting much of anything. Maybe it’s because it’s too hot, or possibly because i have no sense of smell right now. As it cools down I’m picking up more flavors but I’m not quite sure how to describe it. First thing that came to mind was metal in my mouth, I’m getting that weird tingling sensation your teeth get. Definitely not pleasant. The more I sip, the more this weird metal taste seems to be coming out. I hope that’s just from the packaging and not from the tea. It’s really awful.

I’ll hold off rating this one till I make it again when I don’t possibly have a sinus infection

Definitely one of my favorites. A nice toasty flavored tea on a comfortable evening… makes me want to have a fire on my back deck and sit outside indefinitely.

PS- I oversteep EVERYTHING practically. The package of this from Den’s says to steep 15 seconds or something like that. I usually steep it for a good several minutes. Gives it a more robust flavor (but not overpowering). It is a little bit too weak for my liking if only steeped for 15 seconds.

Another positive- since it’s mostly twigs, and it is roasted, this tea is very low in caffeine, making it a good evening option for me. I’m fairly caffeine sensitive, so I have to switch to tisanes or low caff options at night.

What time is it? HOUJI-KUKICHA TIMe!!!!

This and the Brown Rice Green Tea with Elinor. This one was very good!

This was the free sample of the month when I made my recent order. I love kukicha but never had a roasted kukicha before. Adventure time! I prepared this in a shudei kyusu. Steeping times: 30 seconds, 15, 30, 45, 120.

The dry leaf smells like roasted grains (barley came into mind fast), and the dark leafy veggies char and kale. The wet leaf smells sour and bitter, very much like kale fried with apple cider vinegar.

The liquor is golden brown and full-bodied. The first cup, at first, is broth-like, tasting of grains and nuts (nuts in generally – perhaps cashews?). Very smooth texture. After I become used to this new tea, I begin to discern that it’s actually somewhat sweet. The aftertaste is even sweeter. The second cup and beyond are similar to the first in taste, but they taste even sweeter and feel silky.

I sampled this tea the day before Halloween. I wish didn’t put off writing the review since I like to sample and review on the same day – having the feeling of the tea in mind. I do recall that it tasted and felt like an early autumn tea, when the air is crisply cool, when the leaves are beginning to turn and rot on the ground after they have fallen. This was a good first experience with roasted kukicha. I don’t prefer it to green kukicha, but to houjicha? Perhaps if I didn’t want something so intensely roasted. I liked this one!

This tea is from cookies. I find that I prefer this style of tea to regular houjicha, which tastes rougher and more “leafy” to me. Visually, this tea looks quite similar to the Kaga Bocha I tried from Lupicia, but a touch darker in color. It’s made up of very fragile and brittle roasted stems, and the color is a medium tan. Dry scent is sweet and roasty, and I can smell something that reminds me of apricots.

The steeped tea has a strong roasted aroma, but it also smells like toasted nuts with a touch of sweetness. The taste is quite mellow. It has a nice, comforting roasted flavor that’s not overpowering. I can also taste heavily toasted nuts such as pecans and walnuts, as well as dry autumn leaves. Overall it’s yummy, but I tend to prefer genmaicha or oolongs when I wanted a roasted tea. :)

I always wondered what the awesome tea was that I got in some Japanese restaurants and now I know! The tea has a wonderful deep roasted flavor and I don’t even know how to describe the soft but wonderful aftertaste. This tea involves wonderful flavors I literally don’t have words for! :(

Sipdown, yay! As much as I love this one I probably won’t be replacing it anytime soon. While it’s a bit smoother and sweeter than the Harney version I generally have in my cupboard, it’s hard to beat Harney’s price (and constant sales). And, in all honesty, it isn’t that much better. If you’re a hojicha/hoji kukicha fan it’s certainly worth a try, and if I place a future order with Den’s this will certainly be in it. But I won’t go out of my way to re-stock.