Ocharaka: Hojicha Baked Apple

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I know I said that I thought this would be best served hot, but something about the hot mug I made last night didn’t sit well with me. I think it was the apple? It was just sort of tart which was a little funky next to the roasty profile of the houjicha and the warming ginger flavour. If I ever cross pathes with this again I think I need to go back to drinking it cold…

Well I did it, I finally saw The Force Awakens, took me long enough. I might lose all of my nerd cred, but I am not much of a Star Wars fan, it has always been a franchise I enjoyed but could not really get into, so that is why it took me so long. That and I hate theaters, crowds, going out in public, and of course being in a car for very long…so other factors. I did enjoy it though, it was predictable and nostalgia laden, but these things made it enjoyable, plus laughing at Kylo Ren’s emo self was immensely entertaining. Reminded me of my goth phase in high school, when I wore a mask and had a lightsaber.

Today’s tea is from Yunomi, a company who I have not visited on this blog in a while, so I thought it was time to change that. Looking at their Ocharaka: Hojicha Baked Apple Flavored Roasted Green Tea, a different take on one of my favorite teas, Houjicha! I am not a big fan of flavored teas anymore, I still drink them on occasion but usually I got for pure leaf or a blend, but once in a while I am craving a taste and don’t have access to it, usually that craving is food related and imitated in tea, so I reach for it to satisfy a craving. This time I was craving apple pie, so it seemed a perfect time to try this tea I had in my stash. Blending Houjicha, Ginger, Apple and Flavorings, this tea smells like tart apples and ginger with a strong caramel undertone. It kinda reminds me of the apple pie caramel lollipops they gave with the apple pie blizzards at Dairy Queen where I worked, hated the blizzards but man did I love those lollipops! There is also a toasted note that vaguely reminds me of crust, but mostly this tea’s aroma is all ginger and apple.

Into my little kyusu the leaves go for steeping, this pot is the perfect sized for a single me sized cup, I like small cups and I cannot lie! The aroma is a lot less tart and more baked sweet apples, toasted crust, and ginger. It does not exactly remind me of pie, but does remind me of cobbler which works for me! The liquid is very sweet with just a hint of tart apples and pie crust. Ok this tea officially smells like pie now.

Mmmm pie, in fact it tastes like slightly burnt pie, where the crust is burnt and the sugar has caramelized a bit. It is quite sweet and smooth with strong toast and ginger notes with light apples, luckily the apple tastes like apple and not apple candy, which I was a bit worried about from the aroma of the dried leaves. I found the apple notes to be strongest in the aftertaste or when the tea had cooled a bit. It is not an exact pie match, but it was close enough to ease my craving!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/02/yunomi-ocharaka-hojicha-baked-apple.html

Ah, September, second best month of the year. Now begins the countdown to Autumn. The first scent I get is apples and ginger. With some nutty notes. There is a nice apple flavour, and some spice. Reminds me of apple pastry (not quite pie though).

Home for the evening but not down for the count yet as my FB says I still need to walk another 2,000 steps. ha ha.

Got this in my new Yunomi order. I got mostly samples and I have been really curious about this one for a while now. Baked apple and roasted houijcha sounds like a really good combination to me. I steeped this according to the package directions, 1 minute at around 195f. I found the tea to be a little thin in taste and very gingery. I like ginger but wasn’t getting apple until the cup cooled down a little. I did get the apple as an aftertaste, but it is kind of on the light side and a bit artificial at that. Hmm. Not too impressed with this at the moment but I will try steeping the rest of the sample for a longer time period and see if that improves my experience of it. For now, I am not too upset that this is just a sample size.

Just came back from a visit to the ER for my asthma where they had to put me on a nebulizer. I have to ask my doctor for a prescription for one, my insurance would have to pay for it even if it may take a call from my Lawyer first. I needed a tea tonight and I wanted something low caffeine so this hojicha fits the bill. There are two main flavors I get, roasted and apple. The roasted is a little more potent than the apple. I would have liked it the other way around, but it is still quite good.

I brewed this one time in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 4 min.

The last of my flavored houjichas from Ocharaka and Yunomi! Well, the last to be tried anyway. Honestly, when I was choosing which flavors to order I was leaning more toward the Orange Osmanthus, but a lot of other people seemed to take particular interest in this one so I figured I would try it instead. I do enjoy apple, but the mention of ginger in here scares me a bit as it’s not my favorite ingredient. There are chunks of dried apple mixed in with the usual roasted stems and leaves. Dry scent is very strong and sharp apple and it almost smells effervescent in a way.

The steeped tea smells mostly of mild roast with a bit of sweet apple mixed in. I like this one quite a bit actually. The flavoring is very mild, and it tastes more like a sweet fresh apple to me than baked, but I actually prefer that. The ginger is extremely subtle, it just makes the apple taste a teeny bit spiced and comes off more as a general “spice” note than ginger itself. The pair work very well with the mildly roasted houjicha base. Lovely! Thanks to everyone who sort of recommended this without realizing it, ha ha. :D

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