Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Hojicha Spearmint Iced Tea

Hojicha is a toasted Japanese tea. I like it, it makes a nice hot beverage, but I seldom crave it. I drink plenty of hot tea everyday... but on those particularly warm and sunny days (a rarity here in Seattle) I sometimes dabble in iced tea too and Hojicha is one of my favorites.

Back in 2001, my first year as a tea seller, my tea mentor Donna Fellman suggested I add a big pinch of dried spearmint leaves to Hojicha. I thought it tasted wonderful and have made it at least once every summer since.

Today I tried it with 5 fresh spearmint leaves from my yard. First I ripped up and muddled the spearmint in a jar. Then I steeped them with a rounded teaspoon of hojicha leaves for ~5 minutes with near boiling water. After it cooled, I poured it over ice. The result, garnished with a spearmint sprig, was divine.

I feel like this would make a nice ice tea to serve at a summer garden party or barbecue.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never had this kind of tea before. It sounds like it would be most definitely wonderful in taste! Thank you for letting me know about it!

Alex Zorach said...

This is interesting; I've combined green teas with spearmint, but never tried using hojicha.

I do find that spearmint tends to go well with many teas, especially when you add a small amount of mint to a large amount of tea. In the summer though, I often brew up iced tea that is about 1/2 to 1/4th green tea and the rest spearmint and/or lemon balm.

Ms. Ainee C. Beland said...

At times I find Spearmint to be overwhelming, tasting more like chewing gum rather than a hint of it in your cup. Currently I am drinking Gold Spearmint Tea by Akbar and I am finding the tea to be very minty...that gum chewing experience.

Anyhow, the Hojicha tea with the spearmint is real inciting. In the yard with a book or magazine kind of tea jug/jar and some walker like cookies perhaps.

Thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

This is a delightful alternative to morracan mint and has become my summer favorite! I have been adding a touch of sugar, too used to it from morracan.
I look forward to visiting Burien some Saturday!