Friday, February 10, 2012

My hojicha-latte recipe


Once I have tried hojicha-latte at Starbucks.  Hojicha is roasted green tea.  I pretty liked the new tea beverage with the roasted flavor.  It was milder than cafe latte and more like English tea with milk.

I wanted to have it at home.  So, I tried preparing it in three different conditions to find out a good recipe on my own.




A
B
C
Method
Brew tea with boiling water first.  Then add milk into the brewed tea in a cup.
Brew tea with only hot milk, not water
Tea leaves
2g
4g
3g
Boiled water
50ml / 1.7oz
-
Hot milk
50ml / 1.7oz
100ml / 3.5oz
Brewing time
60sec
30sec
60sec

This is pretty similar with “B, but slightly milder.
This is close to the one at the Starbucks.
This is rich with the milky flavor.
You can double the amount of the ingredients if you want it plenty.
You can add sugar if you want.

It was two years ago, so I don’t exactly remember the taste of Starbucks hojicha latte.  But, I guess “A” and “B” are similar to it.  However, I liked the “C” most among the three.  “C” has the richest flavor with milky taste.

Hojicha latte is not bitter so I think it can be enjoyed by people who don’t like the bitterness of green tea. 




Note
I don’t have a milk-foam maker, so I whisked hot milk with a bamboo teawhisk.  You need to rinse well the teawhisk immediately to prevent molding and to avoided smell.










I don’t recommend using milk in your Japanese teapot.  Especially, non-glazed teapots (such as yakishime or red clay) can absorb smells.  Also, milk contains fat and I’m not sure what effect of the fat to those teapots.  I used a porcelain bowl and mesh basket to brew the tea with milk.

9 comments:

  1. Mmm, the Starbucks here don't have hojicha latte, but it sounds good! Will try your recipe! Next time you can make hojicha ice cream, another one of my favorites! =D (Just kidding!) Thank you for this!

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    Replies
    1. I’ll make the hojicha ice cream for you, so fly to Japan and visit meヽ(^。^)ノ(Just kidding!)

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  2. This is really neat, I think I'm going to give it a try!

    Oooh, I've got a bunch of mid-grade gunpowder green sitting around, that might make an interesting, if smoky, latte.

    Cheers,
    Kate
    http://sagacitea.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, what is gunpowder green? But it sounds exciting, haha! Please serve me the gunpowder green latte for me^^

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    2. Gunpowder is a really smoky green tea from Zhejiang in China and in Taiwan, usually rolled into tiny grey pearls.
      I just wrote a review of some here: http://sagacitea.blogspot.com/2012/02/organic-gunpowder-steeps.html

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    3. Thanks for the link! I like the name of the tea^^

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  3. How many tablespoons is 4g of tea? Thanks.

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  4. Loved the Starbucks Hojicha Latte here in Singapore too. They use hojicha powder with the steam milk they use for the normal coffee.

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  5. Thank you for your informative post! I like the chart you have as a comparison of methods.

    I just had a hojicha latte for the first time last week (what took so long???) and my mind is just blown. I've seriously have been missing out on something so good.

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