Where does the Matcha Trend go? Is there room for more than a significant part of one’s own wellbeing- and wellness routine? When looking to Japan, Matcha’s home country, we can find some precise indicators for the upcoming steps of this trend: Unlike in Europe, in Japan Matcha has long become way more than a trendy tea drink. It is an indispensable cooking and baking ingredient, for sweets, chocolates, ice creams, desserts, but also for salads, spreads, sauces, dips and savory dishes.
With Matcha not having passed the peak of its popularity, the next trend is already in the starting blocks:
Hojicha is the name of the newest tea innovation from Japan. The name “Hojicha” means “roasted tea”. While the practice of roasting tea has a long tradition in Japan already, the modern form of roasted tea is an innovation on the market and has recently gained huge popularity.
The idea to roast tea first came up after World War I, when Japan’s tea farmers had difficulties to sell all their production during the recession. Thus, they began to blend unsold shares of their harvest and roast them, creating new tea varieties with a special aroma and extraordinary taste. During the roasting process, the tea lost a lot of its caffeine, resulting in a significant rise in popularity among kids and the elderly.
Today, Hojicha is not only roasted, particular varieties are also ground into superfine powder, just like Matcha. Thus, they cannot only be drunk purely, but also used as an ingredient for cooking and baking, or as a flavoring agent for new product creations in the areas of drinks, chocolate, icecream and sweets. The result: a totally new, creamy, slightly nutty and sweet flavor-world, which offers new creative wiggle room across numerous applications.
AIYA now has a very special Hojicha powder complementing its assortment: AIYA Hojicha is roasted Tencha. This means that the pure “flesh” of the tea leaf, without stems and veins, is roasted and afterwards ground into superfine powder. Discover the familiar AIYA quality in a new, innovative variant! For further information on Hojicha and our product range please fill in our contact form, or feel free to get in touch with us via sales@aiya-europe.com. We are looking forward to your requests!