Preparation of Hojicha from Sencha for 2 people:
Heat the roaster to a medium temperature, add about 10g of tea, then reduce heat and move the tea around as steam forms so that all tea leaves are roasted evenly. When doing this, the roaster may need to be removed from the heat to avoid burning the tea leaves.
The green tea should turn light brown within 1 minute. However, the roasting time can be adjusted according to your taste. The roasting process destroys the catechins and bitter compounds and the tea develops a completely new aroma.
Recommended teas for the preparation of hojicha include sencha, bancha and kukicha, although they should generally be older.
