Reviews

Houjicha Karigane (200g/7.05oz)

US$19.00

Author Roger Ward   (United States)
Review Houjicha Karigane is a wonderful addition to my tea favorites. The medium-brown clear tea has the look and mouth feel of a black tea, but has no bite of astringency or acidity. It has a clean roasted flavor, but it is not smoky like some teas. This is the tea I was always served in the afternoons at traditional ryokan in Japan but could seldom find in the USA. In Japan, the tea was usually in the form of large stems and pieces of many sizes and varying quality. Sometimes I had to crumble or break huge stems to fit into the pot. Hibiki-an uses small stems, sized equally, small enough to fit any tea pot or tea container you may want to use, even for just one cup, and the quality is excellent.

If you are a purist, please turn away at this point. Occasionally, I like to add matcha to a cup of hot tea after it has cooled to the matcha brewing temperature, and I always add just a little matcha to the ice tea I make with this tea to give it a little of the green tea character and flavor.
Rating
Very bad...Bad...Very bad...Ordinary...Good... 5 of 5 Stars!
Date February 25, 2008

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