Karigane Hōjicha (雁が音ほうじ茶)

Karigane Hōjicha (雁が音ほうじ茶) is a roasted Japanese tea. Producers make it from karigane: the stems, stalks, and leaf veins they sort out while processing gyokuro and other high-grade, shade-grown tea. It starts from gyokuro-grade plants, not ordinary sencha or bancha. That gives it a natural sweetness and depth of umami that most other roasted teas don’t have. Roasting then adds a warm, toasty layer on top of that base. Tea drinkers already prize karigane before anyone roasts it. It’s a premium stem tea, not a leftover to throw away. Tea shops and growers especially value versions from Uji and Wazuka, in Kyoto Prefecture, and from Shizuoka’s Asahina district. Roasting turns that same stem tea into karigane hōjicha, an even gentler tea you can drink all day. This guide covers what karigane hōjicha is and how producers make it. It also explains how the tea compares with plain karigane, kukicha, and other roasted teas such as Kaga Bōcha and Kyobancha. It also covers flavor, caffeine, brewing, and buying. For the tea plant its stems come from, see the complete Gyokuro guide. For the wider stem-tea and roasted-tea family it belongs to, see the complete Bancha guide. TOCWhat Is Karigane Hō...