Houjicha tea is a famous variant of Japanese green tea. Commonly, it is made from bancha. Other varieties of houjicha can be made from kukicha, and even sencha. Houjicha stands out from the other green tea for its mode of preparation. Today, let’s talk about it’s health benefits, nutritional content, the side effects, also the great way to roast and brew Houjicha tea!
Table of Contents
The History of Houjicha
How Houjicha Came About
The history of houjicha tea is quite an interesting one. It is a general consensus that houjicha originates from Kyo Bancha in Japan. Kyo Bancha is primarily made from pruned tea leaves. Basically, machine trimmed tea trees undergo modification to their shapes resulting in the formation of semicircle curvature.
However, with the passage of time, the downsides of machine trimming became increasingly obvious and disturbing. When green tea leaves underwent mechanical harvesting, the leaves are loitered with debris. This was really making a mess of the tea.
The Big Twist that Gave Birth to Houjicha tea
However, 1920 came with a big turn for tea lovers in Japan – a turn that marked the universal birth of Houjicha tea. History had it that in that year, an enigmatic merchant made a curious attempt to get the best of the leftover leaves, the twigs, the stems. Rather than customarily disposing of them, this adventurous merchant tried to reinvent those leftovers still giving them use by roasting them over charcoal. This bold deviation from the norm carried out by this merchant marked the discovery of houjicha tea.
The Rapid Spread
Originating in Kyoto, this roasted tea pattern quickly spread through the nooks and crannies of Japan even all through the world. The aroma and spectacular flavor of this roasted houjicha tea even enchanted it more to the heart of tea lovers. Fast forward to today, Houjicha tea has firmly entrenched itself in modern tea culture even universally.
With advancing technology, many more varieties of houjicha have come up. As said there is the sencha variant, the bancha type as well as the kukicha type. The flavor has added a diversity as well. Today, you have your houjicha tea in form of frozen desserts even as far as ready-made drinks.
Nutritional Content Of Houjicha
Of course, you may be curious to know the composition of houjicha tea. First of all, just like you have with most green teas, houjicha tea contains water-soluble components like theanine, tannin, Vitamin C as well as caffeine.
1. Houjicha and Tannin
The theanine which is a very valuable amino acid tremendously determines the taste of the houjicha tea (talking about its flavor). The caffeine content here also contributes to the astringency of this tea.
As earlier explained, the amount of tannin (as well as the caffeine) content in Houjicha is relatively reduced. Thus the houjicha is not remarkably bitter like other teas. Thus houjicha tea is not necessarily selective, going well for both adults and children.
Owing to the reduced tannine content, houjicha tea quenches your taste more with an understandably increased drinking convenience. A cup of houjicha is therefore always perfect for the evening.
2. The leaves and caffeine
Aside from the roasting process significantly chopping down the caffeine content of houjicha teas, the leaves itself of houjicha have reduced caffeine. Generally, the tips, as well as the young shoots of the Camellia sinensis tea plant in most cases, will come with higher levels of caffeine (in terms of concentration).
However, the leaves used for houjicha in most times have increased surface area and are often coarser. This type doesn’t really contain much caffeine.
As said, when you roast your houjicha you render the caffeine ineffective. Owing to this, the houjicha tea has a specially rich aroma and unique flavor even with lighter concentrations of the naturally occurring components of green tea. This makes the houjicha more perfect for quick casual drinking.
Health Benefits of Houjicha
Houjicha tea is great health benefits. Let us look at some of those
NO.1 Houjicha tea fortifies your immune system
Houjicha tea ramps up your immunity thereby equipping your system to resist an invasion of disease. Houjicha being a roasted green tea rightly contains vital ingredients like polyphenols. This includes flavonoids, tannins, and even theaflavins. All these mentioned have notable antiviral capacities. More particularly, the antimicrobial catechin as largely contained in houjicha tea plays a great role in eradicating bacteria from your body.
More than this, houjicha is wealthy in its composition of crucial vitamins like Vitamin E, Vitamin C as well as Vitamin A. All these as well contribute to making your immune system more sophisticated in fighting disease. Precisely, Vitamin C is very helpful in the prevention of scurvy, Vitamin A contributes to the regulation of the response of your immune system while Vitamin E prevents your immune system from deteriorating.
NO.2 Improves oral health
Considering its vast polyphenol content most particularly the epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), houjicha tea tremendously improves your oral health. This is because the EGCG mentioned here has admirable disinfectant capacities which go a long way in protecting your tooth from cavities as well as decay. Equally the polyphenol greatly saves you from bad breath otherwise known as halitosis. Some of the listed vitamins contained in houjicha tea are great for their anti-inflammatory capabilities which greatly reduces your propensity to gum disease as well as gingivitis.
NO.3 Houjicha tea also lowers your risk of cancer
This capacity on the part of houjicha can still be attributed to its composition of antioxidants particularly the aforementioned EGCG as well as Vitamin E. These constituents are great at fighting cancerous cells especially the way these antioxidants energetically combat free radicals. This tea also prevents the growth of tumor due to its composition of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA).
Houjicha – The Perfect Elixir For Stress
Stress is almost an inevitable part of the twenty-first century. The bustle and hustle to survive is consuming and most times we feel the mental drain or exertion in form of stress. However, those moments you feel like the Eiffel Tower is standing on your neck, the perfect elixir to relieve yourself of the stress could be a cup of houjicha. Yes, houjicha is that delectable anti-stress beverage you need to feel fresh all anew.
1. Houjicha and its L-theanine
Such capacities to relieve you of stress boils down to its composition of high levels of L-Theanine. This reasonably high levels of theanine occur owing to the fact that the harvest of houjicha is commonly carried out in the spring. Here L-Theanine is a powerful amino acid to which houjicha’s umami flavor can be attributed significantly. This amino acid cancels out the supposed consequence of the little amount of caffeine that eventually made its way to the roasted tea.
2. Helping to relieve you of depression and anxiety
Houjicha tea would calm your nerves down, getting you well refreshed psychologically and revamped from stress and even depression. Basically, houjicha tea mainly propagates the generation of alpha waves. Such alpha waves have shown immense ability to reduce anxiety, stress as well as depression.
3. Houjicha regulates your cortisol levels
Additionally, the L-Theanine when partnered by Vitamin C as contained in houjicha tea help in reducing the amounts of cortisol your body produces in response to stress. Now when reasonably a high amount of cortisol is produced as a stress response, your blood pressure could significantly rise as well. An increase in your blood pressure would further damage the efficiency of your immune system. Pyrazines contained in roasted green tea (accounting for its nice aroma) helps to lower blood pressure by allowing your muscles cells to relax more.
Houjicha Side Effects
Well, when compared to other green teas, houjicha doesn’t have much side effects. This is because it contained relatively lower quantities of tannin, theanine, and caffeine compared to other green teas.
Albeit, there are a number of side effects that come with Houjicha which you should be importantly mindful of. Most of these side effects actually come into play when you abuse the use of houjicha tea or inappropriately consume it.
1. Taking houjicha when pregnant
First, if you are a pregnant woman, you shouldn’t be drinking Houjicha tea. The same applies for women who are breastfeeding.
2. The case of iron deficiency
Also in the case when you are already suffering from iron deficiency (or anemia), then you shouldn’t be drinking houjicha tea as well. This is because studies have found out that consumption of this tea could further shrink the capacity of your body to absorb iron by 25%.
3. The case of stomach ulcers
Also, houjicha tea wouldn’t be the best for you if you are suffering from stomach ulcers or you are already battling with kidney disorders.
It is not recommended to drink houjicha tea when you are extensively hungry or famished (say on an empty stomach). Drinking it at such instances could trigger reasonable damage to your liver. Try as well not to drink more than 6 cups of houjicha tea a day.
The Effect Of Roasting On Houjicha Tea
A lot of the characteristics are borne from the roasting procedure this tea undergoes.
1. How roasting affects the color
Talking about the coloration and its appearance, houjicha infusions have this uncommon a light- to reddish-brown color. Moving over to the flavor, houjicha doesn’t boast the same intensity of astringency like the other common types of green teas.
This is because naturally, houjicha doesn’t really contain as much catechins as other common green tea. Such reduced catechin content is due to elevated temperatures at which houjicha is roasted.
2. How roasting affects the flavor
Well, this roasting to a large extent contributes significantly to the flavor of your houjicha tea. In fact, because of this roasting procedure, this tea loses that vegetative undertone as other green teas commonly have. With the roasting coming in, the flavor shifts to a bit of toasty caramel taste.
3. How roasting affects the caffeine levels
Aside from the flavor which the roasting process actually distorts, the roasting as well affects the caffeine levels of your houjicha tea. Basically, the roasting of houjicha tea cuts down on its caffeine content. With its mildness in mind, houjicha tea becomes that perfect evening recipe to relax with. Especially in Japan, the houjicha is a delicacy for elders taken most times after the evening meal or before bedtime.
While the relative darkness of houjicha (in appearance) is almost unquestionable, it is yet a green tea sometimes accentuated with a chocolate flavor tasting somewhere between roasted barley and coffee.
Well, the flavor of your houjicha tea is well controlled by the location of the farm it was cultivated from, particularly the geographic features. Farms great for sencha cultivation are also good for houjicha.
How to Brew Houjicha Tea
So now, let us briefly learn how to brew your houjicha tea. Of course, there are a variety of ways you can go about this, as it relates to the taste you are aiming to realize at the end of the day. Should you be aiming for houjicha the with fresher flavors, then your infusion should be shorter. On the other hand, longer infusions tend to produce this nutty flavor. So this is what the brewing process entails:
Brewing Houjicha Tea Recipe
- Step 1:
You will have to heat your water in a teapot say at most 80 degrees. Celsius. This will release the aroma of your houjicha
- Step 2:
When the water has measurably boiled, put your tea in the teapot using a measurement of one 1Tbsp per serving.
- Step 3:
Next step. The steeping time depends on the flavor you want. This should take somewhere from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.
- Step 4:
Pour and serve for your relish.
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