焙じ茶
Hojicha is
roasted green tea from
Japan, usually made of roasted
bancha leaves (
Kukicha is roasted
bancha twigs). The roasting brings a whole new taste to the tea, replacing the vegetative tones of standard
green tea with a delicious
toasty, slightly
caramely flavour, somewhat reminiscent of
genmai-cha. Like
Oolong and
Kukicha, but unlike normal
green tea, Hojicha tastes great
chilled.
Hojicha is very low in caffeine, so it is good for the caffeine-sensitive as well as people who want the health benefits you get from green tea but who don't like the taste (although, having said that, opinion seems to be divided on the degree to which roasting preserves said health benefits).
You may also find Hojicha written hoji cha, hoji-cha, houji cha or even houghi cha.