Meeting matcha’s match

With matcha making the transition from potential fad to menu staple, one of its lesser-known cousins is now quietly taking café menus by storm.

Matcha has become a near-constant alongside espresso in Australian cafés in the past few years. Whether it’s served hot or cold, or as part of a complex signature creation, it’s rise to prominence in western markets has led people to search for new ingredients that are going to become the next must-have experience.

While other products such as pistachio or Dubai chocolate have experienced cult rises and quick virality, it’s a close cousin of matcha that is impressing café customers and consumers around the world thanks to its warm, nutty, and low-bitterness flavour profile.

Hojicha.

T2, as one of Australia’s premier tea brands, is helping accelerate this trend with the launch of its own powdered hojicha in August 2026.

With loose leaf hojicha already available to its wholesale partners and through its retail presence, T2 was one of the early movers in Australia’s hojicha boom and is positioning itself to help take the tea to new heights.

What is hojicha?

Hojicha traces its origins to Kyoto in the early 20th century. As the story goes, a local tea merchant in 1920 wanted to make use of lower grade or unsold green tea leaves, along with stems and twigs, bancha and sencha.

By roasting these components over charcoal, the merchant created a new style of tea with a radically different flavour profile to other green teas.

All commercially grown tea in Japan today is green tea, from which varietals like matcha, or sencha are produced. Hojicha is unique among Japanese teas in that it is roasted rather than steamed, however some Korean variants of green teas are roasted.

To prevent oxidation and produce a lighter golden colour, hojicha is traditionally roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal at 150 degrees Celsius, with the base of a hojicha tea usually consisting of leaves collected in the second harvest of the season – or later.

It is most often made by roasting bancha, also known as common tea, collected in the last harvest of the season, however other varieties can be made from sencha or kukicha, which includes the twigs and stems of the tea plant.

Due to being roasted instead of steamed, hojicha has toasty, caramel-like notes and turns a reddish-brown hue, as opposed to the traditional vegetal, grassy qualities of teas like matcha.

The roasting process also significantly lowers the caffeine content which, coupled with its greater affordability compared to matcha, has positioned it as an affordable and practical afternoon drink in Japan, and now the wider world.

The defining characteristic of hojicha is its roasted and nutty flavour, which has many consumers comparing it more to coffee in its profile than green tea.

This flavour transformation is entirely a result of the roasting, which reduces the prevalence of catechins that are responsible for the bitterness of green tea, helping position it as a more approachable entry point into the wide world of Japanese tea for new consumers.

T2 Head of Tea, Sally Morris, says with both the lower caffeine content and preparation method it holds significant potential to be a leading menu item for afternoon dayparts.

“Hojicha is what I call an ‘any hour’ tea. Because it’s roasted rather than steamed, much of the caffeine is reduced, which makes it incredibly versatile,” says Sally.

“You get all the ritual and satisfaction of a beautiful brew without the lift, so it works just as well in the evening as it does first thing in the morning.”

Rising popularity

Over the past decade, hojicha has experienced a steady boost in its presence around the world, with Australia a leader in its rise.

The ongoing supply constraints for matcha have led to some cafés and consumers to look for alternatives to the famous green powder, with hojicha often offering a more stable and cost-effective option due to its more abundant and less delicate materials.

At the same time, shifting consumer preferences towards lower-caffeine beverages and comfort-driven flavour profiles has positioned hojicha as a strong alternative to other teas.

“Hojicha has had a real moment over the last few years, and I think it comes down to the fact that people are seeking out more interesting, considered choices,” says Sally.

“It has depth and character, but it’s also incredibly approachable. Once someone tries it, they tend to come back to it.”

It is in the café setting where hojicha’s most significant transformation is happening.

Sally says the tea’s versatility means it can be incorporated into beverages like lattes or iced drinks, while its flavour is also very compatible with dairy, chocolate, and fruits, making it perfect for desserts.

“One of the things that makes hojicha so exciting to work with is how adaptable it is. It’s wonderful [when] brewed traditionally, but it also lends itself beautifully to lattes, cold brews and even cooking,” she says.

“It has a flavour that plays well with others, which is a big part of why we’re seeing it show up everywhere right now.”

Sally says Hojicha has a flavour “that’s immediately comforting”. The roasting process providing “a lovely toasty, caramel quality” that sets it apart from other green teas.

“It’s warm and smooth, with none of the grassy bitterness people sometimes expect. It really does speak for itself in the cup,” she says.

The T2 take

The versatility of both T2’s loose leaf hojicha, and soon-to-be-launched powder, lend themselves to a range of different drinks.

Hojicha’s compatibility with milk, and familiar yet different flavour profile to coffee, is a significant advantage for those incorporating the tea into their menus.

The roasted notes cut through dairy to create a balanced beverage that appeals to coffee drinkers seeking an alternative, particularly in markets where espresso culture dominates.

It presents a potential opportunity for cafés to expand their tea offerings without straying too far away from the flavour expectations of the core coffee audience.

Hojicha is also more forgiving to prepare consistently compared to matcha, which can be more sensitive to water temperature and technique.

While traditionally prepared using loose leaf tea, hojicha has become far more accessible in the café setting with the advent of powdered hojicha.

Much like other tea powders, it enables the brewer to have more control over flavour intensity, while offering a faster and more convenient way to brew.

For example, to create a modern take on the heritage brew, like a hojicha latte, brewers need to simply combine the tea or powder with a double-strength coffee concentrate and steamed milk to add a deeper, nutty flavour profile to a typical coffee.

Or, for a cold brew hojicha, use one teaspoon of the powdered tea per 250 ml of water, and leave in the fridge for four to six hours.

But sometimes tradition stands true. To craft a traditional hojicha, simply brew the tea leaves in a teapot at 85 to 90 degrees Celsius for 30 to 45 seconds, and serve.

By utilising a hojicha powder, like the one set to be offered by T2 from August, cafés can place themselves in a position where their creativity and imagination are the only limitations for what they can create with this popular ingredient. 

For more information, visit t2tea.com/pages/wholesale