Delectable Hojicha Tea Jelly: A Japanese Dessert Delight

Hojicha tea jelly (ほうじ茶ゼリー) with cream is a Japanese dessert made with hojicha tea. It’s extremely light and full of flavor, just like you’d expect from any sort of jelly dessert. The great thing about this is that it not only tastes good, but it’s healthy too – it’s got tea with just a tiny bit of sugar! If you like tea, you might also like this Japanese dessert!

What’s better than hojicha tea?

While I’d love to say this hojicha tea jelly….

For me, there isn’t really anything better… just different and tasty in their own unique ways.

Examples – hojicha ‘latte’, hojicha ice cream, hojicha cupcakes, hojicha cookies, hojicha kit kats, hojicha pudding, hojicha kakigori (Japanese shaved ice) and more!

Many sweet things I realize.

But now that I mention it, have you had any savory foods with hojicha tea?

I know certain cuisines do cook with tea leaves (for example Burmese tea leaf salad)

And as you may know, Japanese food does use green tea for certain savory foods like soba noodles for example.

And they also use hojicha! 😮

It’s just not that well known or may not be as popular as matcha! And could be one reason you haven’t heard of it!

Some examples include meat marinades, soup bases, curry, and for seasoning rice.

While we may get into some savory ways to use hojicha tea, today we’re sticking with one of my favorites – jelly or ゼリー (zeri in Japanese).

       

       

Hojicha ほうじ茶- Roasted green tea

Hojicha if you didn’t know, is roasted green tea.

It’s got a very unique flavor.

Extremely robust, earthy, tea-like and very hojicha-ey.

It’s a very bold tea and I like it that way.

It’s often served at the end of a meal or with dessert in Japan.

And the great thing about it is that it’s basically caffeine free.

So you can drink this anytime of day or night without worrying that it’ll keep you up all night long. Cuz it won’t!

Ok, so how do you brew hojicha?

How to brew hojicha tea

A good guideline you can use for one person is about ~3 grams per 160-200mls of water at 200F for 30 seconds.

Of course you can brew it longer or use a larger quantity for a more potent tea.

If you’re just getting started with hojicha tea, the above might be a good starting point for you.

And yes brewing time, temperature, tea quantity, quality, freshness etc all affect the resulting flavor in your cup.

Even the cup affects the flavor.

Or does it?

Do you change the way you drink your beverage by season or temperature?

Check out the video below for a few of my tips on brewing other Japanese teas.

You might learn something new 😉

Tips for making the hojicha tea jelly (ほうじ茶ゼリー) a success

• always soften your gelatin with a little room temp water, otherwise it might clump if you add hot tea directly to the powder
• consider making the tea stronger than you usually would so that you get a very full flavor. it could just be me, but i feel like jelly anything needs a little more power to it – be it coffee jelly, matcha jelly or this hojicha jelly. personal preference
• allow your tea to brew the appropriate length, you can easily sub the hojicha tea with other teas and try different flavors, so if you do ensure you brew correctly to get the optimal flavor
• use an immersion blender or regular blender to ensure there are no clumps
• you could omit sugar, if you’re going to be using sweet cream is sweet enough that could balance the flavors. otherwise your jelly might be a little bitter
• store in the fridge airtight so it preserves the flavor which seems to get lost if you dont eat it within a day or 2
• this is the same base recipe i use to make coffee jelly so you could use coffee too, in the same ratios!

what japanese tea desserts have you tried?

do you think you’ll be trying this hojicha jelly?

lmk in the comments!

Hojicha Tea Jelly Japanese style dessert

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Hojicha tea jelly with cream is a Japanese dessert made with hojicha tea. It’s extremely light and full of flavor, just like you’d expect from any sort of jelly dessert. The great thing about this is that it not only tastes good, but it’s healthy too – it’s got tea with just a tiny bit of sugar! If you like tea, you might also like this Japanese dessert!

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 6 people 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: Japanese

Ingredients

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• 1 packet gelatin (dissolved in 1–2 tablespoons )
• 2 cups hojicha (brewed)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• cream, sweet cream, condensed milk/cream mixture (for topping)

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Instructions

1. Dissolve gelatin in 1-2 tablespoons of room temperature water in a heat proof bowl.
2. Brew two cups of hojicha tea
3. Mix in sugar and hot tea with the gelatin and use an immersion blender or blender to dissolve completely.
4. Pour into heat proof containers and allow to set at least 3 hours.
5. Top with cream, sweet cream or condensed milk/cream mixture to taste