Hojicha Powder for
Unique Flavor Innovation
Roasted Aroma | Low Bitterness | Perfect for Modern Beverages & Bakery
Experience
Steam & Hot-Air
Tea Garden
Worldwide
What Is Hojicha Powder?
Most buyers seeking a matcha alternative don't realize Hojicha Powder delivers something entirely different — a rich, toasty flavor profile that opens doors to new product categories and a broader consumer base.
Roasted Green Tea Origin
Hojicha powder is crafted from green tea leaves that are first dried, then roasted at high temperatures. This roasting step transforms the flavor chemistry completely — from grassy and vegetal to warm, toasty, and nutty — creating a product that stands apart from matcha in every dimension.
High-Heat Roasting Process
The roasting process generates Maillard reactions, producing the signature caramel and cocoa-like aroma compounds that make Hojicha unmistakable. Our precision hot-air roasting technology controls temperature within ±2°C, ensuring consistent aroma intensity and stable flavor across every production batch you order.
Warm Brown — Not Matcha Green
Unlike matcha's vibrant emerald, Hojicha Powder carries a warm reddish-brown hue that creates visually distinct products on shelf. This built-in color differentiation means your latte, ice cream, or baked goods will stand out in a saturated matcha market without any extra effort in positioning.
Ready to introduce Hojicha to your product lineup? Start with a free sample.
Request a Free SampleMatcha vs. Hojicha
Two teas, one plant — completely different flavor experiences. Understanding this difference is the key to selecting the right ingredient for your next product innovation.
Vibrant & Vegetal
The classic premium green tea powder with bold umami depth
Roasted & Approachable
The crowd-friendly roasted tea powder with warm, nutty depth
Think of Hojicha as the more approachable flavor alternative to matcha — lower bitterness, broader consumer appeal, and a distinct visual identity that lets your products stand out without competing head-to-head in the crowded matcha space.
Want to see how Hojicha fits your formulation? Request a comparison sample kit today.
Request Sample KitWhy Hojicha Is Trending Now
The global beverage and bakery industry is shifting. Hojicha's rise isn't a passing moment — it's a structural change in how consumers discover and embrace new flavors.
Low Bitterness Drives Mass Market Acceptance
Bitterness is the single biggest barrier to tea adoption among non-traditional consumers. Hojicha's roasting process significantly reduces catechins and tannins, delivering a smooth, mellow finish that feels familiar to coffee drinkers — your largest untapped audience for any tea-based product line.
Riding the Caffeine-Reduction Wave
A growing segment of coffee consumers actively seek lower-caffeine options without sacrificing the warm, roasted flavor they love. Hojicha delivers that roasted complexity at a fraction of the caffeine — making it the natural bridge between coffee culture and the tea wellness movement.
A Visual Differentiator Built for Social Platforms
Hojicha's warm brown color photographs beautifully against the now-ubiquitous matcha green aesthetic. Brands launching Hojicha-infused products consistently achieve higher engagement on visual platforms — the distinct color alone drives organic discovery and attracts new customers your competitors aren't reaching.
The Fast-Track Ingredient for Brand Innovation
Beverage brands are under constant pressure to launch something new. Hojicha gives product developers a flavor that's proven in Japan, emerging in the West, and familiar enough to require minimal consumer education — dramatically shortening your time-to-launch and reducing go-to-market risk.
globally (2020–2024)
target non-traditional consumers
vs. standard green tea products
The window for first-mover advantage is narrowing. Let's build your Hojicha product together.
Start with a SampleWhere Hojicha Powder Performs Best
Hojicha's roasted warmth and low bitterness make it one of the most versatile tea powders available — from ready-to-drink beverages to premium confectionery, it elevates every application it enters.
Hojicha Latte
Replace the coffee bitterness your customers want to reduce with Hojicha's smooth roasted warmth. Blends seamlessly with dairy and plant-based milks — no flavor adjustment needed. The ideal coffee-alternative latte with broad consumer appeal.
Hojicha Ice Cream
Hojicha's caramel undertones integrate beautifully into ice cream and gelato bases. The warm brown color creates premium visual cues on shelf that command higher price points, while the low bitterness ensures repeat purchases even from consumers new to tea flavors.
Hojicha Bakery
From croissants to castella cakes, Hojicha powder adds a nutty roasted depth that complements butter and sugar beautifully. Heat-stable aroma compounds mean the distinctive flavor survives baking temperatures — delivering consistent results in every production batch.
Dessert & Chocolate
Hojicha and dark chocolate share roasted, slightly bitter notes that create a natural pairing. Use it in ganaches, truffles, mousse, and panna cotta to deliver a premium Japanese-inspired flavor story that resonates with the growing segment of sophisticated dessert consumers.
Tell us your application — we'll recommend the right roast level and particle size for your formula.
Discuss My ApplicationThe Hojicha Flavor Experience
Three defining sensory dimensions make Hojicha Powder a uniquely formulator-friendly ingredient — each one an advantage your finished product can communicate directly to consumers.
Roasted Aroma
Our hot-air roasting process develops over 50 aromatic compounds through Maillard reactions, producing a deep, layered roasted character. Nutty and caramel top-notes arrive first, followed by a subtle cocoa finish that makes every product feel premium and intentional.
Smooth Taste
High-heat roasting breaks down catechins and tannins — the primary sources of green tea bitterness — resulting in an exceptionally smooth, mellow taste that stays pleasant even at higher powder concentrations. Your customers won't pucker; they'll reach for another.
Warm Color
Hojicha's warm reddish-brown hue is a ready-made visual differentiator. In a market flooded with matcha green products, this color shift signals something different — something worth trying. Consumers spot it first, and that's the moment that starts every purchase journey.
Request a sensory sample kit and experience the Hojicha flavor profile firsthand.
Request Sensory SampleProduct Specification Sheet
Every parameter below is maintained through our dual-technology processing and batch QC system — giving your formulation team the consistency they need to scale confidently.
| Parameter | Specification | Roast Grade Options | Application Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reddish-Brown (L* 35–55) Warm amber to deep mahogany tone |
Light
Medium
Dark
|
All applications | |
| 45–75 µm (standard) Custom fine-milling available on request |
Standard
Fine
|
Latte, Ice Cream, Bakery | |
| Light / Medium / Dark Temperature controlled ±2°C per batch |
Custom
|
All — by application need | |
| Medium–High (panel scored 7.2–9.0/10) Consistent across batches via hot-air process |
Medium
High
|
Beverage, Dessert, Bakery | |
| ≤ 5% Nitrogen-flushed packaging for shelf stability |
Standard
|
All — 24-month shelf life | |
| 1 kg / 5 kg / 25 kg options Custom private label packaging available |
OEM
Private Label
|
B2B bulk & brand ready |
Custom specification requests welcome. All parameters — roast level, particle size, moisture, and packaging format — can be adjusted to match your exact formulation requirements. A full Certificate of Analysis (COA) is provided with every order. Contact us to discuss your specific needs.
Need a custom spec or full COA before committing to a trial order?
Request Full Spec SheetThe Challenges Holding Your Product Back
We've worked with beverage and bakery brands across 15+ countries. These are the four product development challenges we hear most often — and the ones Hojicha Powder was built to solve.
Matcha Is Too Bitter for Mainstream Consumers
You've launched matcha products, but a segment of your target customers bounces at the first sip. High catechin levels create a bitterness threshold that limits your addressable market — and no amount of sweetener fully compensates for what consumers describe as "too intense."
Product Portfolios Are Looking Identical
When every competitor carries matcha latte, matcha ice cream, and matcha cake, differentiation disappears. Buyers and consumers experience decision fatigue, and your SKUs get lost in a sea of the same green. Shelf presence and brand story both suffer from this sameness.
No Distinctive Flavor to Build a Story Around
Flavor innovation requires an ingredient that carries its own narrative — origin, process, sensory journey. Generic tea powders lack character. Without a compelling ingredient story, your marketing team has nothing unique to amplify, and your products remain commodities on shelf.
Ceremonial Matcha Costs Are Squeezing Margins
Premium matcha pricing creates pressure on food-cost percentages, especially in high-volume production runs. If you're using ceremonial-grade matcha in a mass-market product to achieve the right flavor intensity, your margin structure is working against your growth targets.
These challenges are solvable. Let's talk about how Hojicha fits your product strategy.
Talk to Our TeamHow We Help You Differentiate & Grow
We're not just selling Hojicha powder. We're helping you solve real product development problems — faster, with less risk, and at a cost structure that protects your margins.
A Roasted Tea Alternative That Consumers Actually Love
Hojicha's low-catechin profile and caramel-forward flavor replace the bitterness barrier entirely. Consumers who have resisted matcha products try Hojicha once — and come back. You expand your addressable market without changing your product format, just the key ingredient.
A Flavor with Built-In Visual & Taste Differentiation
Hojicha's warm brown color and roasted profile create instant shelf distinction from every matcha product on the market. You don't need new packaging or a rebrand — the ingredient does the differentiating for you. Your products simply look and taste different from the competition.
An Ingredient with a Story Your Marketing Team Can Own
Hojicha brings a complete flavor narrative: Japanese origin, high-temperature roasting craft, warm color transformation, and a smooth profile your consumers haven't tasted before. We provide origin documentation, process photography, and flavor copy to help you build your product story from day one.
A Cost-Efficient Ingredient That Protects Your Margins
Hojicha Powder achieves strong flavor impact at lower per-kilogram cost than ceremonial matcha, with no compromise on the premium positioning your brand requires. Our 3,500-acre integrated supply chain ensures stable pricing and volume availability — even as your production scales.
We're not in the business of selling tea powder. We're in the business of helping your brand do something different — with an ingredient that earns its place in your formula through real flavor, real differentiation, and real margin protection.
Ready to build a product that stands apart? Let's start with a conversation.
Talk to Our Product TeamThe Technology Behind Every Batch
Consistent Hojicha flavor starts long before packaging. Our proprietary hot-air roasting system gives you something most suppliers can't — precise, repeatable aroma intensity batch after batch, at any volume.
Raw Leaf Selection & Moisture Pre-Control
We source tea leaves from our 3,500-acre gardens, grading each harvest for optimal initial moisture content. Standardized leaf input is the prerequisite for aroma consistency — variability in raw material is the number-one cause of batch inconsistency that competitors overlook.
Precision Hot-Air Roasting at Controlled Temperature
Our continuous hot-air drum roasters maintain temperature within ±2°C throughout the roasting cycle. This precision triggers the Maillard reactions responsible for Hojicha's signature caramel and nutty aroma compounds — while preventing the over-roasting that destroys volatile aromatics and produces astringency.
Aroma Locking & Nitrogen-Flush Packaging
Immediately post-roasting, powder is cooled rapidly and nitrogen-flushed into sealed packaging. This step captures peak volatile aroma compounds and prevents oxidation — so the roasted character you approved in your sample is exactly what arrives in every production order, six months later.
Want to see our process documentation? Request a factory profile and COA alongside your sample.
Request Process DocumentationWhy Source From Us?
There are many Hojicha powder suppliers. Here's what separates a supplier that delivers once from a partner that scales with your brand across every season and market.
30 Years of Tea Processing Expertise
Founded in 1995, we have spent three decades refining every variable in tea processing — from harvest timing to roasting profile to particle milling. This depth of accumulated knowledge means fewer surprises, tighter specs, and fewer failed batches for your production team.
Founded
Dual-Technology System for Product Differentiation
Our facility operates both hot-air and steam processing lines — giving your product team access to two distinct flavor profiles from a single supplier. Launch a light-roast Hojicha latte and a deep-roast Hojicha chocolate in the same season, with one supplier relationship to manage.
Technologies
Rigorous Batch QC — Every Order, No Exceptions
Every production batch undergoes color measurement (L* value), aroma panel scoring, particle size verification, and moisture testing before release. A full Certificate of Analysis ships with every order — and we maintain batch records for 36 months so you always have traceability when you need it.
COA Tested
Large-Scale Supply Capacity for Any Growth Trajectory
With 3,500 acres of owned tea garden and vertically integrated processing, we absorb volume surges without compromising lead times or quality. Whether you're placing your first 50 kg trial or scaling to a 10-tonne monthly program, our supply chain is built to grow alongside your brand without disruption.
Supply Chain
Ready to evaluate us as a long-term Hojicha supplier? Let's start with a sample and a conversation.
Evaluate Us as a SupplierBuilt Around Your Formula
Off-the-shelf tea powder is a starting point. What sets market-leading products apart is a flavor crafted specifically for the application, audience, and brand story behind them — and that's exactly what our OEM service delivers.
Custom Roast Level
Dial in the exact roast intensity your product needs — from a delicate light roast with floral undertones, to a bold dark roast with deep cocoa notes. We tune temperature, duration, and airflow to hit your target sensory profile, then lock the parameters for every subsequent batch.
Flavor Adjustment & Blending
Need a Hojicha that skews sweeter? Smokier? Blended with other tea varieties for a proprietary profile? Our R&D team develops custom blend ratios and flavor enhancement approaches, with iterative sample rounds until your product developer signs off on the target profile.
Private Label & Co-Branding
Launch your Hojicha product under your own brand with our full private label service — from custom pouch design and print-ready packaging to multilingual labeling compliant with EU, US, and Asia-Pacific market regulations. We handle the supply chain; you own the brand story.
Beverage Formula Development Support
Launching a Hojicha RTD, concentrate, or latte base but unsure on the right powder concentration and dispersibility spec? Our application team works directly with your beverage formulator — providing recommended usage rates, cold/hot solubility data, and stability testing results to accelerate your development timeline.
Gentle roasting preserves delicate grassy notes with a warm, mellow finish. Lower bitterness, lighter color. Ideal for consumers new to Hojicha.
The signature Hojicha profile — full caramel warmth, nutty depth, clean finish. The most versatile roast level across applications and consumer groups.
Intense roasted depth with smoky, cocoa-like complexity. Deep mahogany color. Designed for premium pairings with dark chocolate, espresso-style drinks, and aged spirits.
Tell us your target application and we'll recommend the ideal roast level and custom spec to match.
Start Your Custom DevelopmentHow Brands Are Winning with Hojicha
These are the product challenges our clients brought to us — and the outcomes they built with Hojicha Powder as the solution.
8 Weeks
Complaints
Launched
Outlets
Launched
Extended
Your product challenge is next. Let's map out the solution together.
Discuss Your ProjectQuestions Before You Order?
These are the questions buyers most commonly ask before placing their first Hojicha Powder trial order. If yours isn't here, our team responds within 24 hours.
Both are finely milled tea powders, but the processing path and resulting flavor profile are completely different. Matcha is made from shade-grown green tea that is steamed and stone-milled — producing a vibrant green color, grassy umami flavor, and moderate to high bitterness. Hojicha Powder is made from roasted green tea leaves — the high-heat roasting transforms the flavor into something warm, caramel-like, and nutty, with significantly lower bitterness and caffeine content. For product development, the practical difference is consumer appeal: Hojicha reaches consumers who find matcha too intense, dramatically widening your addressable market.
Yes — Hojicha Powder is exceptionally well-suited to latte and milk-based applications. Its low catechin content means it doesn't curdle or create the separation issues sometimes seen with high-catechin powders in cold milk. Our standard particle size (45–75µm) disperses well in both hot steam-frothed milk and cold milk bases when pre-mixed with a small amount of hot water. For RTD or cold-brew applications requiring faster dispersion, we offer a fine-milled variant and can advise on the optimal concentration ratio for your formulation target.
Significantly so. Bitterness in tea is driven primarily by catechins and tannins — both of which are substantially reduced during the high-temperature roasting process used to produce Hojicha. Independently conducted sensory panel tests consistently rate Hojicha at 20–30% of the bitterness intensity of comparable-concentration matcha. This isn't a marketing claim — it's a measurable chemical difference. We can provide sensory panel reports and catechin reduction data on request as part of our pre-order technical documentation package.
For standard Hojicha Powder (medium roast, standard particle size), our MOQ is 25 kg per order. For custom roast levels, particle sizes, or private label configurations, MOQ starts at 50 kg to allow for setup and quality verification. Trial sample orders (up to 500g) are available prior to commercial orders and include a full Certificate of Analysis. We encourage all new buyers to start with a sample evaluation before committing to production volume — it's the most reliable way to confirm our Hojicha meets your formulation requirements.
Yes — OEM and private label are core services, not add-ons. We support full custom roast level development, proprietary blend formulation, and private label packaging in a range of formats (stand-up pouches, flat-bottom bags, tins, and bulk packaging) with multilingual label design compliant with EU, US, and Asia-Pacific regulatory requirements. Our OEM clients typically go from initial brief to finished sample in 3–4 weeks, and from sample approval to first production shipment in 4–6 weeks depending on packaging lead times. Contact us with your brief and we'll provide a detailed project timeline and quotation.
Still have questions? Our team responds within 24 hours.
Ask Our Product TeamStart Your Matcha Partnership with a Reliable Source
We grow, process, and export our own matcha. No middlemen — which means better quality, more stable pricing, and a supply chain you can depend on season after season.
Thank you — a member of our team will respond within one business day.