New Teas Inspired by Blue Pond in Hokkaido, Japan
Japan Today reports Kobe, Japan-based company Felissimo formulated a tea that represents the beauty of Biei-cho, Hokkaido’s famous Blue Pond. Hokkaido is Japan’s northernmost prefecture and one of the country’s five main islands.
The tea is a blend of jasmine flower and butterfly pea,which is known for its blue pigment and creates a the visual of a blue pond inone’s teacup.
Each tea bag contains .7 gram of tea and five tea bags arecontained in each packaged set. The product’s packaging has four depictions ofthe pond’s scenery along with images of a bird often seen in the vicinity ofthe Blue Pond, the Shimaenaga.
This tea, which the company calls "Tea time with Shimaenaga" can be purchased on the Felissimo’s online store.
Hojicha Co. Introduced Hojicha Kukitori
FoodIngredients First reports Hojicha Co. has added HojichaKukitori to its loose leaf collection.
The Toronto, Canada-based company is the first in NorthAmerica to specialize in Japanese roasted green tea, which originated in Kyoto,Japan about 100 years ago.
Tencha is typically ground into matcha, but in this case itis the main ingredient in hojicha. Hojicha Kukitori is produced from tencha grownon one small tea farm in Kyoto, Japan, including up to one month of shadecultivation, and then roasted in small batches. The green tea blend is and fullof naturally low-caffeinated tencha stems and has the added nutty flavor oftoasted pecans.
“Japanese roasted green tea has been around for a century,but its popularity has increased significantly over the past four years. Theflavor is currently used in a few hundred products, from beverages to sweet andsavory foods, mainly in Japan. Hojicha is slowly making its way to the West asconsumers are increasingly adopting Japanese consumer trends, and asrestaurants are looking to attract customers by introducing unique flavors,”Francois Mathieu Co-Founder of Hojicha Co. told FoodIngredientsFirst. Headded that there is room for additional innovation with hojicha.
Mathieu and his co-founder, Danielle Geva, intend to buildthe largest hojicha store in North America.