Hojicha is a roasted green tea that has been popular as an everyday tea in Japan. Although it’s a green tea, the color of leaves and brewed tea are orange/brown. Hojicha has a distinct sweet and nutty aroma, and it tastes mild and smooth. With less caffeine content than a regular green tea, it’s a wonderful tea to drink any time of the day.

Even though hojicha sweets are not as well known as matcha desserts, we started to see more hojicha infused baked goods lately. Here we made Hojicha Shortbread Cookies (ほうじ茶ショートブレッドクッキー) with just 4-ingredients. The flavor is similar to early grey tea cookies, but the fragrance of roasted green tea comes through, and it tastes really nice. You can make the cookie dough ahead of time and keep it in the freezer if you like. It’s perfect for sharing, or you can bake a dozen now and another dozen later. If you like our Matcha Cookies, you should give this a try!