Iced Hojicha with Cinnamon (Printable Version)

A cooling Japanese fusion drink combining roasted hojicha tea with milk and cinnamon spice.

# What You Need:

→ Tea

01 - 2 tablespoons hojicha loose leaf tea or 2 hojicha tea bags
02 - 2 cups water

→ Dairy and Sweetener

03 - 1 cup milk, dairy or plant-based such as oat or almond milk
04 - 1 to 2 teaspoons honey or simple syrup, optional, adjust to taste

→ Garnish

05 - 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling
06 - Ice cubes as needed

# How To Make It:

01 - Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add hojicha tea leaves or tea bags, reduce heat and steep for 5 minutes.
02 - Strain the tea into a heatproof pitcher and allow to cool to room temperature. For quicker chilling, refrigerate for 10 minutes.
03 - Fill two glasses with ice cubes.
04 - Pour cooled hojicha tea over the ice, filling each glass halfway.
05 - Stir in milk and sweetener to taste.
06 - Sprinkle ground cinnamon over each glass and stir gently.
07 - Garnish with an extra pinch of cinnamon on top and serve immediately.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • It tastes like a café drink but takes barely five minutes, which means you can make it on any weekday without fussing.
  • Hojicha has this gentle, almost nutty flavor that doesn't need much—just milk and a whisper of cinnamon to feel complete.
02 -
  • Don't use boiling hot water directly on the tea leaves—it can make hojicha taste bitter and destroy the delicate roasted flavor that makes it special.
  • If you're using loose leaf tea and don't have a strainer, a fine mesh sieve or even a coffee filter works in a pinch, and it changes nothing about the final taste.
03 -
  • Make a big batch of hojicha tea in the morning and keep it in the fridge—you can pour iced drinks all week without the daily brewing step.
  • If you want it frothy like a proper café drink, warm your milk gently before frothing, and the bubbles will hold better and taste creamier than cold milk foam.
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