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THE HUNGRY HOURS

The LA hojicha map | After matcha, what are Angelenos drinking?

As matcha shops multiply, a new line has shown up at the bottom of the menu: hojicha. What it is, how it's different from matcha, where to drink it, and how to brew it at home.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

Key points

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  1. 01 | What is hojicha?

    A Japanese tea made by roasting green tea leaves or stems, often later-harvest bancha. Roasting turns it from green to brown, takes away the bitterness and adds nutty, cocoa and caramel notes; hojicha and houjicha are the same thing.

  2. 02 | Hojicha vs. matcha

    Matcha is shade-grown leaves ground into powder: fresh, grassy, a little bitter; hojicha is toasty, nutty, caramel. If matcha is your morning cup, hojicha is more like the afternoon one.

  3. 03 | How much caffeine is in hojicha, really?

    Brewed hojicha has about 20mg per 100ml, roughly like sencha; a cup of matcha is about 48mg. Gentler than matcha, but it's not water; if you're sensitive to caffeine or pregnant, ask your doctor first.

  4. 04 | The hojicha menu, translated

    The hojicha latte is the most common, the hojicha einspänner adds a thick layer of cream, and there's hojicha soft serve too; genmaicha is a roasty cousin. First time, order it hot with no sugar.

  5. 05｜Kettl

    My pick for the best matcha in LA has hojicha too. Their site describes the houjicha as toasted nuts, chocolate and kettle corn, and they have their own brewing guide.

  6. 06｜Damo

    The Infatuation called the hojicha einspänner 'a winner'; order it alongside the matcha einspänner to compare. There's also a Korean tea setting with a porcelain teapot and an hourglass, for sipping slowly.

  7. 07｜Monolith Coffee

    An exposed-concrete space in Alhambra with a seasonal menu, and every drink comes with a tasting card. The hojicha drink is called 'Still,' $12, and there's a hojicha chestnut financier; Wednesday to Sunday, 9 to 3.

  8. 08 | Koreatown hojicha street

    Stagger, Dumbstruck and Modu are all on The LA Local's hojicha list, and Document Coffee Bar's hojicha latte gets praise too. Koreatown is matcha's dessert street, and it's slowly becoming hojicha street too.

  9. 09 | Little Tokyo + the Chinatown end

    Tea Master's owner trained in the Edo Senke tea ceremony, open Wednesday to Sunday; Thank You Coffee in Elysian Park is on the list too. Finish your matcha, then walk a bit north for hojicha.

  10. 10｜Nana's Green Tea

    Started in Tokyo in 2001, and Old Pasadena became its first company-run US flagship in May 2026, all about matcha and hojicha, plus towering parfaits; it's on the same stretch of Raymond Ave as Miopane.

  11. 11 | Worth the drive

    Reinne's Place in Long Beach makes its iced hojicha latte with Kotaji oat milk, Trung Nguyen E-Coffee has a purple yam hojicha; Mundae in Whittier has a banana cream hojicha; Junia in Gardena is on the list too.

  12. 12 | Two cups on the Westside

    Soan by Sasabune Express in Palms pairs a hojicha latte with a fried chicken cutlet sandwich, good for a weekday work session; SACHI.LA in Del Rey is half coffee, half plant shop. The Westside doesn't have much hojicha, so remember these.

  13. 13 | Roasty cousins

    Genmaicha has a toasted rice note, kukicha is made from stems; Horang Tea House, new in Koreatown in 2026, brews 20-plus Korean grain teas in-house. Not hojicha, but if you love roasty flavors, you'll love it.

  14. 14 | Brewing hojicha at home (the Kettl way)

    6g of leaves, 220ml of water cooled to about 94°C (201°F), steep 45 seconds and strain completely. Hojicha is easier than matcha: no whisking, no worrying about bitterness; you can buy the leaves at Kettl and Café Matcha.

  15. 15 | Three hojicha routes

    Koreatown: Damo → Stagger → Dumbstruck → Modu → Horang; Eastside: Kettl → Thank You → Tea Master, Midori → Damo Arts District; SGV: Nana's → Mandarin → Monolith (before 3).

  16. 16 | Two-city mirror

    In Taipei, hojicha is the cup of hot tea served at the end of a Japanese meal; in LA, it's the new line at the bottom of the menu. 'In Taipei, a hot cup after dinner; in LA, the next wave after matcha.'

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An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).