Maple is my first love when it comes to sweeteners in lattes, but I’m open to others when it means I can create more fun tea drinks! Caramel sauce is something I’ve been wanting to experiment in tea for a while as its very popular in coffee based drinks. When I was brainstorming tea options hojicha was an easy decision because it is known for its coffee-like characteristics and even caramel undertones. The inspiration for this salted caramel hojicha latte was right under my nose! Caramel and sea salt come together to take this roasted Japanese green tea to the next level. Topped with frothed milk, more caramel and sea salt, this is such a treat for your taste buds.
What is Hojicha?
Hojicha is a roasted Japanese green tea. To make hojicha, usually steamed green teas like sencha or bancha are roasted.
Although hojicha is a green tea the flavours are much different than what you might be expecting. It’s not grassy or bitter but instead rich with toasty notes.
This tea is also a great tea for the late afternoon or evening because it has low caffeine when compared to other green teas.
Hojicha Loose Leaf vs. Powder
Hojicha can come in two forms — loose leaf or powder.
Loose leaf is used to make tea like you would other teas. Once the green teas leaves are roasted those leaves become hojicha and can be steeped.
You can actually make your own hojicha at home. Learn more here.
To make hojicha powder, the roasted loose leaf tea leaves are ground until very fine. Hojicha powder is mainly used to make lattes or as an ingredient in baked goods and other recipes. Similar to matcha, it can be whisked into a hot tea as well though.
Hojicha powder is stronger than just steeping the loose leaf teas. You can make lattes with hojicha loose leaf, but lattes with hojicha powder is best when you want a more rich flavour.
Find the best hojicha powders online here.
Quick Salted Caramel Recipe
Caramel sauce can be made from scratch following this recipe here. However, in this tea latte recipe I used a store bought caramel sauce that you can usually find in the baking or dessert aisles of a grocery store.
To turn the caramel sauce into salted caramel, a pinch sea salt is added in the latte. To keep on theme though and take it a step above, hojicha salt is used.
How to Make Hojicha Salt
Check out this super quick recipe for how to make green tea salt (2 ways — 1 being hojicha!)
Tips for Making Salted Caramel Hojicha Latte
– For a stronger, more rich latte make sure you use hojicha powder, not loose leaf.
– Start with very little salt (a pinch!). When creating this recipe a few months ago, I had to toss out a few lattes. An incredibly salty tea latte is not something you want to drink. You can always add more salt after your first sip if you feel like you used too little.
– You can use just plain sea salt for this recipe if you don’t want to make hojicha salt.
How to Make a Salted Caramel Hojicha Latte
This salted caramel latte recipe serves 1 but you can easily multiply the ingredients to make more. This is an excellent tea latte to serve to coffee drinkers, too!
Here is what you will need:
1 teaspoon hojicha powder
1/2 cup hot water (~90 degrees Celsius)
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoon caramel sauce
pinch of hojicha salt
extra caramel sauce & hojicha salt, for garnish
Directions:
1. Sift hojicha powder in a mug or tea bowl. This will help make sure there are no clumps in your latte. Whisk the hojicha powder in hot water and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan on the stove, heat milk, caramel sauce and hojicha salt until combined and warm.
3. Remove from heat. Using a handheld frother or another device, froth the warm milk until it has doubled in volume.
4. Pour the frothed salted caramel milk in the mug of hojicha until full. Drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle a smidgen of hojicha salt on top. Enjoy!
Salted Caramel Hojicha Latte
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon hojicha powder
- 1/2 cup hot water under boiling, ~90 degrees Celsius
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoon caramel sauce
- pinch of hojicha salt
- extra caramel sauce & hojicha salt for garnish
Instructions
- Sift hojicha powder in a mug or tea bowl. Whisk in hot water. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan on the stove, heat milk, caramel sauce and hojicha salt until combined and warm.
- Remove from heat. Using a handheld frother or another device, froth the warm milk until it has doubled in volume.
- Add the frothed salted caramel milk to the mug of hojicha. Drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle a smidgen of hojicha salt* on top. Enjoy/serve immediately!
Notes
Like this Salted Caramel Hojicha Latte? Pin the recipe for later here —> https://bit.ly/3stOkrX
Have you tried salted caramel with tea before? Share your experiences in the comments below!
Such a fine beverage for this time of year…in wintery Florida…but it IS colder than the rest of year so warm lattes sound great. I have yet to try powder Hojicha. I didn’t really care of the loose leaf that, but I could come around. However, I am cooking with a green tea today. Going to steep some black rice in a green blend from Bird and Blend. It is similar to Genmaicha but has some cardamon and licorice in it. I think it will be good.
Best,
Geri