Why is this
green tea brown?

The field notes

A brown tea.
A green-tea beginning.

Hojicha can look brown in the packet and amber in your cup. It still belongs to the green-tea family. Its story includes two separate uses of heat: early processing, then an extra roast.

1. Start with dried green tea

   Already processed, ready for roasting

   Sencha and bancha are examples of green teas used to make hojicha. Our film starts with dried tea, rather than fresh leaves straight from the plant.

2. Add the roast

   Brown leaves and a toasty aroma

   Further roasting changes the dry tea’s appearance and develops its characteristic roasted aroma. This later step explains the familiar brown hojicha in our illustration.

3. Steep, then pour

   From roasted leaves to an amber cup

   Hot water takes on flavor from the loose tea. Pour the infusion through a strainer, leaving the leaves behind.

Next time you meet a tea, look beyond its color. What steps brought it to your cup?

Read the narration Full video transcript

Why is this green tea brown? Meet hojicha, a roasted Japanese green tea.

The story starts with dried green tea, such as sencha or bancha.

Those leaves were heated early in processing, limiting oxidation. That keeps them in the green-tea family.

Then comes an extra step: roasting.

As the dry tea roasts, its color shifts toward brown, and a toasty aroma develops.

Once roasted, the tea is ready to steep. Add hot water, and flavor moves from the leaves into the water.

Pour the amber tea into your cup, leaving the leaves behind.

Here, green describes the tea’s processing family, not the color in your cup.

Follow the leaves · Sources

1. Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesGreen-tea processing and hojicha made by roasting teas such as sencha or bancha (Japanese).
2. Ippodo TeaA producer’s loose-leaf hojicha example: roasted green tea, amber liquor, steeping and serving.

A process overview of loose-leaf hojicha, not a roasting or brewing recipe. Sources checked October 28, 2026.