Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha

Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha from Japan steeps smooth and mellow with roasted sweetness balanced by cedar wood smoke. This cozy roasted green tea is smoked over cedar wood from Yakushima Island, where ancient cedar forests have stood for centuries. The smoky quality is light, but the roasted nature is forward and well-integrated.

This innovative tea comes from Kaneroku Matsumoto Tea Garden in Shimada, Shizuoka, where third-generation tea farmer Hiroki Matsumoto pioneered the first smoked black tea in Japan. When Matsumoto began experimenting with smoking tea over a decade ago, this category didn't exist in Japanese tea culture. He was inspired by Chinese Lapsang Souchong but determined to create something distinctly Japanese using native woods.

His family has cultivated tea on the Makinohara Plateau since the 1870s using the UNESCO-designated Chagusaba farming method, where hand-harvested grasses are laid between tea rows to enrich the soil and support biodiversity. Today, Matsumoto produces more than a dozen varieties of smoked tea using woods like whisky barrel oak, hinoki cypress, yuzu, and apple. This Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha earned a gold prize at the 2018 Japan Tea Festival, reflecting international recognition of his innovative approach to traditional Japanese tea.