Obsessed with Tea

A couple of postings ago, I used a tea from Kyoto to make cha-gayu.

Ho-ji cha ほうじ茶 (roasted green tea) is usually is considered as a lower grade of tea.The exception is when it comes from Kyoto. And, this one happens to be that exception!

Yum! This is soooo fragrant that I am constantly thinking of how I can utilize it in cooking.

So, I decided to go a bit Italian this time.... Ho-ji cha infused panna cotta!

Despite the infusion of the tea, the color of the panna cotta remained quite light, and the flecks of tea actually resemble scraped vanilla beans.

I didn't sweeten the panna cotta too much as I wanted to use a traditional Japanese sugar syrup as a sauce. Kuromitsu is a syrup made from unrefined sugar, (often from Okinawa) and is rich in minerals. Kind of like molasses. A homemade version would melt down chunks of brown sugar with a bit of water. However, I found a ready-made version at a Japanese grocery store. :-D

As I thought, the tea flavor held up nicely to the syrup. There is an almost cloying sweetness to this syrup, but the panna cotta has an afternote distinctly of the ho-ji cha!

I wonder what I should make with ho-ji cha next?

Or, maybe I'll just brew a cuppa and simply enjoy.