The Hojicha Old Fashioned: Roasted Tea and a Mist of Laphroaig

The Old Fashioned is the oldest template there is. Spirit, sugar, bitters, ice. There is nowhere to hide in it, which is why every bar has a version and most of them are forgettable.

Ours runs on Japanese single grain and roasted tea, and the part people ask about is the last thing that happens to it.

Hojicha Is Not Green Tea Doing an Impression

Hojicha is Japanese green tea roasted over high heat until it turns brown. That roast is not a finishing touch, it changes the leaf.

The grassy, vegetal side that defines sencha or matcha burns off. What replaces it is toasted and nutty, closer to roasted grain than to anything you would call green. The roast also drives off a lot of the caffeine, which is why hojicha is what gets served to children and late at night in Japan.

For a whisky drink that matters, because the flavours it lands on are the flavours a barrel already puts there. Roasted tea and aged grain are pointed the same direction.

The Build

The base is Sato Shiki Single Grain, which is mellow and rounded and does not fight anything. That is what you want underneath tea. A loud, tannic whisky would flatten it.

Hojicha goes in as an infusion, so it is not a syrup sitting on top of the drink. It is part of the spirit by the time it reaches the glass.

The Laphroaig Is Not an Ingredient

The last step is a mist of Laphroaig 10 sprayed over the surface.

Laphroaig is Islay, and it is aggressively peated. Poured into this drink in any real quantity it would take the whole thing over and you would be drinking smoke with a hint of tea. Sprayed, it never joins the liquid at all. It sits on top as aroma, and you get it in your nose before the glass reaches your mouth.

This is the same trick as the grapefruit twist on our Red Dragon Juice, and it works for the same reason. Some things belong above the drink rather than in it. Put smoke in the liquid and it is a smoky cocktail. Put it in the air over the liquid and it is a warm, nutty, tea-driven Old Fashioned that smells like a bonfire for a second before you taste it.

When to Drink It

Autumn, honestly. It is a cold-weather drink and we bring it back when the weather turns.

It sits well against the heavier end of the menu, the braised and grilled things rather than the raw and citrus ones. If you are eating kakuni or yakitori with tare on it, this is the glass for that.

Ask for it at the bar when it is on. If you like an Old Fashioned but find most of them a bit one-note, this is the argument for the format.