What roasters watch for when they stop the fire

Chapter 9 · 2 of 4 sections readable now

An illustration symbolically showing deeply roasted tea stems and leaves, with glowing charcoal placed separately.

Colour, sound, aroma or time: we ask roasters which one tells them to stop the fire.

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A Kyoto tea merchant: a strong fire, a light roast

“Roasted over high heat” and “dark roast” do not mean the same thing. This piece separates three words, the heat, the finish and the raw leaf, through a merchant who roasts one material two ways.

“High heat” on the front of a bag calls up a dark cup. Yet even in an old tea town known for strong fire, there is stem tea roasted only lightly.

What follows reads the words on the bag again, keeping the heat, the finish and the raw leaf apart.

Three words on the bag

Turn the bag over and the words line up: “high heat”, “light roast”, “karigane”. High heat is the roasting operation; dark roast names the finish.

Karigane is the raw material, and the words on a bag fall into these three layers. A merchant who describes roasting over strong fire also writes that handling it takes real skill. Strong fire does not hand everyone the same aroma.

A stated heat says nothing certain about the leaf or the course of the roast. The sources go as far as showing the words can be read in layers. Next comes one material roasted two ways.

One stem tea, two ways

Fine stem tea sits divided between two bags. The material is the same, but the roast sends it in two directions.

Karigane is the stem tea separated out when gyokuro or sencha is made. One merchant roasts it slowly into a dark tea with a strong roasted aroma. The same shop also roasts it lightly over gentler heat, so the roast and the stem can both be tasted.

What differs is how the aroma of the material and the aroma of the roast are meant to come across. The sources speak only for each shop, not for a whole region's roasting. The reason for roasting two ways lies in how fire changes aroma.

The four sections that remain follow aromas that rise and fall with heat, why a dark colour and a favourite aroma are checked apart, and why an old tea town has no single heat. Shops and sources close the piece.

The rest of this article is for members.

Membership is available in Japanese. It takes an email address and a password, and it is free.

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Sources

Updated 17 October 2026This section on its own page

03Members only

A hojicha specialist: from the roast to the packet

A hojicha specialist's work does not stop at the roast. This piece follows three shops' accounts in process order: small batches, letting the heat go, and sealing the tea while still warm.

An illustration of a craftsperson’s hands spreading roasted tea across a shallow tray.

On a shop shelf stand bags of hojicha, their mouths sealed tight. “Carefully roasted” alone does not show the work inside.

What follows reads the accounts of Hinosabo, Nippon Chachacha and Kobayashi Shoten in order: quantity, heat, cooling and packing.

A little at a time, to the core

Open a bag of stem hojicha and the light stems rustle. A specialist's work does not stop at the roast.

Hinosabo says it roasts carefully in small batches. Nippon Chachacha's Rincha is also described as roasted a little at a time with far-infrared heat. There, the small batch is the amount that lets heat reach evenly to the core of the stems.

Both speak of quantity, but that alone does not make the two methods the same. The sources go as far as why each chose its amount. Next comes the time after the tea leaves the heat.

After it comes off the heat

Leaf just off the heat still holds its warmth. After the roast, the work of cooling and packing goes on.

Hinosabo says it moves freshly roasted tea straight into a refrigerator to take off the first heat. While the tea is still warm, it goes into a highly airtight bag and is sealed. Roasting, cooling and sealing form one run.

The stages the three shops describe overlap only in part. The sources go as far as the stages written down; one left unwritten cannot be read as one left undone. Next comes roasting by hand.

The four sections that remain look at roasting by hand, what each shop stresses once their accounts are set in process order, and why a making story and a shop's visitor notes are kept apart. Sources close the piece.

The rest of this article is for members.

Membership is available in Japanese. It takes an email address and a password, and it is free.

Open the Japanese membership page

Sources

Updated 17 October 2026This section on its own page

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