Does hojicha contain caffeine? It is a fair question, and this article answers it only with what Japanese public bodies have published. It sets out the figure, and the conditions under which the figure was measured, and stops there. Judgements that depend on your own constitution or health are not made here. We stop just short of the judgement, on purpose.
The figure and its brewing conditions belong together
The page on caffeine published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries gives hojicha, as an infusion, at 0.02 g per 100 mL — that is, 20 mg per 100 mL. The same page gives the infusion method: 15 g of leaf, 650 mL of water at 90°C, 0.5 minutes. Number and conditions are always written as a pair.
Remember only the number and the conditions drop away. If the weight of leaf, the volume of water, the temperature or the time changes, the figure cannot be carried across unchanged. The component values for teas in that table have their origin in the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan 2020 (eighth revised edition). The year the page was made and the edition year of the component values are two different things, and it is worth keeping them apart.
'It cannot be stated in general terms'
The Food Safety Commission of Japan explains that the amount of caffeine differs according to the kind and quantity of the raw materials used and the extraction method, so that it cannot be stated in general terms. A bottled drink bought in a shop, or a pot brewed at home, will not necessarily match the value in the composition table. Different conditions, different value — that is the whole of the explanation.
In a separate issue, the same commission states that sensitivity to caffeine varies greatly between individuals, which makes it difficult to assess the effects on health accurately, and that for this reason no acceptable daily intake (ADI) has been set internationally either. The variation between people is placed first, ahead of any figure. No ADI, or upper limit, has been set, but the same passage also introduces intake guidance figures used by bodies overseas. An ADI and a guidance figure are not the same thing.
What this article does not say
That is the full extent of what can be read from these documents. That hojicha is caffeine-free; that every product contains the same amount; that a certain number of cups is fine — none of this appears in the sources cited here, so none of it appears here either. Where something is not written, we do not write it. The gaps stay as gaps rather than being filled in.
If you are pregnant, buying for a child, or have any concern about how caffeine affects you, please consult official guidance, such as that published by the Food Safety Commission of Japan. The association's part is to hand over the figure and the conditions it was measured under, accurately, and to leave it in a form you can act on. What follows from there belongs to specialists.
How to read a figure like this
If there is one habit worth taking from these documents, it is to read a figure together with the conditions printed next to it. The ministry's page does not give 20 mg per 100 mL on its own; it gives the weight of leaf, the volume and temperature of the water, and the time. The commission, for its part, does not give a number at all where it judges that the range is too wide to state in general terms, and it says why.
That is why this article keeps the figure, the conditions and the reasons together, in the same order the sources put them in. Quoting the number alone would make it look steadier than the sources themselves claim it is.