On the black tea shelf, a few packets are marked roasted. Putting tea to the fire looks much as it does for hojicha. But the leaf has been made differently before it ever reaches the roaster.

What follows separates the heat black tea already meets from the finishing roast, and follows two tea farms' words for sweetness and aroma.

Black tea already knows fire

Pinch black tea leaf and it is crisp and dry. Black tea is not a tea that has never met heat.

Making black tea includes a drying step. One tea farm's account says hot air is used to stop the oxidising enzymes and dry the leaf. So reading the roast in roasted black tea as its first contact with heat is not accurate. The roasted black teas here are finished black teas given another fire.

Separate the step that advances oxidation, the step that dries, and the roast that changes the aroma, and differences appear that heated-or-not cannot show. The sources support reading the steps apart, and no more. First, one farm's description.

Still black tea after the roast

Read the packet's description and the words for aroma and for aftertaste stand apart. The roast, it says, leaves the character of black tea in place.

One tea farm offers a roasted black tea made from summer-picked leaf. Its description gives a rich sweetness and a roasted aroma, and also the clean aftertaste it calls typical of its black tea. That it is sweet when cold-brewed is the farm's own claim as well.

The roasted aroma is not made to carry the whole flavour. The description separates the first impression from the aftertaste and keeps the black tea character after roasting. Read roasting as something that makes every leaf taste alike, and this account slips away. These are the farm's words and no more; next, a black tea roasted hard.

Fruit words after a strong fire

The description of a hard-roasted black tea mentions peach and grape. A scorched smell is not the only place roasting can lead.

Another tea farm sells a summer-picked black tea given a strong roast. It says the strong roast draws out a sweet aroma and makes a fruity tea. Before roasting the tea drinks clean, it says, and afterwards it is weightier and softer.

Peach and grape are comparisons to convey the aroma. They do not mean fruit was added, nor that every roasted black tea smells the same. The sources describe one product, nothing more. Next, where it parts from hojicha.

The parting comes before the roast

Set green leaf beside black tea leaf and the difference in colour shows at a glance. What separates hojicha from roasted black tea comes before any roasting.

A large tea maker describes hojicha as sencha, bancha, stem tea and the like, roasted over a strong fire. The two products here roast black tea instead, made by letting oxidation run. Green tea is heated early to stop the enzymes, black tea is allowed to oxidise, and so they start from different places.

A shared roasting step does not run black tea's oxidation backwards into green tea. Checking what was roasted lets the two share a shelf while keeping their difference. The sources speak to the order of making, and no further. Last, how to take apart the word sweet.

A sweet smell, a sweet taste

Raising the cup to the nose and taking a sip bring different things. The single word sweet can be read as aroma, taste and aftertaste.

Product descriptions line up words like sweet aroma, sweetness and aftertaste. What the nose picks up, the impression in the mouth and what lingers after the last sip happen in different places. Written down separately, what was bundled into one sweet comes into focus.

The flavour words here are the farms' own, not judgements the association tasted and confirmed. Finding the description's exact words is not the right answer. The pleasure of an unfamiliar tea lies in comparing where the differences fell. The figures and where they come from are gathered at the end.

The numbers in detail

Black tea drying
That hot air stops the oxidising enzymes and dries the leaf comes from The Tea Crane.
Senrei's roasted tea
Senrei, in Kamikawa, Hyogo, offers Roasted Black Tea made from summer-picked black tea.
Senrei's words
Rich sweetness, a roasted aroma and a fresh, clean aftertaste. That it is sweet when cold-brewed is also the company's claim.
Yamamotoen's tea
Hoji Kaori Kocha, from Makinohara Yamamotoen in Shizuoka, is summer-picked Benifuuki given a roast.
Yamamotoen's aroma
The farm says a strong roast draws out a sweet aroma, finishing as a fruity tea with notes like peach and grape.
Hojicha defined
The description of hojicha as sencha, bancha, stem tea and the like roasted over high heat comes from Ito En.