Hojicha Ice Cream (Printable)

Creamy Japanese-style frozen dessert featuring roasted green tea with nutty, caramel notes and elegant custard base.

# What You Need:

→ Dairy

01 - 2 cups heavy cream
02 - 1 cup whole milk

→ Tea

03 - 3 tablespoons hojicha loose leaf tea or 4 hojicha tea bags

→ Egg Mixture

04 - 4 large egg yolks
05 - 2/3 cup granulated sugar
06 - Pinch of fine sea salt

# How To Make It:

01 - In a saucepan, combine milk and heavy cream. Heat over medium until steaming but not boiling.
02 - Add hojicha tea to heated dairy mixture. Reduce heat to low, cover, and steep for 10 minutes.
03 - Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve, pressing tea leaves to extract maximum flavor. Return infused liquid to saucepan.
04 - In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, and salt until pale and slightly thickened.
05 - Slowly pour approximately 1 cup of warm hojicha mixture into yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.
06 - Pour tempered yolk mixture back into saucepan with remaining hojicha-infused dairy.
07 - Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon, approximately 170 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
08 - Strain custard into a clean bowl. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until completely chilled.
09 - Transfer chilled custard to ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions until reaching soft-serve consistency.
10 - Transfer churned ice cream to an airtight freezer container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

# Expert Suggestions:

01 -
  • It tastes like you spent hours perfecting it, but the actual hands-on work is surprisingly gentle and forgiving.
  • Hojicha has this caramel-like complexity that makes people pause mid-bite and ask what that incredible flavor is.
  • You can make it completely from scratch without any fancy ingredients or equipment beyond a basic ice cream maker.
02 -
  • The custard coating on the spoon test is genuinely important—undercooking leaves it grainy, overcooking makes it scrambled, so use a thermometer if you're uncertain (170 to 175°F is your target).
  • Don't skip the 4-hour chill before churning; rushing this step results in ice cream that won't freeze properly and tastes slightly watery instead of creamy.
03 -
  • Use a kitchen thermometer when cooking the custard—it removes the guesswork and guarantees silky results every single time.
  • Make this ice cream a day or two before you plan to serve it; the flavor deepens and the texture becomes even more luxurious when given time in the freezer.
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