Hojicha appeared on 17.6% more restaurant menus in the second quarter of 2026, according to Technomic — a sharp rate of growth from a very low baseline that signals the roasted green tea is moving from Japanese dinner houses into mainstream beverage programs.

The first significant chain test came from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. The Los Angeles-based chain, owned by Jollibee Foods Corporation and operating roughly 200 U.S. locations, introduced hojicha in August as a latte built with white chocolate powder and milk, served over ice or blended, with pumpkin syrup as an add-on. The drink is scheduled to run through Nov. 3 — a limited window that lets the company gauge demand without a permanent menu commitment.

Black Sheep Coffee followed in September. The U.K.-based chain, which operates a handful of U.S. locations in Texas and Florida, added a vanilla hojicha latte. Van Leeuwen, the multi-unit ice cream shop headquartered in New York City, has worked the tea into its vegan frozen desserts. Tous Les Jours, a South Korean bakery concept with around 200 domestic units, has offered hojicha as a latte as well.

For operators, the ingredient's appeal is operational as much as culinary. Hojicha is made from mature leaves, twigs and stems of the tea plant rather than the tender buds used for matcha — raw material that is inherently cheaper to source and harvest. Roasting produces a toasty, nutty, sometimes smoky flavor profile that stands up to dairy, sweeteners and syrups, the same formulation flexibility that let matcha scale from ceremonial beverage to latte base, pastry ingredient and cocktail component across American menus.

The menu engineering playbook is already visible at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, where hojicha arrives as a premium latte variant with a seasonal syrup attachment rather than as a plain brewed tea. Traditionally hojicha is consumed plain, without dairy or sweetener — but matcha took the same route from tradition to sweetened, syrup-mixed, baked applications, and the market followed.

The tea's low caffeine content is itself a merchandising angle. It positions hojicha as an afternoon and after-dinner drink, extending dayparts where coffee-heavy chains otherwise struggle to sell beverages. On its own, the tea carries essentially no calories and offers antioxidants, giving operators a better-for-you callout before dairy and sweeteners enter the recipe.

The flavor profile also opens bar programs. Its smokiness pairs naturally with mezcal and scotch, and its aromatics align with gin, making hojicha a candidate for digestive-style cocktails and low-caffeine evening service.

The growth is real but small. A 17.6% quarterly increase means little in absolute terms when the starting penetration is minimal, and two of the chains testing the ingredient — Black Sheep Coffee and Van Leeuwen — operate at limited scale in the U.S. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's limited-time run, ending Nov. 3, will offer the clearest early signal of whether hojicha can follow matcha's trajectory from niche to chain staple.