The perfectionist in me would have ideally loved to have a new post each day of October, but alas, here I am already 42 minutes after midnight. Not off to the best start, but at least it’s a start!
The first drink of my thirty day book as a bev series is a black sesame hojicha latte inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A classic literature novel that most have had the chance to read fully, or in part, at some point during their school years.
I have a brother who will be indulging in the creations I make, so I’ve made a double portion of the drink but have included the ratios for both an individual and a pair should anyone wish to try and recreate this.
I’ve decided to give each drink a fun alliterative name. Whether I’m able to do so for all thirty remains to be seen. This beverage’s name is:
‘the bird’s bancha’
Name Explained: The bird is pretty straightforward and comes from the novel’s title directly. The latter bancha comes from the drink’s ingredient: hojicha, which is the result of roasting bancha leaves.
Hojicha: I’m an avid hojicha drinker so coming up with this on the fly wasn’t too difficult. I felt like the hojicha’s brown hue when mixed with a milk would be a close color match to the brown on my edition of TKaM. I used an almond milk because hojicha has a nice nutty flavor profile and I figured the two would complement each other.
Cold foam: The black sesame cold foam came out rather well if I do say so myself. I didn’t want the foam to turn gray which is often the case when black sesame is used, so I opted to grind the black sesame seeds freshly and added that to the foam as opposed to using a paste. That helped the resulting color remain a close match to the moon that’s also on the book’s cover.
Black Sesame: To incorporate some of that black color on the trees also on the cover I ended up using some of the extra black sesame seeds as a garnish.
RATING: Overall I’d give the drink a solid 4.75.
Flavor Combination: The black sesame and hojicha were very harmonious with one another and worked as a flavor combo. You could taste each of them individually without one masking the other.
Ease: It was fairly easy to make, the only thing that could make it simpler would be buying pre-ground black sesame powder instead of grinding it as I did. Additionally, one needn’t whisk the hojicha, that’s something I did because I was going off of matcha muscle memory where it’s ideal to whisk the matcha with warm water prior to drinking.
Appearance: I feel like the three colors I selected off of the cover were represented well in the final drink, but there could have been some more black, perhaps in the base of the beverage. So for that reason, I won’t give full marks for the appearance.
Ways to Improve: The resulting drink was a tad sweeter than I’m comfortable with, but I still enjoyed it. The only change I’d make going forward would be to reduce the amount of agave a bit.
Here’s the spreadsheet for all of the tools and ingredients used:
I’ve also provided the information below for added ease~
Mason Jar (exact): https://amzn.to/4gVriDU
Almond Milk (exact): https://amzn.to/46VUJRz
Ice Tray (exact): https://amzn.to/3WnZnTq
Hojicha (exact): https://amzn.to/3IuiA2N
Chawan/Tea Bowl (exact): https://amzn.to/3ItYZzJ
Heavy Whipping Cream (exact): https://www.publix.com/pd/publix-whipping-cream-heavy/RIO-PCI-112684
Whole Milk (exact): https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-whole-milk-from-grass-fed-cows-2-of-8-assets-063768
Black Sesame Seeds (close alternative): https://amzn.to/42pJn77
Agave (exact): https://amzn.to/3KzWfkO
Vanilla Syrup (exact): https://amzn.to/3VOBzrS
Frother (exact): https://amzn.to/48JyIYD
Here’s a quick video showing how I made the drinks:
Thanks for reading! I’m looking forward to sharing more of the drinks that I come up with.
~ C.C.
aureate & aromatic 
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