This is the Hōjicha Strawberry Milk Tea in Wuyi Dahongpao ($9.50; less ice, little sugar) from Tea & Co, featuring dark-roasted hōjicha and strawberry compote in Wuyi Da Hong Pao milk tea.
The beverage presented with a layered appearance, with deep red strawberry compote at the base, followed by the light tan hue of the Wuyi Da Hong Pao milk tea, and finally the deep brown-grey of the hōjicha at the top.
Mixed well, initial contact delivered a smooth, dark-roasted hōjicha profile. Through the mid-palate, the rich sweetness of the strawberry jam emerged with a soft, pulpy purée consistency, adding textural interest while deepening the roasted hōjicha notes into a strawberry-chocolate-like pairing. Towards the finish, the floral orchid notes of the Wuyi Da Hong Pao came to the fore, leaving its characteristic long-lasting sweet aftertaste. This complemented the progression from dark roast to strawberry sweetness and finally the floral lift of the tea.
Some strawberry pieces were too large to pass through the straw and needed to be consumed at the end, disrupting the otherwise integrated texture. Despite little sugar being requested, the strawberry compote was the chief driver of sweetness, and a reorder would be better with no added sweetness.
Overall, a layered milk tea with a converging roasted-to-sweet-to-floral flavour trajectory and integrated pulpy texture, resulting in a well-defined progression between the three flavour components.
This Hōjicha Strawberry Milk Tea in Wuyi Dahongpao was purchased from Tea & Co in Sydney, Australia in September 2026.