On September 25th, the ramen shop "Niboshikeisha" (Motoderamachi, Hirosaki City) began offering ramen using hojicha from the Japanese tea specialty store "Meicha no Gyokuundo" (Tamachi).

The collaboration ramen between Niboshi Keisha, which mainly offers dried sardines ramen, and Gyokuundo, which has been in business for over 50 years, is called ``Hojicha Flavored Niboshi Soba (Soba),'' which is served in a soup made with hojicha.

The idea began when Ryuji Kamata, the manager of Niboshikeisha, approached Daisuke Kimura of Gyokuundo, who was a regular customer of the store. Gyokuundo offers Kaga's bar hojicha. Mr. Kamata turns hojicha into powder and uses it as a seasoning for soups and other dishes. Mr. Kimura praised the ramen, saying, ``I sampled the ramen, and it retains the aroma of roasted green tea, while showing the quality of the dried sardines and ingredients.''

Mr. Kamata said, ``Last year, I served ramen with Earl Gray tea, so I was confident that I could make it with Japanese tea as well.It turned out to be a product I'm proud of.''

According to Kimura, this is the first collaboration with a ramen restaurant and collaboration using tea as a seasoning for Gyokuundo since its founding. "I'm happy that tea is being used in a new way," says Kimura.

The price is 1,000 yen. They are also developing a ``Roasted Tea Flavored Jaga White Soup (Paitan)'' using roasted green tea, potatoes, scallops, oysters, etc., as well as a curry using roasted green tea.