Treat yourself to a nice cup of warm hojicha latte. It’s smoky and milky. Whole milk is our choice here since hojicha is light compared to black tea, but you can use your favorite–almond milk, soy milk…
Simple finger sandwiches are fun to make. For both egg salad and tuna salad, chopped onion is essential for the crunch and the kick. If you don’t like raw onion, you can skip it or substitute it with chopped celery (increase the amount of chopped celery for the tuna salad).

Another key is Japanese mayonnaise. It’s a little bit more sour compared to American ones. For the tuna salad, some ketchup is added for sweetness.

Invite your friends for a casual afternoon tea!

Hojicha Latte (2 servings):

• 2cups whole milk
• 3-4 tea spoons loose leaf hojicha (or 2 teabags)
• sugar to taste

Directions:

1. In a small pan, pour milk and put the hojicha leaves
2. Heat the milk over medium heat, covered. Just before a boil, turn down the heat to low and let it simmer gently for 4-5 minutes
3. Add sugar to taste and remove from heat. Strain into cups

Egg Salad Sandwiches (2 servings):

• 2 eggs
• 1 Table spoon chopped onions
• 1 Table spoon nonpareil capers, drained
• 2 Table spoons mayonnaise (preferably Japanese mayonnaise)
• 1 tea spoon finely chopped parsley
• 4 thin slices of bread

Directions:

1. Gently put eggs in a small pan. Pour water to cover the eggs and put the pan over medium heat, covered.
2. When the water comes to a full boil, remove from heat and let it sit for 7 minutes.
3. Peal the eggs. Remove all the shell.
4. In a small bowl, put the boiled eggs and with the back of a fork, smash the eggs into small pieces.
5. Add onions and capers to the eggs. Add mayonnaise and parsley and mix.
6. Put half of the egg mix onto a bread and put another bread on top. Do the same with another set of the bread.
7. Stack the sandwiches and cut off the crust. Cut the sandwiches in four.

Tuna Sandwiches (2 servings)

• 1 can of tuna in oil, 5 oz, drained
•  1 Tablespoon chopped onion
• 1 Tablespoon chopped celery
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon mayonnaise (preferably Japanese mayonnaise)
• 1 Tablespoon ketchup
• 4 thin slices of bread

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Put half of the tuna mix onto a bread and put another bread on top. Do the same with another set of the bread.
3. Stack the sandwiches and cut off the crust. Cut the sandwiches in four.