Being in Japan, I drink a lot of tea. Instead of prevailent soda, machines have tea and soda.. all kinds of teas, from oolong and chinese jasmine black teas to the famous japanese green teas. Tea is also seasonal. Right now houji cha is popular. You can read about it at wikiwikiwiki-pedia..
焙じ茶 （ほうじちゃ） - The origin comes from Kyoto during the Meiji era. Apparently a tea shop had a lot of extra tea leaves, due to an overabundance. But the tea was low quality and not so popular. So instead of throwing the tea away, he tried roasting it. To his suprise, it was delicious and became quite popular among the lower class.
Breaking down the elements..
焙る （ あぶる/ほうじ aburu) - to roast/burn < second reading is the chinese >
茶 （ ちゃ/ cha ) - tea
So together, it is roasted tea. This is why kanji is awesome.
Do to the fact that the tea is from the end of the season, it coincides with middle to end of summer here. So now houjicha is quite popular and enjoyable on a daily basis from your favorite conbini or machine
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