Hojicha – Fashion Storyteller

Hello everyone! I hope this blog post finds you and your loved ones safe, healthy and well, during this time. <3

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In today’s blog post, I am sharing my experience of making tea-infused mochi! Mochi is a delicious treat that pairs well with a cup of tea. When I saw that Paragon Tea Room came out with The Mochi Set, I couldn’t resist purchasing one and testing it out. I am not a big baker though, so I was a bit nervous. Michelle, the owner of Paragon Tea Room assured me that the recipe (included in the set) was “dummy proof” and making mochi is surprisingly easy!

Last Saturday, I decided to to put my baking skills to the test and use The Mochi Set (you might have seen my Instagram stories of the experience)! If you would like to see a closer look at how my experience went, make sure to grab a cup of tea and let’s get started!

What is Mochi?

Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice, water, sugar and cornstarch. Mochi is typically flavoured with green tea and/or filled with a sweetened bean paste. This makes it a delicious vegan and gluten free treat.

What does Mochi taste like?

Mochi has a dough-like texture and makes me think of a gummy candy/marshmallow type dessert. It has a starch after-taste.

If you have had mochi before, how would you describe the taste?

The Mochi Set | Paragon Tea

Your mochi dream comes true! This set is inspired by all of your creativity! In this set, you will be introduced to making your own TEA-INFUSED mochi with a side of tea dip at home.
– Paragon Tea Room

The Mochi Set from Paragon Tea Room comes with nearly all the ingredients you need to make 6 servings of mochi. The set includes:

Three Types of Tea Powders:

Paragon Tea Room‘s Baking Matcha
Paragon Tea Room‘s Hojicha Powder
Paragon Tea Room‘s Genmaicha Powder

It also includes:

Paragon Tea Room‘s Glutinous Rice Flour mix
Kingsford’s Corn Starch
Earth’s Own Oat “Mylk”
Paragon Tea Room‘s mochi and mochi dip recipes

The set comes inside a rectangular box and is well packaged. Even Ella was curious about what was inside!

Following the Recipe |
Matcha-Infused Mochi

After reading over the recipe, I decided to make a matcha-infused mochi and a matcha-infused dip.

I found both recipes straight forward and easy to follow.

After adding and mixing in all the ingredients together, it was time to microwave the dough! This part I found a bit challenging, as I don’t own a microwave. Steaming was the next option, but I wasn’t sure the best way to go about it! I asked my dear friend Angie (from Over-the-Kitchen-Counter) to help me out! Even though she had not heard of mochi before, she gave me the best advice and tips! I used two pots and my stove to steam the mochi dough. It steamed perfectly! A special thank you to Angie! <3

Making the Matcha Mochi Dip

While I waited for my mochi dough to cool, it was time to make the accompanying matcha-infused mochi dip:

This was very fast and easy to make and I loved that I got to use Oat Mylk! I prepared the dip on my stove top.

The dip turned out fantastic! And I loved the cheerful green colour from the Paragon Tea Baking Matcha.

Roll it Out!

After my matcha-infused mochi dough had cooled off, it was time to roll it out and create individual pieces. I made my mochi into balls, but you can make them into squares too!

After the mochi balls were prepared, I decided to semi-stuff them with the dip. I also frosted the tops of them! I was so surprised at how well they turned out and how easy they were to make!

I would like to do a better job on how they look visually, but I think that will come with practice and time.

After I was done making the tea-infused mochi, I made two cups of Paragon Tea Ceremonial Matcha Lattes with Oat Mylk, for my husband and I. I thought they would pair nicely with the mochi. All the matcha flavours were happening that day! 😉

It was time to taste test these tea-infused mochi balls and see how well I did:

According to my husband, the matcha-infused mochi tasted amazing. He actually ate more than half of them, so I must have done something right!

I also loved my mochi too! They tasted so fresh and delicious. I also love that I now have the opportunity to make mochi 5 more times, from this wonderful set.

Have you ever made mochi at home before? If so, how did you find the experience? I am still surprised at how easy they were to make! I really found The Mochi set to be extremely helpful for a beginner.

The Mochi Set retails for $53.35 CAD, but is currently available for a launch price of $48.00 CAD. You can order it online (they ship to Canada and the USA) or pickup in-store, if you are local! You can find it HERE.

And that is it for today’s blog post! I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend and talk to you all soon! <3

*Left:* ***WALL-E added an addition smile to my first visit…and every visit afterwards.***
*Right:* ***We walked into the tea room, which shares space with a local coffee shop. I looked up at the logo…and instantly felt I had found some where special!***

On April 10th, 2019…I did not realize I would be stepping into my favourite place for tea. One of my best friends, Tiara had been talking about this new tea salon that opened up beside her gym…and how I just HAD to go.

April 10th, 2019…it was a really hard and emotional day. I was waiting to hear back about Harlow’s (my late guinea pig) test results, going through an extremely “burnt out” period of life, frustrated with health issues and needing to make some big life decisions. Tiara was so sweet and spent that entire day with me. As a doctor, she knew the best medicine for me: she took me to, Paragon Tea Salon for my first cup of tea misto.

Tiara and I waited in line and I gazed up at the menu. I wanted to try EVERYTHING!!!

When we got to the front of the line, we were greeted by Michelle, the owner of Paragon. She was a breath of fresh air and so welcoming. I was so impressed that she knew Tiara, by name…and you could just tell she genuinely loves her customers and takes time to get to know them and build a relationship.

She was equally excited that I was about to try, the paragon way for the first time. After some helpful recommendations from, Michelle…I decided to settle on the, High Mountain Roasted Oolong Tea Misto. Although…I was very close to ordering a matcha misto, haha!

***When we were in line…I had to take a photo of the menu options! I wanted to be able to look back on it, to show my husband and talk him into coming back with me, haha.***

***A smaller version of Paragon’s tea menu.***

Michelle started to make our tea mistos and I couldn’t get over how she was making them!!! TEA-like espresso! It was the coolest thing EVER. I actually ended up take a short video of the experience of making a cup of tea misto. It was so fascinating for me! 100ml of strong and delicious tea…

Michelle making my first cup from Paragon!

My husband’s first cup of Paragon!

After our teas were ready, Tiara and I sat beside the window and chatted the afternoon away, as we sipped our delicious teas. She gave me sound advice.

But how was the tea?!!! THE TEA WAS SOOOO AMAZING! Perfect temperature, perfectly steeped. Perfect frothed almond milk (although…I ended up switching to oat milk afterwards, thanks to Michelle’s advice on my second visit). And to top the drink to perfection: the perfect cup to truly taste the aroma and essence of the tea!

I couldn’t wait to bring, Snowman (my husband) to try these teas!!! And I also couldn’t wait to go back myself.

During my conversations with, Tiara…I received a phone call from Harlow’s vet…that she needed to be brought in for more testing. The rest of this story, breaks my heart…as I didn’t know that only a few days later, my little Harlow would be passing away in my arms. Many of you know this story, so I won’t go into details here.

***Harlow truly loved her tea and loved to #HarlowApprove my tea of the day.***

I had hoped to do this blog post, shortly after my first visit, but with Harlow’s passing and that crazy “burnt out” period…I just didn’t have the time or energy.

However, I continued to go to Paragon and fell more and more in-love with the atmosphere, teas and people! I also made sure to bring Snowman (my husband) and he instantly became a huge fan. He often joined my on these visits.

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Harlow’s passing was a big wake up call to me, to start taking care of myself and my health more. Whenever I needed to take a break…I went to Paragon. It became the place where I started focusing on new goals and dreams; a place I could escape to and just “be”. I made some of my biggest dreams and goals there, while sipping tea and taking in the peaceful, creative atmosphere. I typed these goals and dreams into my phone, laptop or note paper. And the crazy thing is…every single one has come true, in less than a year. I still cannot believe that! It proves how magical tea can be…when you add it to your dream planning ingredients, haha. Oooh..and put those dreams and goals into action, of course 😉

***Some of the delicious teas I have tried since my first visit!***

One of my dreams, popped into my head about 2 months after Harlow’s passing. I was sitting with my husband (at Paragon, of course) and I just had this thought and major gut feeling that I needed a dog. My husband stopped sipping his tea and just looked at me…”really? Are you sure the timing is right? Shouldn’t you just focus on your health, etc?” I explained to him why this was the BEST idea, BEST medicine (besides tea) and BEST dream ever.

In that exact moment, I was convinced and when I want something, I will not give up, (poor husband). I wanted to adopt my very own puppy! I have always been a huge dog lover, since I was a little girl. But I never had the time or lifestyle to be able to take proper care for a puppy. After some big “life decision making”, the timing was perfect…and I just had a feeling that Harlow would approve of this decision. My husband soon (willingly, promise!) agreed and trusted my planner instincts, haha.

Ella came into our life and I’ll never forget bringing her to Paragon for her first visit. It was like that goal/dream had literally come full circle. It was truly incredible and felt like the biggest, “God Wink”.

Ella’s first visit to Paragon.

*Ella being the cutest* *Paragon* model, besides WALL-E, of course!

And just before picking up Ella…another dream came true…and then another one and another one…it was incredible. And they just kept on blossoming, even after adopting Ella.

That’s the thing with dreams and goals…you need to make time to work for them. And having a wonderful place to escape to…and focus on them, plan for them and to achieve them…makes all the difference. I am truly grateful for discovering Paragon, through a very transitional and difficult point, in my life. It gave me that space I needed to focus and I will forever be grateful for that! AND…for the delicious cups of tea!!!

I now live in a new home (one of my goals)…where I have my own office/creative space to continue making my dreams and goals come true. I still love to go to Paragon, but I now have the opportunity to make their delicious teas, at home too!! Such a treat!!!

My personal favourites are: Hojicha powder, Genmaicha powder, Mango Hojicha, Genmaicha (matcha coated) and the High Mountain Oolong (but I still have more to try)!

Paragon also has an online store, if you would like to try some of their teas. They ship or you can pickup in-store, if you live nearby!

My first time making Hojicha at home!

They also have a wonderful mini gift shop…and I was able to get a beautiful new matcha bowl, right before Christmas! I love it soo much!

Well, there you have it! Quite a long and personal blog post…that was suppose to be JUST a tea review…that turned into a much more personal story. But I feel right sharing it because that is one thing I get asked all the time:

How do you stay so positive? Well, that’s for another blog post topic, if you’d like to hear it. But as you can tell, through this blog post…that period was extremely challenging, but when life gives you heartache and gloom…you make tea and focus on the true and good things in life.