Although there is expensive hojicha made with high quality tea leaves, hojicha is regarded as being a lower class tea than gyokuro (refined green tea) or sencha and also is regarded as being in the same class as bancha and genmaicha (tea with roasted rice), and therefore hojicha is not a high-class Japanese tea.
上質な葉を選りすぐった高価なものもあるが、格は玉露や煎茶より下位、一般に番茶や玄米茶などと同位に位置づけられ、日本茶として高級な部類のものではない。