Barley tea

Barley tea is a warm and toasty drink made from roasted barley grains. It is enjoyed in many East Asian countries, especially in China, Japan, and Korea. The tea has a pleasant, slightly bitter flavor that many people like.

In Korea, people often drink barley tea either hot or cold, and it is a common choice instead of water in homes and restaurants. In Japan, the tea is usually served cold during the summer as a refreshing drink. Barley tea can be found in tea bags or bottled form, making it easy to enjoy wherever you are.

Etymology

In China, barley tea is called dàmài-chá (大麦茶; 大麥茶) or mài-chá (麦茶; 麥茶). The words dàmài (大麦; 大麥) or mài (麦; 麥) mean "barley," and chá (茶) means "tea."

In Japan, barley tea is called mugi-cha (麦茶), which uses the same characters as the Chinese name. It can also be called mugi-yu (麦湯; むぎゆ), where yu (湯; ゆ) means "hot water."

In Korea, barley tea is named bori-cha (보리차). The Korean word bori (보리) means "barley," and cha (Korean: 차; Hanja: 茶) means "tea," just like in Chinese.

In Taiwanese Hokkien, the drink is called be̍h-á-tê (麥仔茶), where be̍h-á (麥仔) means "barley" and tê (茶) means "tea."

History

Barley tea has been enjoyed by the Japanese aristocracy since the Heian Period. Later, during the Sengoku period, samurai also started drinking it. By the Edo period, street stalls selling barley tea became popular with ordinary people.

Availability

Barley tea is made by boiling roasted barley kernels in water or brewing roasted and ground barley in hot water. In Japan, tea bags with ground barley became popular in the early 1980s and are still common today. The tea is also sold ready to drink in PET bottles.

Bottled barley tea is sold in supermarkets, convenience stores, and vending machines in Japan and Korea. In Japan, cold barley tea in PET bottles is a popular summer drink. In Korea, you can find hot barley tea in special heat-resistant PET bottles from vending machines and heated cabinets in convenience stores. In Taiwan, a famous brand makes barley tea, but it only became widely accepted in the 2020s.

In Korea, roasted barley is often mixed with roasted maize to balance its bitter flavor. Tea made from roasted maize is called oksusu-cha (corn tea), and when mixed with barley, it is called oksusu-bori-cha (corn barley tea). Other similar drinks include hyeonmi-cha (brown rice tea), gyeolmyeongja-cha (sicklepod seed tea), and memil-cha (buckwheat tea). Roasted barley tea is also sold as a coffee substitute, sometimes mixed with chicory or other ingredients.