Barley tea is a roasted-grain-based infusion made from

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

. It is a staple across many East Asian countries such as

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It has a toasty, bitter flavor. In Korea, the tea is consumed either hot or cold, often taking the place of drinking water in many homes and restaurants. In Japan, it is usually served cold and is a popular summertime refreshment. The tea is also widely available in tea bags or bottled in

and

Etymology

, barley tea is called ''dàmài-chá'' (; ) or ''mài-chá'' (; ), in which ''dàmài'' (; ) or ''mài'' (; ) means "barley" and ''chá'' () means "tea". In

, barley tea is called ''mugi-cha'' (), which shares the same Chinese characters as Chinese ''mài-chá'' (; ), or ''mugi-yu'' (; ), in which ''yu'' (; ) also means "hot water". In

, barley tea is called ''bori-cha'' (), in which the native Korean ''bori'' () means "barley" and Sino-Korean ''cha'' (; ) shares the same Chinese character meaning "tea". In

, barley tea is called ''be̍h-á-tê'' (), in which ''be̍h-á'' () means "barley" and ''tê'' () means "tea".

History

The Japanese aristocracy has consumed the tea since the

Heian Period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

. http://www.mugicya.or.jp/history/ 全国麦茶工業共同組合, 麦茶の歴史.

Samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

began to consume it in

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

.. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, street stalls specializing in barley tea became popular among the common people.

Availability

The tea can be prepared by boiling roasted unhulled barley kernels in water or brewing roasted and ground barley in hot water. In

, tea bags containing ground barley became more popular than the traditional barley kernels during the early 1980s and remain the norm today. The tea is also available prepackaged in

PET bottle Although PET is used in several applications, (principally textile fibres for apparel and upholstery, bottles and other rigid packaging, flexible packaging and electrical and electronic goods), as of 2022 only bottles are collected at a substa ...

Bottled tea

Bottled barley tea is sold at

supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

s, and in

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

s in Japan and Korea. Sold mostly in PET bottles, cold barley tea is a very popular summertime drink in Japan. In Korea, hot barley tea in heat-resistant PET bottles is also found in vending machines and in heated cabinets in convenience stores.

Blended barley and similar teas

, roasted barley is also often combined with roasted

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, as the corn's sweetness offsets the slightly bitter flavor of the barley. The tea made from roasted corn is called ''

oksusu-cha ''Oksusu-cha'' () or corn tea is a Korean tea made from corn. While ''oksusu-suyeom-cha'' () or corn silk tea refers to the tea made from corn silk, ''oksusu-cha'' can be made from corn kernels, corn silk, or a combination of both. The caffeine ...

'' (corn tea), and the tea made from roasted corn and roasted barley is called ''oksusu-bori-cha'' (corn barley tea). Several similar drinks made from roasted grains include ''

hyeonmi-cha Brown rice tea, called ''hyeonmi-cha'' ( , lit. "brown rice tea") in Korean and (lit. "brown rice water"), (lit. "roasted brown rice water"), or (lit "roasted rice water") in Vietnamese, is an infusion made from roasted brown rice. Prepara ...

'' (brown rice tea), ''

gyeolmyeongja-cha ''Gyeolmyeongja-cha'' () or sicklepod tea is a tea made from roasted (but not ground) seeds of '' Senna'' (formerly ''Cassia'') spp., especially '' S. obtusifolia'' and '' S. tora''. Ingredient The roasted seeds of ''gyeolmyeongja'' () are use ...

'' (sicklepod seed tea), and ''

memil-cha Buckwheat tea, known as ''memil-cha'' () in Korea, ''soba-cha'' () in Japan, and ''kuqiao-cha'' () in China, is a tea made from roasted buckwheat. Like other traditional Korean teas, ''memil-cha'' can be drunk either warm or cold and is somet ...

'' (buckwheat tea). Roasted barley tea, sold in ground form and sometimes combined with chicory or other ingredients, is also sold as a

coffee substitute Coffee substitutes are non-coffee products, usually without caffeine, that are used to imitate coffee. Coffee substitutes can be used for medical, economic and religious reasons, or simply because coffee is not readily available. Roasted grain b ...

References