Barley tea is a roasted-grain-based

infusion Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time (a process often called steeping). An inf ...

made from

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

. 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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. 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 bag A tea bag (or teabag) is a small, porous, sealed bag or Packet (container), packet typically containing tea leaves (''Camellia sinensis'') or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steeping, steep and make an infusion. Origina ...

s 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

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...

, 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

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

Samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

began to consume it in

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. During the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, 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 bottles.

Bottled tea

Bottled barley tea is sold at

supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

s, and in

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses 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 payment is otherwise m ...

s in Japan and Korea. Sold mostly in

PET bottles A plastic bottle is a bottle constructed from high-density or low density plastic. Plastic bottles are typically used to store liquids such as water, soft drinks, motor oil, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo or milk. They range in sizes, from very ...

, 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

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

, as the latter's sweetness offsets the slightly bitter flavor of the barley. The tea made from roasted maize is called '' oksusu-cha'' (corn tea), and the tea made from roasted maize 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. Preparat ...

'' (brown rice tea), '' gyeolmyeongja-cha'' (sicklepod seed tea), and ''

memil-cha Buckwheat tea, known as ''memil-cha'' () in Korea, ''soba-cha'' () in Japan, and ''kuqiao-cha'' ( zh, s=苦荞茶, t=苦蕎茶, labels=no) in China, is a tea made from roasted buckwheat. Like other traditional Korean teas, ''memil-cha'' can be ...

'' (buckwheat tea). Roasted barley tea, sold in ground form and sometimes combined with

chicory Common chicory (''Cichorium intybus'') is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to Europe, it has been introduced to the Americas and Australia. M ...

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 ...

References