Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Barley Tea

With record breaking temperatures and beautiful blue skies, I have found myself craving iced tea. Now, being a tea fanatic, my mind starts to race to all of the different possibilities. Should I make matcha or jasmine or vanilla rooibos or Earl Gray? And then I remembered my big bag of barley tea. I knew exactly what I needed to brew up.

The first time that I had barley tea was in a Korean restaurant in L.A. It was served iced, and was the perfect thirst quencher. It had a nice light flavor with a hint of roasted smokiness. I was forever hooked after that first sip.

One of the great things about barley tea, besides the great taste, is that it's super inexpensive. You can get a huge bag of the tea (mine came with 52 large tea bags), for about four dollars. Each tea bag will make one quart. Oh, and they're made to steep in cool water too. So all you have to do is toss it in a pitcher of cool water and refrigerate for 30 minutes. No muss, no fuss. I have to believe that there's got to be some health benefits to the tea too. After all, the only ingredient is roasted barley.


I'm sure there are many brands, but this is the one that I bought at our local Asian market. If you're looking for something refreshing and caffeine-free, you might want to give barley tea a try.

12 comments:

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

Ooh, come back to visit L.A. so we can meet!

Tami said...

Oohh-- what is your favorite roobios? I need to branch out and already determined that's my direction. Now I just need to know what to shoot for.

mel said...

I love barley tea! And it's even cheaper if you roast up your own bulk barley!

julie hasson said...

Hi Vegyogini. How fun that would be! I haven't been down in a while, but I'm due for a visit this year.

Hi Tami. My favorite Rooibos lately has been bourbon vanilla. It's so yummy! I bought some almond rooibos with the highest of hopes, but it wasn't my favorite. The vanilla is definitely my favorite these days.

julie hasson said...

What a great idea Mel! Do you just toast it in a skillet?

The Voracious Vegan said...

Roasted barley tea? Wow, I've never heard of that but it sounds delicious, I will keep my eyes open looking for some of this stuff.

MeloMeals said...

Barley water lemonade is something I've been drinking for a long time..

It is a health tonic that we drank as a kid.. basically, you boil 1 c barley in 3 quarts water for 30 mins or so then strain and add lemon juice, ginger and sweetener (I use stevia)..

I use the leftover barley in burgers or whatever.

I'm going to look for these tea bags though the next time I goto the asian store.. what a GREAT deal!

mel said...

Yes, just like you would nuts!

KitteeBee said...

i love this stuff! i'm not drinking it these days, due to the gluten, but you can also sometimes find something similar, which is toasted brown rice!

xo
kittee

Kira Tating said...

The first time I had barley tea, it was hot. I've also had barley water, which I'm assuming is similar to cold barley tea?
I'm addicted to the stuff. I love it.

Medical Information said...

Barley tea is a great option. Barley is very healthy. It is rich in nutrients. It helps in various ways like for skin purifier, cures pimples, helps to get taut skin, it act as skin whitener and has many other benefits. It can also be used as body scrub, which can be rubbed on the skin for 15-20 minutes to get optimal exfoliation. To know more benefits of barley, refer Barley Grass

[pl] said...

hi, where can i get the roasted barley tea? i'm trying to look around in Singapore to buy it.. but couldn't find it.. any idea where i can get it..?