Barley Tea

Classification and Origin

Category: non-tea, herbal (grain) beverage.

common barley (Hordeum vulgare), family Poaceae (Grasses, formerly Gramineae).

absent.

boricha (Korea), mugicha (Japan); related genre — 苦荞茶 (kǔqiáo chá).

Type: grain infusion from roasted barley grains; tea substitute (代用茶, dàiyòng chá).

Facts

Facts: Interesting Facts

• In Korea, boricha often replaces ordinary drinking water — it is brewed in large volumes and drunk all day long.
• In Japan, mugicha is an iconic summer beverage, sold chilled in bottles and drunk by the pitcher.
• The absence of caffeine makes dàmài chá a convenient "family" beverage — it is calmly drunk in the evening.
• The roasting of grain is logically close to coffee roasting: in both, flavour and colour are born in the Maillard reaction.
• By genre, dàmài chá is a relative of the Chinese buckwheat infusion from Tartary buckwheat (苦荞茶, kǔqiáo chá): both represent the family of roasted grain tea substitutes without caffeine.
• Barley infusion should not be confused with Japanese genmaicha (玄米茶) — the latter contains real green tea with roasted rice, whereas dàmài chá contains no tea leaf at all.
• Mixtures of barley with roasted corn are encountered, imparting additional sweetness to the infusion.

In Conclusion:

Barley tea is an honest and practical beverage, which, despite all its external simplicity, has its own culture and technology. Its merit is not in imitating real tea, but in what tea lacks: a soft toasty flavour without caffeine and astringency, ease of brewing, and equal suitability in hot and cold form. That is precisely why, in East Asia, it has occupied the place of an everyday beverage — from the Korean "flavoured water" to the Japanese summer pitcher and the Chinese companion to a greasy meal.

It is more correct to regard

History and Culture

barley is one of the first domesticated grain crops, mastered by humans in the Middle East in deep antiquity.

China, Korean Peninsula, Japan.

daily beverage, "flavoured water," accompaniment to food.

Botany and Raw Material

an annual grass with an erect culm-stem and a spike with long awns.

mature dry caryopses (grains) of barley.

two-row and six-row forms; naked (hulless/covered) barley is separately distinguished.

Terroir

barley is widely grown — in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Yunnan, with naked forms on the highlands of Tibet.

a cold-tolerant and relatively drought-resistant crop with a short vegetation period.

spring and winter barley.

Production

cleaning and grading of grain → (sometimes) moistening or steaming → drying → roasting → cooling and sorting → packing.

roasting, during which the Maillard reaction and caramelization occur, yielding colour, aroma, and flavour.

light-coloured grain, golden-straw infusion, more "green" grainy and bready notes in flavour, light sweetness.

balanced option, nutty and "toasty" tones, amber infusion — the most widespread.

dark brown grain, deep infusion, coffee-caramel and slightly bitterish shades appear in flavour.

classic form; requires longer brewing or boiling, but the infusion is aromatic and allows for multiple infusions.

releases flavour faster due to greater contact surface area, convenient for quick brewing, but the infusion is cloudier.

maximally convenient and stable per portion; inside — crushed grain or groats, extraction is fast, but assessing raw material quality by sight is more difficult.

Organoleptic Profile

from golden-straw with a light roast to dark amber and brown with a dark roast.

toasted bread, grain, nut; with dark roast — caramel and coffee tones.

soft, slightly sweetish, "grainy," with roasted depth; without the astringent grip of tea tannin.

clean, toasty-nutty, brief.

Chemical Composition

starch and dietary fibre of the grain, including beta-glucans; only a small portion of soluble sugars transfers into the infusion.

present in the grain; enter the beverage in small amounts.

B-group compounds, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus.

melanoidins and aromatic compounds (including alkylpyrazines), forming colour and odour.

absent.

barley is a gluten-containing grain; this should be taken into account by people with intolerance.

Health Notes

dàmài chá is associated with "aiding digestion" (消食, xiāoshí) and the ability to "relieve the feeling of greasiness" (解腻, jiěnì) after a heavy meal, as well as with "coolness" (清热, qīngrè) in hot weather.

the antioxidant activity of melanoidins from roasted grain is discussed; a practical merit is a caffeine-free beverage, suitable for evening drinking and for those for whom caffeine is undesirable.

Brewing

approximately 20–30 g per 1 L of water; for crushed grain, less is taken.

90–100 °C (freshly boiled water).

when steeping with boiling water, 5–10 minutes; when boiling, 5–15 minutes on low heat.

whole grain withstands 2–3 pours; crushed grain and bags usually yield flavour in one.

one filter bag per 300–500 mL of water, steep for 3–5 minutes.

Teaware: teapot or saucepan for boiling, thermos, glass pitcher for cold infusion.

Storage

Shelf Life: roasted grain gradually loses aroma; it is kept roughly within a year to a year and a half, but it is better to use it fresh.

dry, dark place, tightly closed container, away from foreign odours.

absorption of moisture and odours, loss of aroma, mould upon dampening; granary pests are possible.

Price and Authenticity

on the order of 70 ¥/kg for roasted grain — this is inexpensive raw material; retail is higher and depends on packing and form (bags are more expensive due to packaging).

evenly and uniformly roasted grain of one tone, clean, without a large amount of litter and dust, with a clear toasty-bready smell.

over-roasted "to charcoal" grain masks old or low-quality raw material — the infusion then gives off a burnt note; a musty or mouldy smell should raise suspicion (risk of spoilage and toxins with improper storage), as well as an abundance of broken grain and debris, and the adulteration with cheaper groats.