Roasted Barley Tea

It is starting to get chilly here and in the spirit of frugalness (and by that I mean heating oil is bleeping expensive) we haven’t turned the heat on so we are turning to heating alternatives like baking cookies and drinking tea.

So this was the perfect time to try the roasted barley tea we bought at Asiana (a favorite local Asian foods market) this past summer. Mom had heard good things about it and at $2.99 for 2 pounds it was an affordable experiment. It also was recommended by the cashier at the market.


We followed the recipe on the back which called for 2 tablespoons to 2 litres of water and you boil the barley for five minutes. The smell is very familiar. We finally decided it smells just like burnt popcorn (but in the good way). It’s a very pleasant tea, although it is more reminiscent of coffee then of herbal tea. Our only complaint was that it maybe could be made a little stronger.

Apparently it can also be drunk cold although we missed the boat on that one, unless we get another warm spell I’m not going to be drinking any iced tea, at least not until we turn the heat on.