Tokyo has only two barley tea makers, we visited one to see how mugicha is made

Hrysvald

I wonder if you can get this outside Japan. I'd love to try some.

drivingmenuts

Paolo from Tokyo ( https://www.youtube.com/@PaolofromTOKYO ) has a ton of videos about various Japanese businesses, usually focused around the job of one person.

sakuraiben

so cool! big fan of barley tea growing up with it

hbarka

Also called boricha on Korean. Can find in local H Mart. I have not tried the Japanese roasted barley variety but houjicha, roasted green tea, is excellent and can find in Japantown.

CarVac

I consume copious amounts of cold mugicha. It's amazingly refreshing and very cheap.

rectang

It's not the same, but I still remember the first time I was served genmai cha (roasted rice tea) at a sushi restaurant. I loved it and inquired, the server was kind enough to show me the actual tea bag — it was Yamamotoyama. Available lots of places in the US, but I used to buy it at a Japanese grocery store.

gjvc

why not both?

freetime2

For anyone looking to try this - while they sell pre-bottled mugicha [1], I highly recommend making your own from tea bags [2]. It's incredibly easy to make - just add cold water and let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours. It also tastes so much better (in my opinion), is much cheaper, and is more environmentally friendly. A big 2L thermos filled with mugicha and ice is a great way to stay cool in the summer. [1] https://amzn.asia/d/04ZC4opX [2] https://amzn.asia/d/0gF1wDf8

doodlebugging

I really enjoyed that article. Documenting the entire process helps me understand what the final product should taste like. I love the smell of barley and had never considered roasting any. The fact that it apparently smells a bit like popcorn is pretty exciting. I am growing buckwheat right now and have a small test plot of rice. I am hoping to be able to get meaningful yields after this first-year proof of concept dry run. I have already harvested enough buckwheat for a nice, steaming bowl of buckwheat. My rice is producing kernels now though I only have a few dozen plants. I am pretty excited about this. I love how toasting something transforms the flavor profile and use that to enhance flavors of soups and other dishes. I toast pecans, walnuts, almonds, and some garden spices lightly and add them to spice mixes after grinding. Thanks for this article. There is also another article linked at the bottom about someone who drank a bottle of barley tea that had been left outside for months. https://soranews24.com/2023/05/02/we-try-a-half-drunk-bottle... I love stuff like that! Thanks!

sbinnee

Koreans also say "tea" (차) to what supposed to be called infusion in English. Barley, brown rice, corn, Solomon's seal, and jack bean are common, but there are many more. I was confused when I was communicating about Korean tea at first in English. I introduced Korean teas, but for them they didn't have tea leaves thus not tea but infusion. If you don't know about brown rice green tea, I recommend it. It is literally a mix of green tea and brown rice. You should be able to find it in Japanese, Korean, or Chinese grocery stores.

d4v3

Interesting roasting process with high heat 2x for 1 minute. Quite different than say kilning pilsner malt at low heat for a much longer time. Sure speeds up production, I bet!