My favourite Korean restaurant serves barley tea during my meal.
I first tasted it when I was in Korea. One of the Japanese delegates bought a bottle of chilled sweet tea and we took turns tasted it. It tasted sweet and bitter.
Now that I have stopped drinking anything that contains caffeine (except chocolate) e.g. coffee, tea, soft drink, energy drink… It adds onto my non caffeinated tea list.
Ingredients
Barley and Water
Method
1. Wash barley
2. Roast it in an oven/ oven toaster for about 45 minutes- 1 hour at 180 degree celcius or roast it in a pan and stir until brown for 10-20 minutes.
4. Steep it in boiling water for 30 minutes or simmer it in a pot. I used 3 tablespoon of barley in 1 litre of water (option to add water to dilute it if it is too bitter)
5. Sieve the barley or just leave the barley in the tea.
6. Leave it to cool to room temperature or chill it. I added some ice into my barley tea above.
Preference
- Toast it in the pan instead of roasting it using an oven. It is more energy efficient, consume less time and the barley is browner.
- It is more flavourful simmering it compared to steeping in boiling water.
- I prefer chilled barley tea compared to room temperature ones.