Friday, August 15, 2008

Mugicha -Barley tea

I am trying not to buy beverages to reduce my carbon footprint. Beverages need to be transported long way, and need to be refrigerated for sales and consumption. A lot of energy. And then, all these glass/plastic bottles.....

So, alternative solution. For summer, I make barley tea in a big pitcher.
Sugar free, caffeine free, no calories.

Pretty healthy. And not expensive at all.

How does it taste?

Well, as a beer lover, I would say that barley tea tastes like Guinness without alcohol and bubbles. Eerrhh, so basically you took all the good stuff from Guinness!?

Honestly, it might taste weird for the first try. But if you get used to it, you will like it. I like it because I don't have to feel that yukky feeling in my month after I drink sweet drinks.

Direction: Find mugicha or barley tea at Japanese or Asian grocery store. They are usually in bags, so you just have to boil water and throw a bag into it and wait for a couple of hours. Some even don't require the water to be boiled, but I believe tap water tastes better when boiled.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't drink sugar, carbonation, or caffeine, so mugicha is great! I also read that it helps with blood fluidity and cleans blood impurities. Thanks for writing about its added benefit to the environment! My husband (who is not Japanese) doesn't like it, but I love it.

eco-samurai said...

I didn't know that it cleans the blood. Thank you for pointing it out. Good to know!
I understand a lot of people won't like it if they didn't grow up drinking it. (My husband doesn't like it either)
So I am experimenting with my child....He is drinking it, so starting early is just good :)