The last of the sun.
04 November 2015
03 November 2015
Mugichatime
I first had barley tea after a particularly hot summer's day back in high school. Coming in from the blinding sunlight, his mom had a cold pitcher of tea in the fridge and he enthusiastically offered me some. My initial impression was that it really didn't taste like much but kinda smelled like fish. I'm pretty sure that this comment greatly annoyed him, I think because that was the drink of his childhood or something. At the time I was like whatever, it smells like fish, so we moved on and I remained entirely indifferent to barley tea.
My second encounter with barley tea happened in Seoul, when I was incredibly dehydrated after climbing the stairs up to the base of Seoul Tower without the foresight to bring a bottle of some sort of liquid or change for the vending machines. It was a moderately hot day and I was sweaty and out of breath, and also too obstinate to accept my friend's offer to buy me a drink. I came across a convenience store on my way back to Myeongdong, got a 500mL bottle of boricha, and downed it in less than half a minute. Literally. It was so good. But I was still thirsty so I wandered into a different convenience store, found the same bottle of barley tea for the same price (nice), and I downed that in maybe less than a minute. I thought to myself, I drank that entirely too fast and I am going to die, except I didn't so I then attempted to figure out how to get to Gangnam since it was our last day in Seoul and I should visit the area that inspired that song. A friendly biker asked me if I needed help when he saw me staring at my map for too long, which was nice because it seemed like a lot of the bikers were trying to run us over. I am mostly kidding. Anyway, I thanked him and we gave each other a thumbs-up - thumbs-up and a-ok were key methods of communication during this trip - and then I didn't do much in Gangnam when I got there.
My second encounter with barley tea happened in Seoul, when I was incredibly dehydrated after climbing the stairs up to the base of Seoul Tower without the foresight to bring a bottle of some sort of liquid or change for the vending machines. It was a moderately hot day and I was sweaty and out of breath, and also too obstinate to accept my friend's offer to buy me a drink. I came across a convenience store on my way back to Myeongdong, got a 500mL bottle of boricha, and downed it in less than half a minute. Literally. It was so good. But I was still thirsty so I wandered into a different convenience store, found the same bottle of barley tea for the same price (nice), and I downed that in maybe less than a minute. I thought to myself, I drank that entirely too fast and I am going to die, except I didn't so I then attempted to figure out how to get to Gangnam since it was our last day in Seoul and I should visit the area that inspired that song. A friendly biker asked me if I needed help when he saw me staring at my map for too long, which was nice because it seemed like a lot of the bikers were trying to run us over. I am mostly kidding. Anyway, I thanked him and we gave each other a thumbs-up - thumbs-up and a-ok were key methods of communication during this trip - and then I didn't do much in Gangnam when I got there.
I've tried roasting and simmering my own barley but it's just not the same as the storebought bottles and teabags. The colour is lighter and the scent isn't as strong. Any tips on roasting barley without setting off the fire alarm?
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