Skip to content
Menu
logo
  • Home
  • Blogs
    • Doomie’s
    • Food Eater
    • Homecooked
    • Restaurant
    • Babycakes
    • Weird Fish
    • Pizza Cookery
logo
Mugicha: How to Make Barley Tea
February 16, 2008December 21, 2021

Mugicha: How to Make Barley Tea

I’ve written before of my love for Korean style barley tea (Mugicha). I’d heard it was pretty easy to make so I decided to give it a go. I combined what I learned about making it from various online sources, as well as some info I picked up from Alton Brown on his recent Good Eat’s episode on barley.

First I dry roasted the barley in a skillet. I wasn’t sure exactly how much to roast them, so I let them go until they got nice and browned, removing from heat just before they were about to burn.

The roasted barley then went into 2 liters of boiling water, continued to boil for about 3 minutes, then was removed from the heat and left to steep. I also added in about a quarter cup of agave nectar and half a lemons worth of juice.

After steeping for half an hour, I strained the liquid from the barley and set it aside to cool. The cooked barely looked and smelled really good too, I’ll get back to that in minute.

And here’s the result! It came out pretty good for my first try, though it wasn’t exactly like I wanted it to be. I didn’t like the lemon, or maybe I just used too much of it. The lemon idea came from Alton Brown (damn you, Alton!)… next time I make this I’ll leave out the lemon all together and add some in afterwards if I think it needs any. Also the tea had taken on a bit more of the roasted flavor than I would have like, so maybe I did let the barley roast for too long after all. It didn’t taste burned, but the taste had crossed over from a delicate tea flavor to more of a roasted coffee flavor.

Now back to the cooked barley. When cooking barley to eat it should be cooked longer than the half hour I boiled this batch for, but because it was left to steep in the hot water for a while, it got cooked through and was only slightly “al dente”. It had a wonderful nutty scent and the taste of sweet agave nectar had been cooked right in, so instead of wasting it I decided to make a hot cereal out of it.

I added in some rice milk, cinnamon and drizzled on a little bit more agave… and this turned out to be one of the tastiest late night breakfasts I’ve ever accidentally invented by way of making something else.

New Blogs

  • Best Bars In LA With Great Food
  • Raw food done right… SunPower Natural Cafe
  • Babycakes bakery opens in L.A!
  • Vegan Pizza and a Philly at Pizza Cookery
  • Bay Area Vegan: Weird Fish

Archives

  • June 2022
  • December 2021
  • December 2011
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • February 2009
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008

Categories

  • Babycakes
  • Doomie's
  • Food Eater
  • Homecooked
  • Pizza Cookery
  • Restaurant
  • Uncategorized
  • Weird Fish

New Vegan Cookbooks

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan:
Everyday Vegan Recipes Worth Celebrating
By Dreena Burton

The Joy of Vegan Baking
By Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Cozy Inside:
Delicious and Comforting Cruelty Free Recipes

By Joni Marie Newman

My Sweet Vegan
By Hannah Kaminsky

©2023 To Live and Eat in LA | Powered by WordPress and Superb Themes!