Korean Tea: Corn, Beans, Barley

As the weather warms up, we're craving fewer pots of hot tea (yes, pots – we go through two or three a day!) and are swapping them for refreshing glasses of iced tea. Some of favorite ingredients for iced tea are from the Korean market – corn, black beans, and barley.

We know these teas may sound a bit odd to some – bean tea?! – but we enjoy the change from traditional black or green tea. They may be served hot or cold, yet we think they are particularly delicious when chilled. Corn tea, or oksusucha, is made from roasted kernels that give the drink a sweet and, well, distinctly corn flavor. Barley tea, or boricha, is nutty with a slight bitterness that is reminiscent of coffee. Combining corn and barley is also a common practice. Earthy black bean tea is actually made from roasted soybeans and supposedly aids digestion. All of these are caffeine-free and simply made by steeping the ingredients in boiling water for a couple of minutes and straining.

Have you tried any of these teas?

• Buy it: Korean grocery stores or koaMart.com

(Image: Emily Ho)

Comments (6)

I love mugicha but I have to admit the corn didn't grow on me!

posted by Centelleo on April 17th 2009 at 11:06am
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My former roommate always made boricha to keep herself cozy in winter. I enjoyed it too, especially as it was non-caffeinated. Never tried it cold though.

posted by Michelle of Montreal on April 17th 2009 at 11:09am
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I grew up drinking boricha, so it holds a special place in my heart. They serve it often at Korean restaurants here. I really like it chilled in the summertime, so refreshing!

posted by starchymarie on April 17th 2009 at 12:06pm
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Boricha was just another form of water for me growing up, my grandma always just had it in a kettle on the stove. It's delicious cold too!

posted by hanamik on April 17th 2009 at 3:18pm
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Ditto hanamik.

My mom would brew boricha in a large pot then fill up multiple pitchers so that we'd always have cold tea (well, it was more like a water replacement for us) on hand.

On a tangent away from the cold stuff, I also loved other teas growing up: yugucha (citron tea), daechucha (jujube), and yulmucha (made from powdered Job's Tears). All served hot.

posted by nomnom on April 17th 2009 at 4:51pm
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love boricha and oksusucha!!!! if you're lazy like me you can just buy the teabags ...

posted by Joan in SB on April 19th 2009 at 6:37pm
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