A short history of the (not so) humble barley tea

Teasan’s whole reason for existence is to deliver caffeine-free teas (tisanes) culturally rooted in Japan to the rest of the world. There are a whopping 170+ of these tisanes in Japan, and the vast majority would be ones you’ve never heard of. But there’s one that I think many might recognize: the humble barley tea.

Barley is one of humanity’s oldest cultivated grains, tracing back thousands of years to ancient civilizations across the world.

Barley water has historically been a European take. The ancient Greeks used a barley drink to break a sacred fast. The Spanish have agua de cebada, which is like horchata’s long-lost cousin. (The word horchata even comes from the Latin word for barley!) And the British made their barley water by adding lemon and sugar to taste. That version lives on at Singaporean hawker centers today.

Barley tea, on the other hand, originated in East Asian cultures like China, Korea, and Japan. I won’t pretend Japan is the only country that drinks barley tea because that’s simply not true. But the Japanese history behind it is quite fascinating.

Barley tea, now known as mugicha but previously called mugiyu, was first drunk by the imperial nobles well over a thousand years ago. Like green tea, it trickled down from the nobility over time. By the 1800s, barley tea had truly become the commoner’s drink, and mugiyu stalls lined the streets on summer evenings as a cooling drink. And shortly after WW2, hustlers were passing off barley tea as American beer in the black market to survive. Few teas in Japan have spanned the whole class spectrum like this.

Today, mugicha is a commodity product sold bottled at convenience stores, served at restaurants for free, and brewed by grandmothers at home all across Japan. So ubiquitous that nobody ever questions it.

I wanted Teasan to take the humble barley tea and turn it into something special and worth talking about for once. So last week we finally visited a certified organic grain farm in Ishikawa Prefecture, where we source our barley. We fell in love with them after trying barley from 10+ other farms, and they’ve also been huge supporters of our mission since we first connected earlier this year.

Their barley is a six-row variety called “Fiber Snow,” named for its rich dietary fiber and how white the grain polishes. Mugicha can be made from either six-row or two-row barley, but six-row has less starch and more protein, which roasts into a more savory cup. Who doesn’t want more protein AND fiber in their tea?

Teasan’s barley is roasted to absolute perfection and blended with osmanthus flowers to give it a honeyed floral lift that takes you to another dimension. I promise you this is no ordinary barley tea. I’d love it if you’d give it a try and let me know what you think.

Try Osmanthus Barley