Roasted Barley Tea

Back in June, during our trip to LA/Pasadena, we visited an amazing little tea shop called Bird Pick Tea and Herb. We are both big tea drinkers and love to browse tea shops for unique tea blends, teaware, snacks, or even just a bit of tea-education. This particularly shop was special - it had a little bit of all of the above, with a vast selection of herbs thrown in, and it was just the kind of place we would love to own (in our other, tea-shop-owning life, that is).

One tea carried by Bird Pick was new to us, and we were able to try it then and there as samples of it, iced, were being offered by the friendly and knowledgable shop associates. It was roasted barley tea, or mugicha. It was wonderful iced (very refreshing), and, among many other things, we purchased a small tin of it to take home. We browsed, then shopped, then lingered over a pot of brew, and we are still enjoying the fruits, (or should we say, leaves) of our visit.

In fact, we finally tried the mugicha hot for the first time last week, while the financial advisor was on his way over (always a bit stressful, but particularly so these days). The barely-there color, toasted nut flavor and velvety feel on the tongue were unique and wonderful. We were told that mugicha is supposed to have stress-relieving properties, and we both admitted to feeling calmer after drinking it. Overall, we loved it and we'll certainly be buying more of it. Try it yourself by visiting Bird Pick online and dropping a tin in your shopping basket. When it comes, open it, steep it, sip it, enjoy it and rel-ahhh-x.