This is one of the best commonly available brands of mugi cha (barley tea). When served cold, it has the perfect afterbite that makes this type of tea so addictive. Oh, I photoshopped it a bit with my phone cause the actual label is kinda boring.
Raising a family in Thailand // Documenting Issan food, culture, music, and people
is this canned or bottled stuff, or is it the actual tea leaves?
It’s the bottled stuff. Of course, it’s best when you make it yourself… Do they sell mugi-cha where you live? It comes in large tea bags, some of which can be brewed with cold water. The old type you had to boil, then chill before serving, which was a major pain.
If you can’t find any, let me know.
Oh yeah, the actual label of the bottled Ito-en brand mugi-cha in this post can be seen here:
http://cosmicbuddha.com/moblog/archives/images/ito-en_orig.jpg
Thanks, Justin!
I’ll probably get to the decent Japanese grocery in another couple of weeks. So then I’ll check out for some mugi cha. Are there any commercial brands you can suggest that I look for? I’ll DEFINITELY look for the canned stuff that you’ve mentioned. I don’t mind brewing my own, though.
For the tea bags I have no brand preference as they all taste good; here I just buy whatever is on sale. I would just go for any brand that can be brewed in cold water. The whole boiling and cooling thing is to be avoided at all costs, if you are lazy like me.
For bottled stuff, so far, the Ito-en brand is the most flavorful that I’ve found.
Sometimes I prefer drinking it chilled, but it tastes just fine at room temperature as well. YMMV.