I always find drinking the recommended daily amount of water harder in the winter. In the summer, we are always hot and craving that liquid to cool down. However, in the winter all I want to do is curl up with a good book and not move for hours. That entire day could be happily passed just staying warm. So, our solution is barley tea.
Tea may not be your favorite beverage, but this is a mild alternative to herbal or tea leaves. If you like corn and wheat then you might find yourself liking barley tea. We mix ours with corn as well to round out the flavor. This is a habit we picked up after being served this at our favorite Korean restaurant, Ttowa.
Barley is claimed as a superfood. So, if you aren’t quite up to eating it, then you might try brewing it instead. We use 8 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of roasted barley and 2 tablespoons of roasted corn kernels. You can obviously adjust the ratio to your personal tastes. All that you need to do is let this simmer for 10 minutes on the stove. Sure this takes a long time, but it is certainly worth it.
We put ours in a glass lined thermos to keep it hot all day long. The upside of the grain steeped tea is that you are getting fiber, copper, manganese, niacin, phosphorus, selenium, and tryptophan. That is just the surface of why barley tea is good for you. Good for digestion, fevers, and sleep barley tea has a lot of health benefits.
So, that just leaves me with telling you that barley tea won’t just help you stay hydrated over the winter, but it might become your new favorite beverage. The tea has a nutty flavor to it. You can drink it straight, but we like to balance out the flavor for the less barley inclined. If you feel like avoiding all those sugary holiday drinks, and let’s face the facts we all are tempted by the cocoas and nogs and punches, then perhaps you can try barley tea. Less festive, but far more beneficial for you all winter long.
