Homemade barley tea

I was first exposed to barley tea through a Korean friend at work. I liked what she let me try, but she said it was nearly impossible to find, even in Asian markets. So I pretty much gave up on it. However, while following recipe links I came across this.

This is definitely one of my keepers! I used about a cup of barley for half a gallon of water, honey to taste, and just a splash of lemon. I also dry roasted the barley until just aromatic, not too long. But I followed the steeping directions exactly. It's a very light tea flavor, and I might try steeping for 45 minutes next time, but it was very good nonetheless.

If you're skeptical about barley tea, it doesn't taste like how you'd think it would. Just like green tea has a slight grassy quality to it, barley tea has a similar quality, only browner, if that makes any sense. It's nicely herbal but has a slightly meatier flavor than most herbal teas, just not so far as to be like black tea or coffee.