Nongbu Korean Eatery

I’m not in the mood for caffeine right now so seeing that I’m bumming around all day at home fighting off a flu and need to stay hydrated, why not have a pot of Oksusu cha simmering throughout the day? This is aways so deliciously toasty, like liquid buttered popcorn. It just keeps getting better throughout the day, and I actually prefer the subsequent cups when the flavour develops more, and although weaker, seems to have a nicer flavour.

Although, I ended up deliberately adding less corn to the pot than recommended, and I actually prefer this first cup to previous first cups. Usually the first couple cups have a richer brown sugar-like liquor and the toasty notes are über pronounced, then the subsequent straw-coloured liquor is not as sharp and roasty, but more buttery. This first cup is halfway between those two worlds.

This second cup is quite delicate already, but I haven’t let it simmer as long as usual. In the end, it’s all good. You can’t really screw this up.

Since it’s a rainy day, I have domestic stuff to do like laundry, and I’m not feeling the best, I’m spending the day indoors drinking tons of tea and trying to flush my system, so-to-speak. It’s been difficult getting in enough water at work so I know I’ve been dehydrated (I’m hoping that is the reason why I’m quite a few pounds heavier when I hopped on the scale this morning :( ). Therefore, it’s the perfect day for Oksusu cha. I’m already on my… 4th gigantic mug?

Less roasted corn went into the pot this time and I’m preferring it. This fourth mug is now on the buttery side. It’s like I’m drinking Corn Nuts, yo. I turned off the burner a while ago and have about 1-2 more mugs left in there. I figured I should stop there since that means that by the time I’m done, I’d be at ten cups (since my mug holds about two cups).

I got drenched walking home from the train after work last night. It was pouring so hard but I was determined to get home. That’s another reason why I’ve been craving a day-long tea session.

A local Korean restaurant served us this roasted corn tea and despite being initially skeptical, it ended up rocking my world. I think they just keep adding water and letting it simmer throughout the day because when we were served it, the liquor was a pale straw yellow and it tasted so buttery, like President’s Choice butter-flavoured corn nuts. Apparently, oksusu cha helps with kidney function, blood pressure, and diabetes. Who knows for sure but it sure does feel like it’s cleaning up my innards when I spend all day drinking it!

After my initial visit, I kept thinking about the tea (and the food since it was addictively delicious), and since the waitress mentioned that they sell roasted corn to take home and brew yourself, after a week of craving the buttery deliciousness, I went back and purchased a healthy-sized glass jar of the stuff.

Because of the preparation method, I find it’s something that you need to be home all day for in order to get the most out of it. The first time I had this at home, I poured half a cup of roasted corn into a medium-sized pot, let it get to a gentle boil, then reduced the heat to let it simmer for 20-ish minutes before trying my first cup. The liquor was substantially more pigmented than it was in the restaurant, a tarnished golden brown, and it was much roastier in favour, too. Less butter, more roastiness. As my mom and/or I would pour a cup, we kept adding more water and let it simmer until taking another cup, and even after doing this for 5+ hours, the colour of the liquor and flavour weren’t as soft and buttery as the restaurant’s.

For that reason, yesterday, I used less roasted corn. It’s been colder and rainy over the past few days, which are perfect conditions for staying in all day and enjoying oksusu cha. Instead of filling up my half-cup measuring cup, I filled it up about 2/3 full. So approximately 1/3 cup of roasted corn this time, and I found that it was more balanced this way. I got more buttery nuances from each and every cup. I started simmering the roasted corn just before noon, and by 4 -5pm I was all oksusu cha’d out. Not because I was getting sick of the flavour. No way! I was just getting tea-logged. I must have had 7-8 cups worth and felt if I kept going, I would have gotten a headache from over-hydration.

That’s the downside of oksusu cha. It’s not like you can just steep a cup in a few minutes and done, or prepare this in the morning before work, or at work. I mean, you can if you have twenty minutes, but seeing how amazing it gets the longer it simmers, that would seem like a waste.

It’s also common to find iced tea versions in Korean stores with sugar added. I filled up my iced tea jug with oksusu cha and refrigerated it the first time I made it. It was kind of strange. My mom described it as musty, which is accurate. I don’t think adding sugar would have been the answer, either.

Overall, two thumbs up. I’d have it more often if the process weren’t so time-consuming.