Watermelon Barley Tea

Had this a few nights ago, but wasn’t very into the flavour…

Definitely a bit of watermelon, but mostly a very thick and oily feeling barley flavour tinged with something more oceanic. Usually I enjoy this, but this night it just didn’t work for me.

I got this from Cameron B.! Yay, thank you for my first barley tea!

The aroma has me confused. Watermelon, yes, but also… coffee? Is that what barley smells like in tea? There’s also something kinda oceanic, like roasted seaweed. I have gone from confused to a little apprehensive.

The brew looks like black tea. Dark brown. My first sip is not as horrifying as I expected. However, it is nothing like any tea I’ve ever had before. It does taste like coffee. Like a somewhat sour, dark roast, but without that acrid bite. Just the flavor. And then there’s watermelon. I’m left wondering why this is a thing. Who thought these two flavors were meant for each other? It’s like I’m tasting some kind of culinary accident.

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Earlier today Sil and I were talking about Lupicia teas and there was mention of the barley teas. I said I had Watermelon and Plum (thank you Cameron B!) and Sil mentioned that she thinks she liked them cold brewed.

I went out earlier to go downtown to meet my friends for dinner at Wvrst (sausage and beer! Yum!) but before I left the house, I took both watermelon barley teabags Cameron B shared and shoved them into a 500 ml water bottle.

I have now returned from dinner and am sipping on the cold brew which has been steeping for probably 7ish hours. However, it seems I should have talked to Sil or Roswell Strange or Kittenna before hand because all recalled this blend being quite strong and all said 2 teabags for the amount of water I used was too much. This was after I informed them that I did not like it at all. The brew was soo roasted that it basically tasted burnt. And that burnt barley drowned out any possible watermelon there may have been.

Interesting. Certainly less strong than the plain Orzo tea (I know, they’re different but I find the flavour to be similar), and the melon adds a really nice sweetness without adding sugar. Still, bit of an odd combo. However, I think this would be fabulous as a latte. Probably noootttt my favourite tea ever though, haha.

Watermelon and barley. Two flavors I never expected to work together. Leave it to Lupicia to turn that combo into a winning cup.

Malty roasted barley and sweet watermelon candy. An absolutely ingenious combination. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you start to sip (I prefer iced, but hot is lovely) it gets addicting.

I pulled another tea from the T&C TTB to try out tonight. As I have to wake up early tomorrow, I did not want to risk any caffeine, so I went for one of the watermelon barley sachets. First off, I have to say that I love barley tea. I drink it practically every day from a big pitcher of it in my fridge (yes, I am Korean American). I have never tried any flavored barley teas before, but I usually love how Lupicia flavors their teas, so I was so excited to see this tea in the TTB.

As I was steeping the tea, I got a whiff of a heavy smoky scent from the tea. My regular barley tea does have a bit of smokiness, but not nearly this much. That worried me because it smelled like a tobacco kind of smoky rather than a BBQ/charcoal kind of smoky. It also smelled like candy watermelon. When I tasted the tea, I think it was less smoky than it smelled like it was going to be, but still enough that it was a bit off-putting to me. The candy watermelon flavor only really quietly sneaked in as an aftertaste after the roasted/smoky barley flavor. I wanted to love this tea, but I just couldn’t get over that strong smoky smell. I guess I can’t love all Lupicia’s teas.. On to the next!

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The last cup of the last mugicha from Lupicia…

I always forget how much I love these fruit-flavored barley teas. It sounds like such a weird combination, and yet it’s not. It’s roasty and toasty and sweet and watermelony, but somehow it all goes together so well. Delicious hot and cold brewed.

I think this flavor is my favorite, though the pineapple is a close second. The US website doesn’t have these in stock currently, but I think I remember them offering mugicha during the summer months.

I have a confession to make….not that she should mind but if she does, i’ll make it up to her… you see, i have a whole bunch of tea at my place…that belongs to other ppl. And most of the time, because they’re shared orders, it’s tea that i already have. But there are two teas currently in my house that are NOT MINE. not even kinda lol. OK well, as of today there are like 5…but the point is. I was going through those teas today to pull out the ones for Cavo and VariaTEA and i came across this tea…again. And the impish girl in me…the kind who puts boxes on her head and takes a picture just for fun…well she made me open the resealable bag and take out one of these teabags…and cold brew it.for tonight.

…and now i’m drinking it. and it’s delicious and i only feel kinda of guilty…but not REALLY guilty…because KITTENNA YOUR TEAS MISS YOU! (or rather they want to hang out with the 600 teas at your place…) lol

this tea? Cold brewed, is very barley with the watermelon in the back seat, but with a little sugar, it pops just enough to make this a really refreshing tea. the kind of tea i should have ordered yesterday lol but there will be future orders, and i’m thinking that this one? it’s going to have to be in that order… thanks kittenna even if it wasn’t voluntarily heh

Went to Lupicia in SF this morning, got back at 1, left for the airport at 3, flight left at 7 and now I am almost 400 miles away from home dang.

But I picked this tea up because I’ve been looking into the barley teas, and I have the caramel and honey one back home. This one smelled nice and bright from the package, but still had that roasty toasty smell from the barley!
It’s steeping now, and no more bright melon taste, it’s just the barley taking over.
Yeah, this is more roasty than bright. A good barley tea, but I definitely don’t taste the watermelon anymore!

ALSO I AM FREAKING OUT BECAUSE TRACEYC JUST MESSAGED ME LETTING ME KNOW THAT THE SPECIAL SAN FRANCISCAN BLENDS ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE!??!?!?
Okay that’s like great for everyone all around because now everyone can try my baby (the Golden Honey Dew), but I kinda… it was one of my special teas that I drank on special occasions. It was a very hard tea for me to get my hands on, and when I did, I made sure to share it with others, and it made me all happy and giddy to read their tasting notes and see that they loved it as well.
I only drink my honey dew on special occasions because it truly is a unique tea, and as an in-person tea only, it was one that I made sure to cherish and drink with a purpose. Now that it’s available online and I no longer have to make that 400 drive trek and hour long train ride to the City and then hope that this tea is in stock when I visit, well, I don’t know. I hated that it was so hard to get, but that’s what really made it special. Now that weeks of waiting and planning on going to the City is all gone because now I can just stay cooped up in my room and purchase my tea online instead.

I’m just kinda sorta sad that that whole special factor of the tea is gone now.

I cold-brewed this with a little bit of sugar. It’s excellent as an iced tea. The barley tea flavor sort of dominates the tea, so there’s only a hint of the watermelon once this brews, but it’s enough to give the tea a refreshing flavor. Barley teas make the best iced teas, I think. I still like the strawberry barley tea more, though.