TeeLux

We got caught in a quick but intense surprise thunderstorm and came in soaked and shivering in the air conditioning. After not drinking anything hot for days, a hot cuppa finally feels good!

Until now, I’d been using these petite little barley teabags for fridge steeping. Now I think I’ve found their sweet spot. Fresh and hot, the “elderly bag of cattle feed” vibe is less pronounced and in its place, sweet, fresh-cut alfalfa hay. (If you’re a city kid, you really need to visit a farm and smell stuff. It’ll broaden your tea review vocabulary!)

Some recent conversations about barley tea and the onset of beastly hot weather made me hunt some down. No luck locally, so I added a bag to an Amazon order and it arrived just before the thermometer hit 100 this weekend.

It had been years since I’d sampled barley tea, so I had no particular brand or specifications in mind. This is just as I remember it—a little sweet, wheaty, and nutty; excellent cold. (As a matter of fact, I haven’t tried it hot at all.) The tagless bags seem a little bit dinky, but two of them in a pint jar in the fridge overnight are adequate.

If the packet lasts till fall, I can envision it as a lovely hot nightcap with honey.