t. – Buckwheat Tea
I really liked this buckwheat tea teabag and, to be honest, that surprised me. Not because I expected t. buckwheat tea to be putting out some kind of shoddy, substandard product, but because I’m usually a bit scathing in reviews about things that call themselves tea but don’t actually have any actual tea in them.
Blends with peppermint, chamomile, hibiscus flowers, dried apple pieces and the like, often make me quite angry. I make an exception for rooibos, which I’m rather fond of. It’s not tea obviously, but it makes it onto the list of hot-drinks-which-are-not-tea-but-are-still-nice. Along with coffee, cocoa and cup-a-soups. (I reckon that Cup-a-Soup has probably as much right to call themselves tea as most of the things on the “tea” shelf at Holland and Barrett. They could rebrand themselves as vegetable-based lattes.)
Back to buckwheat tea. The t. buckwheat tea bag contains buckwheat kernels and nothing else. It’s not tea but what it is, is warm, toasty, nutty and really rather delicious. It really reminded me of something and it took me ages to figure out what it was.
I realised what it was when I was looking at the used teabag and pondering whether its contents could be used as a nutritious snack. It reminds me of the Japanese green tea and brown rice combo, Genmaicha.
The realisation was a bit of an anti-climax. Duh. Of course it does. Roasted buckwheat and roasted brown rice clearly have a lot in common. I love Genmaicha so that probably explains why I enjoyed buckwheat tea so much, rather than finding it a big wet disappointment like most herbal blends.
Buckwheat tea is a traditional beverage in Japan whereas known as sobacha (そば茶). It is also popular in China, Korea and other far east Asian countries. People have been drinking it for thousands of years.
t. Buckwheat Tea will send you a sample buckwheat tea teabag for free (if you send them £1.49 to cover postage), which is how I came by mine. (You can steep your tea bag a few times.) I would urge you to check out their website and give it a go. Even if – like me – you’re a bit of a tea purist, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Today’s featured book is The Book of Ornamental Alphabets Ancient & Medieval by F Delamotte. For no reason. Usually, there’s some kind of tenuous link between the book and the tea but in this case, I just thought the book was pretty.
