Roasted Buckwheat Tea (Soba-cha)

Roasted buckwheat tea, soba-cha in Japan, memil-cha in Korea and kuqiao-cha in China, is made by steeping roasted buckwheat kernels in hot water. The cup is amber, toasty and nutty, with a faint caramel sweetness. Brewed in a teapot at 100°C for five to seven minutes.

Origin & Story

Buckwheat is not wheat, and not even a grass. It is the seed of Fagopyrum esculentum, a pseudocereal native to northeastern Asia, which people have eaten for centuries as flour, noodles, porridge and, in many places, as tea. Roast the kernels until they turn deep brown and they release a toasty, nutty smell that is the whole point of the drink.

The tea has three names for three countries. In Japan it is soba-cha, made from roasted buckwheat groats, in Korea it is memil-cha, and in China it is kuqiao-cha, often made from tartary buckwheat. In each it is made the same simple way: husked kernels are cooked, dried and pan-roasted without oil, then steeped in hot water.

Further west buckwheat is a staple rather than a tea. In Bhutan's Bumthang valley it takes the place of rice in the local favorites, buckwheat pancakes called khur-le and buckwheat noodles called puta.

Sources describe the cup as warm, toasty and nutty, reminiscent of roasted grain and caramel. A common home method is 25 g of kernels to a liter of water, boiled for five minutes and left to steep as it cools.

Steep 6 g of roasted buckwheat in 240 ml of water at 100°C for five to seven minutes.

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