Boricha보리차

The story of how boricha (보리차) came to the Korean table begins with sungnyung. When rice was cooked in an iron cauldron, a crust of scorched rice stuck to the bottom; water was poured over it and boiled into sungnyung, a toasty drink that brought the meal to a close. Gyerim Yusa, a glossary of Goryeo words from the reign of King Sukjong, notes that "cooked water" (熟水) was called ikeun mul, which suggests sungnyung was already around in Goryeo times. One explanation for the custom is that cauldrons were built into the stove and hard to wash, so boiling water over the crust both made a drink and cleaned the pot. Some scholars even think sungnyung is why after-meal tea never took off in Korea the way it did in China and Japan.

As cast-iron cauldrons gave way to aluminum pots and then electric rice cookers, the scorched crust disappeared, and with it the habit of drinking sungnyung. Its place was taken by boricha, made by boiling roasted barley, usually covered barley (gyeotbori), whose husk clings to the grain. With a toasty flavor much like the drink it replaced, boricha became the everyday companion of a Korean meal.