Roasted grain beverage
Encyclopedia
A roasted grain beverage is a hot beverage made from one or more cereal grains
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...

 roasted and commercially processed into crystal or powder form to be reconstituted later in hot water. The product is often marketed as a caffeine-free alternative to coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 and tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

.

Several well-known roasted grain beverages are Nestlé Caro
Caro Instant Beverage
Caro is a brand of caffeine-free roasted grain beverages. Some consider it a coffee substitute. It is manufactured by Nestlé and was first introduced in West Germany in 1954. It is available throughout Europe as well as other markets including New Zealand. It is imported to the United States under...

, Inka
Inka (beverage)
Inka is a Polish roasted grain beverage. Developed in the late 1960s during communist rule, Inka has been produced in Skawina since 1971, a centre of coffee production since the early 20th century. While it was used in part as a coffee substitute to alleviate coffee shortages in the 1970s, Inka...

, and Postum
Postum
Postum was a powdered roasted grain beverage sold by the Kraft Foods company as a coffee substitute. The caffeine-free beverage mix was created by Postum Cereal Company founder C. W. Post in 1895 and marketed as a healthful alternative to coffee...

 (a discontinued product). Other brands can be found at health food store
Health food store
A health food store is a type of grocery store that primarily sells health food, organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements...

s and at some grocery stores.

Some common ingredients include toasted barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

, malt
Malt
Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air...

ed barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

, rye
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...

, chicory
Chicory
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons , or for roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also...

, molasses
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...

, and beet root
Beet
The beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...

.

Asian grain tisanes

Roasted grain beverages are popular in Polish (brands Inka, Anatol, Kujawianka) and East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

n cuisines, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

 each having their own versions (usually roasted grains simply steeped in hot water).
  • Genmaicha
    Genmaicha
    is the Japanese name for green tea combined with roasted brown rice. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as "popcorn tea" because a few grains of the rice pop during the roasting process and resemble popcorn...

     is green tea
    Green tea
    Green tea is made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures throughout Asia. It has recently become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally...

     blended with roasted brown rice
    Brown rice
    Brown rice is unmilled or partly milled rice, a kind of whole, natural grain. It has a mild nutty flavor, is chewier and more nutritious than white rice, but goes rancid more quickly because the germ—which is removed to make white rice—contains fats that can spoil...

    .
  • Hyeonmi cha
    Hyeonmi cha
    Hyeonmi cha is a tisane made from roasted brown rice.To make hyeonmi cha, brown rice is washed, then roasted in a pot. Then water is poured into the pot, brought to a boil, and then simmered for approximately ten minutes...

     is brewed, roasted brown rice.
  • Mugicha
    Mugicha
    Roasted barley tea is a caffeine-free, roasted-grain-based tisane made from barley, which is popular in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean cuisine. It is also used as a caffeine-free coffee substitute in American cuisine...

     (bori cha in Korean) is a tisane
    Tisane
    A herbal tea, tisane, or ptisan is a herbal or plant infusion and usually not made from the leaves of the tea bush . Typically, herbal tea is simply the combination of boiling water and dried fruits, flowers or herbs. Herbal tea has been imbibed for nearly as long as written history extends...

     made from roasted barley and usually drunk as a cool summer beverage.
  • Oksusu cha
    Oksusu cha
    Oksusu cha is a traditional Korean tisane made from boiled roasted corn kernels.The variety of corn most often used is called Gang-naeng-i , which is usually grown in the area of Gangneung, a city in the Gangwon province on South Korea's eastern coast, thus making this drink particularly popular...

     is brewed roasted corn
    Maize
    Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

     tisane; due to its sweetness it is sometimes served alongside or mixed with mugicha to soften the latter's bitterness.
  • Sungnyung
    Sungnyung
    Sungnyung is a traditional Korean beverage made from boiled scorched rice.This drink is typically made from nurungji, the roasted crust of rice that forms on the bottom of a pot after cooking rice...

     is made from rice scorched while boiling.

Safety

Acrylamide
Acrylamide
Acrylamide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula C3H5NO. Its IUPAC name is prop-2-enamide. It is a white odourless crystalline solid, soluble in water, ethanol, ether, and chloroform. Acrylamide is incompatible with acids, bases, oxidizing agents, iron, and iron salts...

, a suspected cancer-causing chemical, is found at high levels in dark-colored baked, roasted and fried high-carbohydrate foods, as well as in roasted coffee and barbecued meat. The dark-roasted grains used in roasted grain beverages would also, presumably, have high levels of acrylamide. The Heatox Project (Heat-generated Food Toxicants) is a European Union project that assessed the quantities of acrylamide in various foods. The Project recommended that people toast foods as little as possible. Acrylamide was found in Postum, a roasted grain drink, at a level of 22.3 micrograms per portion. Acrylamide was found in coffee at levels of 1.9 micrograms per portion. Both of these datapoints are FDA-presented data and can be found in an FDA report on Acrylamide in food.

External links

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