Teas or tisanes made with millets

Millet tea is hardly a hot topic for today's Memorial Day holiday (US), but I'll post this under cover of last Tuesday's International Tea Day (5/21). The topic of beverages made with millets has come up periodically on this list, and of course our Millets Webinar last September featuring Twila Soles (Grouse Malt House) on beer from millet(s) and Sujala Balaji (Rainfed Foods) on milk from millets: https://youtu.be/RgkSnqIeHAU . However, we did not broach the topic of teas or tisanes made with millets. Infusions made with one grain or several grains are a thing. Sometimes called grain teas, there are specialists who maintain that these are technically tisanes, a term for infusions not involving leaves of tea plants. (Herbal teas are also technically tisanes.) See: The point is somewhat confused by the inclusion of tea leaf powder in some mixes with grains. In any event, the grains are ground, sometimes after roasting. Personally, my only venture into this space has been barley tea in Korean restaurants. However, it seems one can use just about any grain can be used in this manner, and an online search on "grain tea" or on specific grains will give you an idea. And there are mixes - I saw one boasting 15 grains. (There comes a point where one wonders what the incremental value is of adding a little bit of one more to the mix - reminded of some multigrain breads.) Of course millets are in this space too, even if not in a big way (yet?). Part of what prompted me to post on this was a social media mention of finger millet tea (finger millet or ragi being our millet of the month in May): https://www.mystore.in/en/product/ragi-tea-and-forest-honey-combo?seller=646... Finger millet tea can be made from prepared products such as the above, or using the grains, either toasted or roasted like in this video explainer (note that the roasting gives rise to "coffee" as another metaphor for this infusion), or perhaps not toasted (?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqury3B_UyY (7:12) Not sure how the various millets might compare in terms of taste, but we might add this to the backlog of research needed on flavors of millets and their products. There are multi-millet teas, such as SkyRoots Millet Tea - https://www.distacart.com/products/skyroots-millet-tea . Ingredients of this product include finger millet, pearl millet, and sorghum, among other grains and spices. Over half of the mix, however, is "tea powder." A very short video illustrates use: https://www.instagram.com/food.ie.me/reel/C1HYU8yvaPC/ Anyway, that's a quick tour. Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance
participants (1)
-
Don Osborn