Roasted grain beverage

A roasted grain beverage (also grain coffee) is a hot beverage made from one or more cereal grains 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 and tea, or in other cases where those beverages are scarce or expensive.^[1]

Several well-known roasted grain beverages are Nestlé Caro, Postum, and Inka. Other brands can be found at health food stores and at some grocery stores.

Some common ingredients include toasted barley, malted barley, rye, chicory, molasses, and beet root.

Use worldwide

Asia

Roasted grain beverages are popular in East Asian cuisines—Korea,^[2] Japan, and China each having one or more versions (usually roasted grains simply steeped in hot water).

• Genmaicha is green tea blended with roasted brown rice.
• Hyeonmi cha is brewed, roasted brown rice.
• Boricha is an infusion made from roasted barley and usually drunk as a cool summer beverage.
• Sobacha is an infusion made from roasted buckwheat kernels and drunk as a tea.
• Oksusu cha is brewed roasted corn infusion; due to its sweetness it is sometimes served alongside or mixed with boricha to soften the latter's bitterness.
• Sungnyung is made from rice scorched while boiling.

Eastern Europe

Some Polish brands are Inka, Krakus, Anatol and Kujawianka.

Often, during the communist period in Russia and Eastern Europe hot grain beverages served as a substitute for coffee during perpetual shortages, caused by Western trade embargoes.

Safety

Acrylamide 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.^[3] The substance has raised health concerns but it is not clear, as of 2013, whether acrylamide consumption affects people's risk of getting cancer.^[4]

See also

• Grain milk
• List of barley-based beverages
• Mash ingredients
• Coffee substitute

References

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