I steeped the tea and sniffed it only to recoil with an “Oh no! It’s kasha tea!” Kasha is a strong-smelling Eastern-European grain dish that my family makes. My father loves eating kasha mixed with eggs and fried onions and served with a side of pickled herring. (The kasha smells stronger than the onions or the herring.) My husband loves eating plain kasha. (I consider kasha to be a man-dish. One of those strong tasting things that only a man could like.) A few times a year I make kasha for my beloved and then pray for the smell to leave the kitchen soon. Once I made a cinnamon bread at the same time in the hopes that the cinnamon would defeat the kasha. No dice. Nothing defeats kasha. Nothing.
So, here I am sipping the kasha tea, I mean soba-cha. I’m surprised. It tastes good. The tea is roasty and sweet like cereal grains and it makes me feel good to drink it. But it still smells like kasha. I don’t know if I can get over that part. I’m going to share the rest of this tea with my kasha-loving beloved when I get home. Won’t he be surprised and pleased!
Much thanks to takgoti for sharing the experience!
Update: I’ve given my beloved a cup of Soba-Cha and he sniffed it and said, “It smells like kasha” then happily began sipping. He says it is wonderful and a very soothing tea. So I’m upping the rating to acknowledge his liking of the tea.
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Is it good to compare a tea to this Kasha???
So this is a hold-you-nose kind of tea…
Pete
The tea smells exactly like kasha and I think it actually is a version of kasha when I note that kasha’s other name is roasted buckwheat groats and this is a roasted buckwheat tea. However, it doesn’t really look like kasha. Kasha has grains about four times the size of the grains of this tea. (This tea’s grains look like they’re the size of aquarium gravel.)
A lot of people like kasha. I think it’s a stinky cereal. However, when my husband comes home and the house smells like kasha he gets more excited than when the house smells like bread. So it is clearly a pleasant smell to him and when I’ve made it for guests they’ve claimed to like the smell (or pretended to).
The problem with kasha is that it really isn’t possible to hold your nose. It has a very penetrating aroma that lasts. When I make kasha the house smells like kasha for a week. This tea isn’t quite so penetrating, but it is very strange to catch a whiff of it and think “kasha”.
Aren’t you in New York? If so, it is easy for you to get a bit of kasha. Just go to your nearest Jewish deli and ask for some kasha (they will almost certainly cook it with egg). Or drop by Nathan’s in Coney Island and get a kasha knish.
OK. I just asked one of my co-workers (male) to sniff my tea. He’s pretty white bread in his tastes so he’s a good test of a normal person. He says it smells delicious and makes his mouth water. This lends more support to my hypothesis that kasha is a guy thing.
It’s interesting…I’ve never had kasha, but I’ve had soba. I know that I like soba, but I wonder if the end-product of soba isn’t as aromatic as kasha? I can’t for the life of me recall what it smells like. That’s probably the answer to my question. This one is totally on my shopping list now, though!
I’ve never had kasha or soba-cha, but they both sound great! I’ll have to try it. Thanks.
@sophistre Soba does not smell like Kasha. Soba has a very neutral smell and a slightly nutty taste. If soba and kasha had a cage match, kasha would wipe the floor with the noodle-like soba.
@DragonWell You can have my share of the world-market for kasha. I’m glad it sounds good to you.
Is it good to compare a tea to this Kasha???
So this is a hold-you-nose kind of tea…
Pete
The tea smells exactly like kasha and I think it actually is a version of kasha when I note that kasha’s other name is roasted buckwheat groats and this is a roasted buckwheat tea. However, it doesn’t really look like kasha. Kasha has grains about four times the size of the grains of this tea. (This tea’s grains look like they’re the size of aquarium gravel.)
A lot of people like kasha. I think it’s a stinky cereal. However, when my husband comes home and the house smells like kasha he gets more excited than when the house smells like bread. So it is clearly a pleasant smell to him and when I’ve made it for guests they’ve claimed to like the smell (or pretended to).
The problem with kasha is that it really isn’t possible to hold your nose. It has a very penetrating aroma that lasts. When I make kasha the house smells like kasha for a week. This tea isn’t quite so penetrating, but it is very strange to catch a whiff of it and think “kasha”.
Aren’t you in New York? If so, it is easy for you to get a bit of kasha. Just go to your nearest Jewish deli and ask for some kasha (they will almost certainly cook it with egg). Or drop by Nathan’s in Coney Island and get a kasha knish.
OK. I just asked one of my co-workers (male) to sniff my tea. He’s pretty white bread in his tastes so he’s a good test of a normal person. He says it smells delicious and makes his mouth water. This lends more support to my hypothesis that kasha is a guy thing.
It’s interesting…I’ve never had kasha, but I’ve had soba. I know that I like soba, but I wonder if the end-product of soba isn’t as aromatic as kasha? I can’t for the life of me recall what it smells like. That’s probably the answer to my question. This one is totally on my shopping list now, though!
I’ve never had kasha or soba-cha, but they both sound great! I’ll have to try it. Thanks.
@sophistre Soba does not smell like Kasha. Soba has a very neutral smell and a slightly nutty taste. If soba and kasha had a cage match, kasha would wipe the floor with the noodle-like soba.
@DragonWell You can have my share of the world-market for kasha. I’m glad it sounds good to you.