Buckwheat Tea (Soba Cha)
Buckwheat tea is an infusion of roasted buckwheat groats, caffeine-free and naturally gluten-free despite the name (buckwheat is not a wheat or even a grass). It is known as soba cha in Japan, memil cha in Korea, and ku qiao cha in China, where the bitter Tartary type is especially popular. The cup is warm, toasty, and nutty, with a malty, almost baked-bread sweetness.
Quality buckwheat tea has a strong toasted-nut aroma and groats that look plump and evenly roasted to a golden or amber brown, not scorched and not pale and underdone. Two main styles exist: common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), which is milder and rounder, and Tartary or golden buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum, ku qiao), which is darker yellow, more robust, and carries a characteristic edge of bitterness. The groats should be whole and clean rather than dusty or full of broken fragments, which brew muddy. A fresh batch gives an immediate, satisfying toasted smell when hot water hits it; a flat or cardboard-like scent signals stale stock. Anyone with a buckwheat allergy should avoid it, as this is a genuine and sometimes serious allergen.
Buckwheat is Fagopyrum esculentum (common) or Fagopyrum tataricum (Tartary or golden), a pseudocereal in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae, unrelated botanically to true cereal grains. It is grown and made into tea across East Asia, with notable Tartary buckwheat traditions in the mountainous southwest of China. Processing is straightforward: the hulled groats are roasted until aromatic, then steeped. As a seed-based infusion it contains no caffeine.
Use about 5 to 8 g of roasted groats per 300 ml, water at 95 to 100°C, and steep 3 to 7 minutes, then strain or simply ladle off the liquor. It is forgiving and will not turn harshly bitter, though Tartary buckwheat is naturally more bitter than the common type, so adjust the amount to taste. Many people top the same groats up with hot water for a second, lighter infusion before discarding them. Buckwheat tea is also excellent cold-brewed in the fridge over several hours.
Inexpensive: around €4-10 (about $4-11) per 100 g for common roasted soba cha, with Tartary or golden buckwheat tea sitting at the upper end of that range or slightly above.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Barley Tea (Mugicha)
Roasted barley is the most common roasted-grain partner to buckwheat, lighter and more straightforwardly grain-sweet, where soba cha is earthier and more distinctly nutty.
Corn Tea
Corn tea shares the toasty, caffeine-free, everyday character but is sweeter and more popcorn-like, lacking buckwheat's malty, almost cocoa-edged depth.
Genmaicha
Genmaicha has a similar roasted-grain warmth from toasted rice, but it is mixed with green tea, so it brings vegetal notes and caffeine that buckwheat tea does not.
Soba cha comes from the same plant as soba noodles, and the roasted groats are often eaten straight from the strainer as a crunchy, nutty snack. Tartary buckwheat tea, sold as golden or ku qiao tea, is traditionally valued in southwest China and is a recognized dietary source of the flavonoid rutin.