Why do I want to drink barley tea in the summer?

"It's already summer again this year."

It is plenty hot outside.

Looking at the calendar, it is certainly summer.

But, I wonder.

Like when I was a child, those moments where you clearly feel that "summer has arrived."

Don't you feel like they've decreased a little?

Summer vacation doesn't start.

Life doesn't change all that much.

Yesterday and today continue on almost exactly the same.

Before I know it, only the hot days continue, and summer is progressing.

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Even for me, there is one thing that changes without me noticing when summer comes around.

Usually, I drink water or Ayataka most of the time.

But, when summer comes.

For some reason, I want to choose barley tea.

At mealtime.

When I return from the hot outdoors.

When I drink barley tea, I feel a certain "summer-ness" in the taste itself.

If you ask for reasons, I can explain a few.

That it contains minerals, or that it has no caffeine.

But, that is probably separate from such logic.

Somehow, in summer, barley tea is good.

I have that kind of feeling.

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At first, I thought it was just a remnant of the past.

On the way home from club activities.

Lunch during summer vacation.

Looking back, the barley tea from my parents' house was always there in my memories of summers past.

Because it's a taste I've repeated every year.

When I drink it, that summer from back then comes back just a little bit.

I thought that must be it.

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But, as I thought about it, I started to feel it might be something a little different.

When I was a child, the seasons themselves changed my life.

Summer vacation begins.

How I spend my days changes.

Along with the scenery around me, it taught me that "it is now summer."

But, when you become an adult.

Even when summer arrives, daily life doesn't change that much.

There is work, and there are plans.

Yesterday and today continue in a similar form.

That is why, the older you get.

The boundaries of the seasons may begradually fading away.

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Thinking about it that way, the feeling of wanting to choose barley tea starts to look a little different.

Barley tea isn't just a taste that reminds me of the past.

It is something that makes the fading boundaries of the seasons clear to me once again.

I've started to feel that way.

Even if it has long been summer on the calendar.

The moment I put cold barley tea to my lips.

Finally, within myself, summer begins.

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When you become an adult, the seasons don't start on their own.

Your own little habits create the boundaries of the seasons.

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The barley tea I drank on the way home from club activities.

The barley tea that was there for lunch during summer vacation.

And now, I drink it when I return from the hot outdoors or at mealtime.

Barley tea hasn't changed at all since those days.

But I, who am drinking it, change a little bit every year.

The summer I was a student.

The summer I became a working adult.

There were summers that were fun, and summers that were tough.

The exact same summer will never come again.

Even so, when I taste the same flavor.

"Summer has come again this year."I can think that.

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Come to think of it, for you too.

Is there one thing that makes you feel like it's summer every year when you encounter it?