The Marmot’s Hole

About a month ago I visited the second annual “Tea World Festival“, an exhibition held in a hall at the COEX center in southern Seoul, and found it very interesting.

There were booths with displays and products for sale from (south) Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan – the majority were Korean of course, and I didn’t pay much attention to the foreign ones.  Out of the many varieties of the world’s tea, generally falling into three categories – green, oolong and black – that coming from Korea is almost exclusively green(I mean only “real tea” here, ignoring the thousands of kinds of herbal tea available – this exhibition did include, however, several herbal teas made from lotus flowers or from chrysanthemum flowers, with strong health-benefits claimed, that are now being commercially produced in Korea).
There’s a growing global interest in green tea, largely due to its many reputed health benefits and remarkable lack of any bad side effects – apparently, none at all have been found, no matter how much you drink.  It’s increasingly fashionable here in Korea as part of the “well-being” trend, and many of us foreign residents have gotten into it as a gentler alternative to coffee, as a way to discover Korean traditions, and/or as a pleasant & charming supplement to a spiritual path (it has always been closely associated with Seon [zen] Buddhism).
Unfortunately, most people’s experience of it continues to be low-quality broken tea-leaves in mass-produced teabags, sitting in boiling-hot water in a paper cup until it turns deep yellow and bitter.  The ordinary teabags that come from the gigantic commercial farms of Jeju Island or Boseong County, now ubiquitous in offices.  Not surprising that they might think it’s nothing special.  I’m not talking about that, but about the real stuff, properly-handled high-quality leaves brewed in and sipped from ceramic tea-ware, light and fragrant – like the monks do in the mountain-temples, as you can experience on a Temple-Stay or other visit.  The neo-traditional style tea-parlors in Insa-dong are also excellent places to check out the various teas and their associated culture.
Korea now produces some of the world’s best green tea, mostly all grown / picked / dried by small companies run by aficionados on the southern slopes of Jiri-san (National Park).  Despite its high quality, it is still sold at very reasonable prices because it remains relatively unknown to the outside world, hardly ever exported – and still under-appreciated domestically.  Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese teas of comparable quality are far more expensive.
Seven years ago I was the tour-guide for a group of American-based Daoists (led by a Master of a lineage on Taiwan) on a three-week visit to Korea, and experimental variation on their usual annual trip to China.  These folks were totally into green tea, deep experts on every aspect of it.  I took them to the Hwagye-dong area of Jiri-san, outside the entrance to Ssanggye-sa Temple, where Korean tea began in 828 (the tea-farms run all the way up the long valley to Chilbul-sa) for a day of sampling at the many small outlets there.  They were astounded and delighted at the fantastic quality of the tea, the spiritual devotion with which it is prepared at every step, and especially at the relatively low prices it was being sold for – repeatedly exclaiming that tea leaves of that level would cost several times more in China, and even more in Taiwan or Japan.  On the spot, they arranged with several of those producers to import their tea to their shop in California.
This exhibition at COEX presented the full range of quality teas now being produced, from the pedestrian (Jungjak-cha) through the standards (Sejak-cha) to the gourmet choices (Jaksul-cha and Ujeon-cha).  Some growers were claiming their product as “organic” in English.  All were offered at around 50% of the usual retail price.   Also on display was the wide variety of cultural products associated with Tea and its Way – handmade ceramic pots, cups and bowls, innovative water-heaters wooden implements, accessories and little tables.  These items, reflecting the rapid modernization of Korea’s ancient tea-culture, selling for w1000 up to w10,000,000 each, were often of heart-stopping artistry and elegant spiritual depth.  It was good that I hadn’t brought much money with me, or else I easily could have blown several months’ budget, stuff was so tempting!
Korean tea is harvested from late April through May, and so the good time to buy the fresh products is in May and June.  Hadong County of southeastern Jiri-san holds a great Green Tea Festival every year in the Hwagye-dong area – an excellent way to learn all about Korean teas, and buy many of them for very good prices.  That valley has just recently become one of Korea’s best and most authentic cultural/scenic tourism-destinations, and one of my personal favorites.
I guess what I’m really trying to offer to this fine blog’s distinguished readers is just a long-range heads-up – if you’re interested in drinking the really good Korean green tea, never ever ever EVER pay retail prices for it in the department stores or the shops in Insa-dong, etc.  Make the trip on down to Jiri-san – always worthwhile anyway – and buy directly from the producers in their outlets (mostly near Ssanggye-sa) at that ~50% discount – all year ‘round, but especially in late spring and especially at that Festival – you’ll save enough on your stash of great tea to pay for the entire trip.  OR, for the Seoul-bound, save up your cash and wait for the annual “Tea World Festival” exhibition to come to COEX for a few days next June, and stock-up there big-time.
A really good web-site that provides near-complete information from elder expat expert Brother Anthony (An Son-jae), including detailed brewing instructions, in very readable English, can be found here.