Tea from South Korea

Korean tea has undeservedly fallen into the shadow of teas from the tea giants China and Japan. The country has fantastic teas of the highest quality. However, they have largely stayed within the country or been exported to the more dedicated tea enthusiasts around the world. Most of the South Korean teas are green and can be found both steamed and roasted. In terms of taste, they often lie on the border between Chinese and Japanese – Chinese purity with a certain Japanese fullness could be generalized. The very best Korean teas are produced on a small scale. We source South Korean tea from the Kim family's small farm in Hwagae, Hadong. This area is the origin of the country's tea cultivation and we still find the best and more traditional teas here. The farm's fantastic teas are award-winning and the family has its own stock of semi-wild tea plants/bushes (locally this type of tea is called “yasaeang-cha”, i.e. “wild tea”). The farm's teas are handpicked and completely handmade. It is not easy to get hold of this quality of small-scale Korean teas and we are the first tea importer from Europe to visit this award-winning tea farm. We have brought home green teas from the farm according to the country's traditional categorization, corresponding to the four harvest periods of Ujeon, Sejak, Jungjak and Daejak.
Ujeon is the designation for the first picking of spring, the harvest takes place before "Gogu" on April 20. Gogu is the same as "Guyu" in China, which means "before the rains" and is an important date in the demarcation of tea crops. The early harvest, Gogu usually occurs later than in China, as Korea's climate is cooler.  Read more Read less