Korean tea is a beverage consisting of boiled water infused with leaves, roots, flowers, fruits, grains, edible mushrooms, or seaweed.
History
According to the Record of Gaya, cited in the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, the legendary queen Heo Hwang-ok, a princess of Ayodhya, brought the Camellia sinensistea plant from India to Korea and planted it on Baegwolsan, a mountain that borders the city of Changwon. In practice, however, Labrador tea and fruit teas, such as magnolia berry tea and goji berry tea, were more widely used in the Samhan Era instead. It is a widely held belief that the systematic planting of tea bushes began with the introduction of Chinese tea culture by Buddhist monks some centuries later. Some of the earliest Buddhist temples in Korea, such as Bulgapsa, Bulhoesa, and Hwaeomsa, claim to be the birthplace of Korean tea culture. The import of Chinese tea products started during the reign of Queen Seondeok of Silla, when two types of tea bricks, jeoncha and dancha, were imported from the Tang Empire. In 765, a Buddhist monk is said to have presented an offering of the tea to King Gyeongdeok and the Buddha. Camellia sinensis tea plants spread throughout the country in 828, when King Heungdeok received seeds from the Tang Empire and sent them to be planted on the Jirisan mountain. Tea was usually offered to the Buddha, as well as to the spirits of deceased ancestors. Tea culture continued to prosper during the Goryeo Dynasty. Tea offering was a part of the biggest national ceremonies, such as Yeondeunghoe and Palgwanhoe, and tea towns were formed around temples. During the reign of King Myeongjong, Seon-Buddhist manners of ceremony prevailed. Jeong Mongju and other scholars enjoyed tea poetry, dasi, and tea meetings, dahoe. The state of daseonilchi was eulogized. Xu Jing, a Song dynasty envoy who visited Goryeo in 1123, wrote in the Gaoli tujing that the people of Goryeo were avid tea drinkers and set out tea three times a day. Coins were accepted at tea and wine shops. During the Joseon Dynasty, Korean tea culture underwent secularization. The royal family and aristocracy used tea for simple rites, a practice referred to as darye, which is often translated as "etiquette for tea". Towards the end of the Joseon Dynasty, commoners adopted the practice of using tea for ancestral rites. The word charye, cognate to darye, now refers to jesa. In the past, the two terms were synonymous, as ancestral rites often involved offerings of tea to the ancestors. Wedding ceremonies also included tea offerings. The practice of packing tea into small cakes, which lost popularity in China during the 14th century, continued in Korea until the 19th century. In 1895, King Gojong of the Korean Empire used coffeefor the first time. In 1896, grocery stores began to have tea rooms as annexes, and the first modern tea house was established in 1924.
Traditions
Market
Although tea from the Camellia sinensis plant is not as popular as coffee in South Korea – with the annual South Korean tea consumption at per capita, compared to for coffee – grain teas are served in many restaurants instead of water. Herbal and fruit teas are commonly served, both hot and cold.
Green tea, the most common form of Korean leaf tea, is an unoxidized tea made from the dried leaves of the tea plant. Nokcha can be classified into various types based on several different factors. The most common is the flush, or the time of the year when the leaves are plucked : these varieties are named ujeon, sejak, jungjak, and daejak. Loose leaf tea is called ipcha or yeopcha, while powdered tea is called garu-cha or malcha. Roasted deokkeum-cha are more popular than steamed jeungje-cha. Southern, warmer regions such as Boseong, Hadong, and Jeju are famous for producing high quality tea leaves. Banya-cha and Jungno-cha among others are renowned. Nokcha can be blended with other ingredients, such as roasted brown rice to make hyeonmi-nokcha or lemon to make remon-nokcha.
Partially oxidized
Hwangcha
A tea made of partially oxidized leaves of the tea plant. The tea, like oolong from China, is a cross between unoxidized green tea and fully oxidized black tea. The oxidation process for hwangcha is very specific, which enables it to develop its unique flavor.
Oxidized
Hongcha
Fully oxidized tea, called black tea in the west, is called "red tea" in Korea, as well as in China and Japan. Jaekseol-cha, whose name shares the same origin as the green teajakseol, is a traditional black tea variety from Hadong in South Gyeongsang Province.
