Top Annual Korean Tea Festivals, Fairs, and Conventions

Korea is a festival full nation with hundreds and hundreds of annual festivals. Most festivals in Korea highlight a local custom, tradition, agricultural product, and often occur at a time which best highlights the beauty of an area or during a time of year that is most relevant to the particular industry or product. Like in Japan and China, the harvest of tea in Korea is a symbol of Spring. So it is fitting that the six main tea festivals of Korea take place in Springtime.


Mungyeong Traditional Chasabal (Teabowl) Festival (Late April-First Week Of May)


This festival kicks off the tea festival season in Korea in late April-first week of May. It is located in Mungyeong, a region that was historically influential in the production and evolution of tea bowl ceramics in Korean and conversely Japan. It brings together some of the top masters of Korean tea pottery and is a place where they can showcase their talent. It also draws new potters to the festival trying to establish themselves in the industry. It is maybe the festival that has reached out the most to international participants and visitors over the years. Every year it draw in famous international tea potters as well as there is a contest for international potters. In the years past Korean influenced European potters Petr Novak of Pots and Tea blog and Daivid Lourveau have exhibited there. Cho Hak of Morning Crane Tea blog usually does a tour to this festival every year. The Korean powered tea ceremonies are also a must see at Mungyeong Teabowl Festival.


Hadong Wild Tea Culture Festival (First Week of May)


This festival is located in the heart of Korea's most traditional tea growing region, Hadong. The tea season officially kicks off in Hagong at Gogu (April 20ish) where the yearly ceremony giving thanks to the tea god takes place. The tea festival follows a few weeks later but continues to highlight the most traditional aspects of Korean tea culture such as the Korean tea ceremony. It is also a festival which gets you out into the fields of wild and semi-wild tea and focus on traditional picking and production. It is the only festival that puts you smack dab in the action in the middle of the busiest time of tea picking in Korea.


Boseong Green Tea Festival (Third Week of May)


This festival is located in the most well-know of Korea's tea producing areas, Boseong. The tea festival in Boseong is more of a mainstream Korean tea experience. The event includes not only picking tea and producing it in the perfect looking, machine manicured tea fields, but also trying and even making some of the other agricultural products are produced from the area's tea leaves. Of course there is also a chance to try some of the best green tea Boseong has to offer. The Boseong Tea Research Center has events running throughout the festival.


Daegu World Tea Culture Festival (Thrid or Fourth Week in May)


This tea festival in one of the largest conservative metropolitan citys in Korea, Daegu, draws a big crowd of tea exhibitors from the surrounding tea areas to the South. Tea culture is strong and well in Daegu and it shows in this festival that takes place in the EXCO convention center. Packed full of tea exhibitors, it offers a nice balance of famous Korean tea producers, local tea shops, and tea ceramic exhibitors. Expect a full line up of Korean tea ceremony performances, if you attend.


Tea World Festival (Seoul) (First Week of June)


This is the main annual commercial tea exhibition in Korea and takes place in Seoul's COEX convention center. With the main tea picking season over in Korea, all focus is on this, the largest tea gathering in Korea. All the big Korean producers have booths at this exhibition with tonnes of small producers and farmers with stalls mixed in as well. This is also the festival with the biggest international tea presence. The stage features Korean related tea performances and lectures. One of the interesting events is the open invitation, group, Korean tea ceremony.


Busan International Tea and Craft Fair (Last Week of October)


Busan is clever enough to offer a tea festival in the exact opposite season (six months away) from the best tea picking time in Korea. It definitely quells the thirst of Korean tea lovers as it offers the standard fare of tea and tea related exhibitors in a standard convention center setting, the BEXCO convention center. This convention, as the title implies, has more folk and craft exhibitors in the mix as well.


It should be noted that the festivals that take place in the city convention centers actually take place over a period of 4 days (Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun) where the Festivals in the growing areas typically run from 5-8 days. It should also be noted that each of the websites hyperlinked in this post have English pages that are accessed in the top right of the Korean page.


Peace

Hadong, South Korea- A Recognized Cittaslow, Hadong Tea- A Slow Food

Hadong, South Korea is a special place. Unlike most places in Korea its pace is, well, a lot slower. Slow enough to be recognized as an official Cittaslow, a slow city, promoting the slow food and slow movement. It is special in a sense because it is the only recognized slow tea city in the world. The contrast in the pace of life is quite stark from the rest of the country with its speed trains, tech savy population, and fast pace lifestyle. As a reaction to this almost unavoidable pace of life, Korea has done much to support the slow food and slow movement and in 2009 five slow cities in South Korea were recognized by cittaslow including the Akyang village of Hadong.

When you think of it though, all villages throughout Asia that grow and drink tea in the traditional way are, in fact, slow cities. The problem is that almost all tea areas and cities have since mechanized and/or used some sort of fertilizers/ pesticides in at least some aspect of the tea production in the area or have lost some aspect of their traditional tea culture. This is what makes Hadong so special- it is really hard to find these unnatural (and obviously so much 'faster') ways of growing and producing tea. The slow tea movement of Hadong is essentially a modern revival and trendier renaming of what is traditional growing, producing, preparation, and consumption of tea- nothing more. What is sad is that a certification agency is needed to protect and promote these things and that they are not simply protected and promoted for their own sake.

Boseong is usually the tea producing area that first comes to mind for Koreans because of its relationship with Korean pop culture. Hadong is slowly gaining national and international notoriety for exactly the opposite reasons. Handong is setting a excellent example of how tea areas, towns, and cities throughout Asia can preserve and promote their traditional tea culture.

Peace

Thanks to Alex Zorach of Alex Zorach's Tea Blog and his post on "Tea as Slow Food" and to Gingko of Life In Teacup and her post on how to enjoy tea (or noodles) in the spirit of slow food. They motivated one to put these old notes jotted down years ago into a post. Please do have a look at thier great posts for more on the subject of slow food and tea.

Double Peace

That Famous Hadong Tea Packaging

Teas from Hadong South Korea often come packaged in a generic boxes. These boxes were even featured on a commercial promoting business and tourism in Hadong which aired on CNN a few years ago.

The packaging can be used by producers in the region once an inspector from the Hadong Tea Institute inspects the tea's production and usually tries some of the tea. It is a quality control thing and ensures that someone isn't bringing in tea from a cheaper region and selling it as Hadong green tea (which in Korea would be very unlikely). It also makes sure that the people making the tea actually know what they are doing and won't put out a substandard product that would hurt the image of Hadong green teas.

This generic box indicates that this tea is not a big commercial production but rather a small batch. Selling tea in a generic Hadong green tea box has many benefits.

Firstly, it insures a certain level of quality for the consumer because it was inspected by an official from the Hadong Green Tea Institute.

Secondly, it saves the small producer the costs of designing and producing their own box which, for a small batch of green tea, would be quite costly.

Thirdly, it has some marketing appeal because it has brand recognition- in this case the brand is the actual area or "Hadong Green Tea". When customers see the generic box they know its green tea from Hadong. Hadong green tea is a part of South Korea's geographical indication system that has had much success attaching the area of Hadong to green tea (see this research on a similar affect on Boseong and green tea). Fourthly, the colour of the box indicates the grade of green tea, which can also be quite handy for the consumer.

Ujeon grade is packaged in a blue box, saejak in a camouflage green box, jungjak in a gold/yellow and brown box, and daejak in a bright (normal) green box. The red box is the generic packaging for "Bal hyo cha" (semi oxidized, yellow tea). Other than the change of colour the boxes all pretty much look the same.

It is important to note that productions with their own packaging don't follow this colour code. It is also worthy of note that most western dealers of Korean tea would probably not use this packaging because it has only "Hadong Green Tea" written in English and the rest of the characters on the box are Korean.

Peace

2009 Handong Green Tea- Picked In The Spring, Oxidized Through the Summer, Roasted In the Fall

This tea was shipped with others from Korea a few months ago. It gives no hints as to what kind of tea it is other than the generic 'Hadong Green Tea' package that is used by the producers in the area.

Tearing open the top of the bag then opening the zip lock reveals a surprise- the smell of roasted nutty chocolate and cherry notes that transform into a more common nutty cereal odour. This doesn't smell like your typical Handong green tea. Perhaps its a yellow tea, or an autumnal green, maybe a roasted green?

The leaves are scooped out and examined- small, faded, dusty brown leaves. The dry leaves look too dark to be a green tea yet too faded, dusty, and light to be a yellow. The leaves are rolled like a green tea, not tightly wound like a yellow. These clues and the predominately toasty cereal scent of the leaves suggests a roasted green tea. A tea not all that common in Korea.

These leaves are guided into the pot and after the water has cooled, it to is added. The tea pours out a turbid yellow-brown.

The first infusion carries a strong taste of hay, nuts, and strong cereal notes that almost drown out all of the sweetness and actual tea tastes. This first infusion is pondy and roasty. The lips numb, the tongue and mouth are sparsely coated. Its body is thin in the mouth.

The second infusion brings more of that hollow roasted cereal which is still felt mainly on the lips, tingling them. The flavour becomes more tart. Hay notes linger just a short while on the breath.

In the third infusion a rubbery mouthfeel and aftertaste develops. More hollow graininess. It doesn't move much from here. The later infusions are more of the same with the taste becoming thinner, lighter, and more grassy. In the end one attempts to over steep this tea, attempting to pull something interesting from it. One is only greeted with thin, bitter, astringent graininess.

The faint qi of this tea is quite mixed up and impure. It leaves one feeling somewhat more energetic but more hazy and lethargic than one should feel from a green tea. The overall presentation of this tea leads one to believe that it was improperly produced. The production did not harmonize with the tea resulting in a product that doesn't flow throughout the body and mind but instead clouds it.

When the wet leaves are examined there are little flecks of ash deposited in the small, still curled up, leaves. This could be evidence of a wood burning roast. Roasting tea using a wood burning method is much more difficult to achieve good results compared to the easily controlled setting of gas roasting.

One has learned from this tea. One hopes the producer learns from this tea too, correcting mistakes and improving production next year.

Peace

Note: The comments clear up which type of tea this is.

Disambiguation of Jiri Mountain (Chiri Mountain, Jirisan, Chirisan) Tea

Please check out this link (here) for a wonderful map of Jiri Mountain.

As you can see Jiri Mountain is not one peak but several in an area considered 'Jiri Mountain'.
Ssangyaesa (Ssangyae Temple) is located in Hwagae Valley.
Hadong is the county that includes Southern slopes of Jiri Mountain, Ssangyaesa, and Hwagae Valley.
Hadong is also the name of the town in Hadong County that is the hub of the tea business here.

Therefore tea from this area can be referred to as:

Jiri Mountain Tea- tea grown on the mountain
Hwagae Valley Tea- tea grown in Hwagae Valley
Hadong Tea- tea that is produced anywhere in Hadong's tea producing area (including Hwagae Valley and the Southern Jiri Mountians) and often shares a generic Hadong tea bag or box

Peace

Three Main Tea Producing Areas In Korea: Jiri Mountain

No matter where you go in Korea you will see mountains. You simply can't escape their omnipresent gaze. Out of the thousands of peaks that litter the landscape there are few holier and more, revered than the Jiri Mountains.

The Jiri mountains were deemed important feng shui points at which auspicious Buddist Temples and Pagodas were built. When Chan (Zen) Buddhism migrated from China, it found its home on the secluded slopes of Jiri Mountain. Some of these famous temples are still standing in the same spot they have stood for over a thousand years before.

As long as Zen temples have covered the lush mountain side, so has tea. If you wander the mountain peaks of Jiri Mountain you may just find tea trees that were born from the seeds of ancestors planted over 1200 years ago.

Historical Records of The Three Kingdoms (Samguk Sagi) documents how Kim Daeryum (Dae-Ryeom) smuggled some tea seeds from China. This Korean government official had sewn them into the seam of this garments. A daring attempt, considering the export of China's tea seed was illegal at that time. In 828 A.D., after careful consideration, King Heungdeok of the Shilla Dynasty ordered the tea seeds planted on the Southern slopes of Jiri Mountain.

The tea bushes thrived under the care of the prolific zen monk and teaist, Jingam (774-850) at Ssanggyesa Temple. During Jingam's time, the tea fields around the temple grew and many villages around the Ssanggyesa Temple began planting and producing tea all the way through Hwagae Valley. At that time, and for hundreds of years later, tea became used in all sorts of Religious and Royal ceremonies.

Over the last 500 hundred years, as hard times hit Korea, tea slowly slid into decline. As its use declined, tea plantations were abandoned for other crops, tea slowly continued to spread almost unnoticed, growing wild all over Jiri Mountain.

It wasn't until after the Korean war that tea on Jiri Mountain was "rediscovered". From that time on tea in Korea has experienced a renaissance. Its popularity has gone through the roof in the last few decades. The seeds from the wild plants, are now used to populate much of Handong county with tea plantations.

Most Korean teaists claim that the tea grown here is the only 'true' Korean tea. Most of it is organic and very little, if any, sprays are used. Almost all of the tea made here is done the traditional way, all by hand. Some even produce tea using the completely traditional wood burning method, which takes years of skill and intuition to prefect.

Every year in April and May, Confucian ceremonies are held for 'the Spirit of the Tea' in a spot where three stone monuments mark the area believed to be the place where Kim Daeryum planted seeds back in 828 A.D. Hadong county also hosts an annual Wild Green Tea Festival in May. During these times, these rolling tea hills speak of times long ago. If you listen close enough, you can hear them even in there silence.

Peace

Click on these links for:

Three Main Tea Producing Areas in Korea: Boseong

Three Main Tea Producing Areas in Korea: Jeju Island

2008 Nok Ya Won Ujeon Handong Green Tea

Mr. Kim from Nok Ya Won gave one an invitation to the serene Jiri Mountains that surround the quaint city of Handong. In these mountains one picked, heat treated, rolled, and dried the wild tea that cover the scenic mountains. This tea is close to ones heart because it came from one. It is the labour of love.

So the tasting of this tea was shared with family not seen in a long time, outdoors amongst the new green spring growth of a Canadian garden. The following notes come from these sessions.

The newly opened foil packing reveals a wonderful odour that overpowers the ambient fragrance of newly potted perennials and freshly spread potting soil. The scent is rich, sweet, full, with evergreen and grape primed in ones mind. The complex odour of tea makes way for the dry leaves which are carefully coxed out of the foil pack with a polished stainless steel J.A. Hanckles tea spoon. The leaves reveal a deep black-green with light green highlights and a soft white coating- a nice looking dry leaf. These leaves tumble from the spoon into the shallows of the teapot.

The water that was left cooling in the cooling bowl is now slowly and mindfully poured onto the leaves. The sound of water echoing from the tea pot as water carefully fills the pot alerts ones mind to the reaction taking place when making tea, the reaction between tea, humanity, and water. The lukewarm water is left on the leaves for a short time before all of the newly concocted liquor is poured just as mindfully back into the cooling bowl before immediately being courteously poured into awaiting cups.

As cups touch patient lips, tea pours forth, the true nature of tea unfurrows in the mouth, down the throat, and throughout ones body and soul. This tea initially displays a light, sweet, roasted nut taste with undertones of wood, this is a very nutty tea a peanut buttery tea. The first infusion is soft, gentle and watery on the tongue. As the tea fills the mouth it triggers some sweet taste receptors. Then as it makes its way down the throat and into the stomach a slight silky astringency covers ones mouth.

We drink casually and enjoy the morning calm, the puffy cotton ball clouds, and the bright blue sky above. Later infusions allow for stronger elements of the tea to emerge, the mouthfeel is the most pronounced as the silky astringency in the first infusions turn into a fond dry tightness felt on the upper sides of the tongue. Tones of grape and sharp creamery butter are faintly identified in the brew that is overpoweringly nutty. The rough natural character of this wild tea can be felt in the later infusions. Perhaps in this way it mirrors and captures the hard work that went into producing this tea.

With a nutty aftertaste on our breath, we go through pot after pot of this tea enjoying the company of each other and of the robins that sing joyfully chirping and dancing about on the grass, and the pair of doves that coo while nesting in the evergreen in the corner of the yard. This tea holds its own through many infusions. And so we drink into mid morning, discussing the stamina and delicious profile of this tea. Someone mentions that the subtle elements of grape and butter are lost in the last infusions to the sweet nutty taste that characterizes this tea. Someone also mentions that this tea is quite different than last years tea of the same maker (see post), much better.

As everyone slowly begins to leave, one contently cleans the cups with the hot water of the kettle and puts the Kim Jeong Pill buncheong tea set back on the serving tray. One reflects on the calming and alerting chaqi- the perfect green for meditation or just enjoying the stillness of morning just as we did. The energy that went into producing and preparing this tea shows in its final product, smiles on all those who shared in this tea.

Peace

Making Green Tea the Traditional Korean Way- Part Four: Final Processing

When leaves have gone through the cycle of drying and rolling a few times, it becomes apparent that they cannot endure another round of rolling without breaking. The once soft and suble green leaves have become a crisp, brittle, dark grayish-green purple. When the leaves display these features it is time for them to rest.

They are carefully removed by hand and laid to rest on large screens, the same type that functionally adorn window sills. These screens allow for the largest surface area of the leaf to be exposed to air. In this way the tea sits idle, maintaining its preserved energies overnight.

The next day the tea awakens only to be returned once more to the cauldron. This final round of drying is under low heat. The fragile and brittle leaves are carefully turned by hand for a long period of time. As the tea is drying it emits a yellowish-white powder as it has done throughout repeated, long exposure to the heat of the cauldron. This powder leaves a residue in the aluminum cauldron and coats the dark hair of those working over the cauldron in a ghostly white film. The yellowish-white powder is actually the chemical constitute of caffeine. As the bitter-fresh leaves are exposed to long bouts of heat, caffeine is coxed out resulting in the final sweet taste and smell of Korean green tea.

After long hours of special handling over low heat, the leaves are completely dried. They are then placed on a traditional woven sifter where they cool. When they have cooled down, an old lady picks up the sifter and sifts out the dirt, dust, and chipped pieces of leaves using a method that has been passed down for hundreds of years in Korea. Her motions push the unwanted pieces to the edge where they are removed from the rest of the leaves.

After they have been sifted and have completely cooled they will be taken away to be placed in foil bags, the foil bags will be placed in boxes, and the boxes placed on tea shop shelves. It is here where these preserved leaves wait patiently for one to prepare them. They eagerly anticipate a time to come when warm water hits their shriveled, shrunken, curled, grayish-purple bodies, transforming them into what they were before, bright green and full of energy.

Cho Ui wrote the following about the final steps of making tea,

After one is finished making tea, it must be dried and placed into a chest. The chest must be sealed with paper for three days to allow tea to restore its true essence. After three days have gone by, tea must be retreated over low heat in an iron cauldron so that it becomes fully and completely dried.

Once the tea is dried and then cooled, it needs to be stored in a container. Tea needs to be gently guided into a container. Tea needs to be covered with bamboo bark,before the lid is sealed with thin white paper that is wrapped around the opening. A brick that is taken from the flames and then cooled is placed on top to completely seal the opening when the container is placed in storage. It is crucial that no wind makes its way into the container and it is also important that the container is not placed near open flames. If wind makes its way into the container, the tea leaves take on cold, negative qualities and if the container is near open flames, the tea leaves prematurely take on a yellowish colour.

Paraphrased from a Translation of Cha Shin Jeon in The Book of Korean Tea by Yang-Seok Yoo with changes

Peace

Making Green Tea the Traditional Korean Way- Part Three: Rolling the Tea, Drying the Tea

When the tea leaves have spent some time on the hot cauldron and are becoming soft and subtle, it is now time for them to be rolled. The first rolling takes place in the hot cauldron. The old ladies working over the hot heat of the cauldron push down on the leaves, briefly compressing them before they are rolled together. This process allows the moisture in the leaves to dissipate thereby sealing within the fresh energy of the tea.

When the leaves have absorbed enough of the heat they shrink, wilt, and loose some of their bright green luster they once proudly displayed. They are removed from the heat of the cauldron and are laid to rest on linen tightly pinned to a wood tabletop. They are then hand rolled much in the same way fresh dough is hand rolled and kneaded. This rolling is done to achieve maximum flavour and aroma evenly distributed over the surface of each leaf. It also conditions the leaf to curl tightly on itself as it drys. The soft leaves are rolled vigorously, but carefully. One must be careful not to rip, tear, or shred the skin of the leaves.

After the leaves are rolled they will get some deserved rest. These leaves will go through this cycle of drying over the cauldron, rolling, and then drying in the open air two or three more times. The leaves go though this cycle to achieve balance and harmony. If the leaves are dried to quickly they will be in shock and will burn, if the leaves are dried to slowly they become exhausted and will loose their qi. Making Korean tea the traditional way requires one to be closely in tune with tea and the world in which it is a part of. One must strive for the middle path.

Cho Ui wrote the following about this balancing act,

Place hot tea leaves on a screen, shake several times to cool off, and then filter out particles from the leaves. One needs to repeat this cycle of stirring and cooling with less heat each time to properly dry the leaves...

The mysterious taste of tea starts with the sincerity of those who make the tea. It requires refined tea making skills and fine brewing to achieve harmony between water and tea.

The quality of tea is determined as the tea leaves are placed into a hot cauldron and stirred the first time. The clarity of tea depends on water and fire. The correct level of heat produces clarity of aroma while the essence of tea remains in the cauldron. Low heat removes the sublime aroma and taste while high heat burns the tea leaves. Firewood that is immature will not burn well and will cause the jade colour of tea to be lost. Tea leaves would become overly ripe if the heat is too long, and less ripe if there is not enough heat.

If tea leaves are too ripe, the colour fades to yellow. If tea leaves are less ripe, the colour turns to black. Only the appropriate level of heat will yield the smooth and sweet taste, if not the taste becomes harsh and astringent. Tea leaves with white marks are acceptable. Tea leaves that are evenly treated are the best.

Paraphrased from a Translation of Cha Shin Jeon in The Book of Korean Tea by Yang-Seok Yoo with changes

Peace

Making Green Tea the Traditional Korean Way- Part Two: Heat Treating the Leaves

After the leaves have been picked they are transported to the production site, an open air facility that allows elements of nature to creep in and comfort the newly picked tea. Here the leaves are dumped from the large mesh bags onto a fibrous rush mat where they sit only for some time, awaiting their fate as tea. The leaves rest, a reprieve from what is to come.

At this time the twigs, old and torn leaves, and anything else that has made it into the basket and isn't top grade tea is picked out.

While the tea is left in calm, the cauldron is heated. Traditionally, the cauldrons were made of iron and fired by wood. Nowadays, they are made of Aluminum and are fired by gas. These changes were made out of modern convenience as it is extremely difficult to maintain a consistent temperature with the traditional wood burning type. It is very important that the temperature is stable and that the cauldrons are properly preheated between 250-350 degrees Celsius.

When the cauldron is ready, the leaves are thrust upon it. The dense pile of vegetation cries out in a hiss or cackle as the the moisture in the leaves connect with the hot heat of the aluminum. The result of this altercation is the smell of fresh tea that is carried by hot steam, released into the air, enveloping ones being. The smell is indescribably good, a smell that one will always remember, a smell that a blog can't give justice to.

The smell of the leaves are accompanied by brisk, tossing hand motions as the tea is careful stirred. It is important they are constantly being stirred as not to prevent burning. The technique used to hand stir the tea allows all of the leaves to be exposed to the heat for an equal amount of time so the flavour is evenly distributed throughout the leaves. As they are exposed to this initial step oxidization stops, the leaf is softened and the life energy of green tea is sealed within.

Cho Ui wrote the following about these steps,

After tea leaves are plucked, one must sort out old chipped leaves, and twigs. Put one and a half geun (approx 1 Kg) of tea leaves into a hot iron cauldron, about 2.5 feet in diameter and hand stir it. The cauldron must be extremely hot before tea leaves are placed into it. The leaves must be stirred quickly, but throughly and fully. One must not change the temperature of the cauldron while stirring the leaves...

It is virtually impossible to express the minute details of stirring tea leaves on a hot iron cauldron. When the heat is just right, the colour and aroma of tea leaves reach the ultimate level of beauty and the miracle of tea takes place, resulting in the mysteriously sublime taste of tea.

~

Paraphrased from a Translation of Cha Shin Jeon in The Book of Korean Tea by Yang-Seok Yoo with changes

Peace

Making Green Tea the Traditional Korean Way- Part One: Picking Tea

One took part in the making of green tea on May third and forth in Hadong, an area known for its rich history in making tea. The following is a description of how green tea is made in Korea.

In the valley of the Jiri Mountians just outside Hadong, old ladies, geared up in sun visors and long sleeve shirts, mesh bags hang ready at their side with straps draped around their shoulders, carrying bright plastic strainers, scatter amongst the wild tea bushes. These ladies smile, chant, and hum traditional verses as they work early in the morning sun. Verses of tea, verses always used to cheer the soul when toiling in the fields. They happily pluck only the young, bright green, top shoots from the bush.

In one efficiently smooth motion the new leaves depart from their home. Usually, the needle-like top leaf is picked along with one newly revealed brother or sister leaf and another partly unfurrowed sibling leaf. This is done as to not disrupt the harmony, the bond between siblings.

After a sufficient amount of these leaves have been gathered in this way, the ladies pool their leaves into one large bag and they are taken off to be dried and hand processed as they depart from the calm of the mountain valley.

The Korean Saint of Tea, Cho Ui, wrote the following about tea picking in his book, Dashinjeon, (The Way of Tea, or The Story of the Tea God),

Regarding the picking of leaves, timing is important. If it is too early, the fragrance of the tea will be imperfect and if it is too late, the spirit of the tea will disperse... The best leaves are the ones with a purple tint, wrinkled leaves are second, and rounded curling leaves are the next best. Leaves that shine but resemble the leaves of dwarf bamboo are the worst. It is best to pick leaves that are soaked in the early morning dew from a cloudless night, leaves picked in the sunshine of midday are the next best. Picking leaves when it is cloudy or rainy should be avoided. The tea trees in the mountain valleys are the best, tea trees that grow in bamboo forests are second best, next are tea trees which grow in rocky fields, and tea trees that grow in yellow sand is preferred after that.

~

Paraphrased from a Translation of Cha Shin Jeon in The Book of Korean Tea by Yang-Seok Yoo with changes

Peace

Abundant Tea, Abundant Mind

Tea is a food.
Tea is a beverage.
Tea is a medicine.

In the abundant wild tea fields that line the misty mountain valleys of Jiri Mountains this time of year, tea flourishes. While in season, the bright youthful exuberance of tea is abound.

It hides in all foods, adding flavour, giving it energy. Its fresh, sweet, green tasty leaves hide on beefy steaks, amongst leafy salads, and atop of ones simple, store bought instant noodles.

It's almost mind boggling how much tea can be seen around town. Its uses seem as endless as its abundance.

When injuries occur in the seclusion of the mountain valley tea is used to heal. Tea heals both mind and body.

One witnessed its medicinal use. A scratched arm in the tea fields, a burned arm on the hot cauldron used for heat treating the tea, tea sooths all ailments as fresh young leaves are pounded into a paste and then hastily applied to the wound.

One must always remember that tea is not just a tasty drink.

Tea is tea.

Using tea only for a beverage restricts tea, restricting ones mind.

How do you use tea?

Peace