TeaBuy Korea 2018 : Into the Mist and Our Offerings

 

TeaBuy Korea is a project of Morning Crane Tea

 A Tea Producer's Tale:
This Korean winter has been quite cold and harsh. As I have done for many years for my grandmother, now as owner, it remains my responsibility to tend to the leaves. On this early April morning there is a calm in the cold crisp air. The light has not yet begun to break over the ridge of the mountain. I select a warm jacket and step outside.  It is still quite dark and the mist is so thick I wonder if the light will ever break through. I have met this mist before as it has greeted me on many of these early April mornings before the first pick.  "How far will I be able to see this morning?", I wonder. The path to the tea field can be steep and treacherous. I also know this mountain well and have climbed it many times in the early morning like this. Today the trip is not to pick the leaves but simply to walk among them to inspect the damages of winter and access the work that needs to be done before the pick. Lighting my lamp, I start out walking along the misty path carefully picking my way toward the field. The mist is very thick but knowing this path well helps me find my way. I also know that the sun will soon shine its reassuring rays over the mountain and unveil the field. This was my grandmother’s field and her grandmother’s field before her. The bushes are old and deep rooted. "Grow the bushes like nature would." my grandmother said.  My grandmother taught me how to know these bushes, to understand the leaves, to assess the damages of winter, and how to anticipate and appreciate the new growth.

To my surprise, the mist has not lifted and I have arrived at the tea field before the sun. Pausing to catch my breath after my long climb, I now look toward the emerging sun that is just beginning to break through.  Standing there, I simply watch the sun’s light as it first peeks and then slowly cuts its beams through the mist gently illuminating this world of tea. It is amazing how the light seems to pick each bush individually and awaken it.

Looking up, the sky is not blue but pale yellow and orange with radiant beams. There, beyond the beams, the sky seems to be a pale green still not blue and it is constantly changing as the tea field emerges from the mist. How soon will the new buds break through after this winter's storms? The tea buds are there desperately wanting to simply be.

Throughout the southern tier of Korea from as far east as the East Sea to as far west as the Yellow Sea scenes like this will soon take place. It will happen in the large fields of Gangjin and Gimhae as well as the small fields of Gurye and Gyeongju. It will happen behind the temples of Haenam and Hadong and in small backyard plots, it will happen high in the mountains where only wild teas are found and in fields of bamboo where the wild tea producers gather, all searching, all surveying, all accessing the wonderful teas of Korea. I hear that Korea's winter was harsh. How did the bushes fair this year? When can I make my first pick?  The tea leaves are waiting, and so are we.
 

Morning Crane Tea's 
TeaBuyTM Korea 2018

Cooperative Tea

Ha Il-Nam

Dong Cheon Tea

This is a cooperative tea company representing 80 producers throughout Hwagae Valley. 
The 'holy' valley for Korean tea. 
(Jeongcha Style Green)

This green tea is different from all my other green tea offerings. It is produced Jeongcha Style or first plunged into boiling water before pan-roasting.  Dong Cheon Tea is the first company whose tea I offered. I know that it is the choice tea company of some of the Buddhist temples near Seoul and highly respected by Korean tea masters who have told me I made a wise choice. This is handpicked and organically grown tea from deep rooted bushes. 
A German customer wrote a great email about this tea. In it he said that he had tried many Korean teas but that Dong Cheon Tea simply had more "life".  

Woojeon                  50g               $43.00

Muwi Sejak             50g               $27.50

Sejak                        50g               $22.00

Jungjak                    50g               $16.50

Daejak                     50g               $11.00

Yipcha                     50g                 $7.00

Gimhae Teas
A Cooperative Tea

Chung Jong Woo

Jangguncha Yeong

Nong Johap

Tea Union of Jangguncha

There is an ancient legend that a princess from India sailed to Korea and married the King of Gaya. The year was 42. With her, among other things, she brought tea bushes that were planted in the mountains near Gimhae. In my tea travels we have met many tea masters. At a tea ceremony in Daegu not far from Gimhae I asked if the tea bushes in Daegu were the same as those used in Gimhae. The answer was, “No. The tea bushes used in Gimhae come from India. We use the same tea bushes that they use in Hadong. While I can’t say for certain that the tea bushes used by Jangguncha Dawan are actually from India, I can say that some tea masters believe they are.
Their balhyocha is one of my favorites. Their teas sell very quickly in Korea but they reserve a few bags for us. Will you claim yours?  
The story of the Princess from India is readily available on the web. 

Tteokeumcha (Green)

Tteokeumcha             30g          $44.00

Balhyocha (Oxidized)

JD Balhyocha            30g          $33.00

Artisan Tea Producers

 

Jeong Jae Yeon

Jahacha Dawan

(Violet Sunset Tea)
(ban balhyocha - hwangcha - Korean yellow tea.
or is it wan-jeon balhyocha a hongcha? Korean red tea

Jeong Jae Yeon makes this one tea. This delicious balhyocha, made like her gandmother made it.  She begins quite early as soon as the leaves begin to appear with woojeon leaves and continues through jungjak leaves.  It doesn't seem to matter.  As a result her Halmonicha or "grandmother tea" has become the most posted about Korean balhyocha on the internet. We are the original Western source for this amazing balhyocha. It is truly grandmother's tea and a great example of authentic traditional Korean balhyocha. - delicious.

      

Balhyocha (Oxidized)

Halmonicha           40g               $17.00

Halmonicha         300g             $105.00

Halmonicha is bulk packed in a 300+g bags actual weight is between 325g and 365g

Oh Jae Hong son of Oh Si-Young

Dosim Dawan

Tteokeum-cha (green) and 

Wan Jeon Balhyocha - hongcha- red tea

Dosim Dawan can not only boast about their delicious teas but also boast that they own some of the oldest most deep rooted tea bushes in Korea including the 1000 year old millennim tea tree. Korean tea connoisseurs believe these older bushes provide the most tender and flavorful buds and their deep roots encourage the development of the most cha-qi. A tea tour favorite. 

Tteokeumcha (Green)

Sejak                       50g               $28.60

Jungjak                   50g               $19.80

Balhyocha (Oxidized)

So-ip-cha                50g               $28.60

Dae-ip-cha             50g                $15.00

So-ip = Small Leaf  Dae-ip = Large Leaf

Kim Yu Ja and son Jeon Ju Hyun

Yejeon Dawan

On one of our tea tours, when we arrived at Yejeon Dawana a couple of tea connoisseurs from Australia suddenly exclaimed, "This is the one! This is the one!" while hugging each other. Then they explained. They had been to Korea a few years earlier and visited the Hadong Tea Festival. The rows of tea producers are long and many so they walked up and down the many rows tasting all of the teas. Then they came to Yejeon Dawan and decided this was truly the best.  However when they returned home the information on Yejeon had been lost. To this couple and to many on our tea tours, this is truly a "stand out from the crowd tea producer."

 

Tteokeumcha (Green)

Woojeon                 40g               $49.00

Sejak                       40g               $24.00

Balhyocha (Oxidized)

wan jeon balhyocha - hongcha - Korean red tea

Junggan-ipcha        40g               $22.00

juggan-ip = Medium Leaf

 

Kim Se Jin

SOA Dawan

There are many artisan tea producer in Boseong and some of the most famous and romantic tea fields are found there.  But we look for more than beautiful bushes and international advertising. After some search, we selected SOA to be at least one of our Boseong representatives. For this TeaBuy SOA is the only one. When the famous Korean TV Chef Judy Joo's producers contacted me to help find a Korean tea producer in Boseong for her series "Korean Food Made Simple" I recommended Kim Se Jin.  He knows his teas intimately and is certified organic internationally.

I once gave a bag of SOA Gukwoo to a Korean friend who exclaimed, "This is the best tea made in Korea".

Tteokeumcha (Green) 

Woojeon                40g               $30.80

Gukwoo                 40g               $24.20

Sejak                      40g               $19.80

Jungjak                  40g               $13.20

 Balhyocha (Oxidized)

ban balhyocha - hwangcha- Korean yellow tea

Balhyocha SD       40g               $19.80

 

 

Kim Jong Yeol

Butdangol Dawan

(Temple Ever Existed Tea)
To learn more about Master Kim click here.

Tteokeumcha (Green)

1. Butdangol Woojeon        50g     $49.00

Picked: April 15 – 20

Butdangol = A Place for Buddha

2. Chungiljem Sejak           50g     $38.00

Picked: April 25 – 30

Chungiljem = Above the Crowd

3. Koom                              50g     $31.00 

Picked: May     1 -   6

Koom = Dream

Balhyocha (Oxidized)

wan jeon balhyocha - hongcha - Korean red tea

1. Sebyukhangki                50g     $38.00

April 25^th - May 5th

Sebyukhangki = The Fragrance of Dawn

2. Hongiljeom                            50g     $31.00

May 5^th - May 15th

Hongiljeom = Excellence in the Crowd
(Previously named Buttea)

3. Noeulhangki                   50g     $31.00

May 6th~ May 25th

Noeulhangki = The Scent of Sunset

Balhyocha producers prefer various leaves for a variety of reasons. An early or later pick has no bearing on the tea quality but it does influence the flavor. That is why picking dates are seldom used with balhyocha teas. The above picking times are 2017 picking times.

Temple Tea

 

Wol Woo

Daeheungsa

This is the temple that was the home of ChoUi Korea's great historical Tea Master.  The tea comes from large older tea bushes and is hand picked from old larger deep rooted bushes and hand made in the tteokeumcha or buchocha (roasted) way. When we visit Daeheungsa on our tea tours we walk up the mountain to Cho Ui's hermitage Ilchi-am where some of his famous poems were written and where the same spring that Cho-Ui used to make his famous teas still runs. Their teas sell fast buy they reserve a few bags especially for our clients.     

  

Tteokeumcha (Green)

Special Tteokeumcha             80g         $100.00

Special Tteokeumcha             60g           $76.00

Special Tteokeumcha             40g           $51.00

Special Tteokeumcha             20g           $26.00

Ttokcha aka Doncha

Park Jeom Ja

Myungwon Studio

Park Jeom Ja lives in Gangjin, Jollanamdo Provence where I am told the production of ttokcha or doncha has not ceased for more than a thousand years. We have known her longer than Morning Crane Tea has existed.  If you know Korean tea, you have noticed that her studio carries the famous Korean tea name Myungwon. That is because she is head of the Myungwon Cultural Foundation group in Jeollanamdo. The Myungwon Cultural Foundation is quite famous in Korea for reviving the Korean Tea Ceremony and training many Korean tea masters. The Korean tea ceremonies taught by The Myugwon Cultural Foundation are from traditional Korean tea ceremonies. Park Jeom Ja is obviously one of their tea masters. I have provided a link to their main website above. If you are a returning client and bought ttokcha before, you will also note that Ms Park is replacing another ttokcha provider. That is in keeping with our goal to provide the best quality at the best price.
 

Sejak/Jungjak Leaves 8 coins  $50.00

The above doncha coins are individually wrapped in a silk lined box

Sejak/Jungjak Leaves 10 coins  $50.00

The above doncha coins are individually wrapped

All prices are plus shipping. 


To Order

For Information

  

While we are still in discussion with other tea producers, I thought it was important to finally post TeaBuy Korea 2018. I had promised this TeaBuy would be posted in January but other duties intervened. Among the hats I wear is that of chairperson for a committee on peace and justice. The atmosphere in this country has made some issues so important that it is imperative and time sensitive that my work be there. Frankly, those duties consume most of my days.
Still we are improving on our announcement dates. In 2016 TeaBuy Korea was announced in April. In 2017 TeaBuy Korea was first announced in May but this year 2018 it is announced in March and we hope to be able to deliver all teas shortly after the pick by mid June.
You may ask why we are starting this early.  First, we are accepting early orders so that we can pre-order the teas from each producer. Thus reserving the teas. Some of these teas are in very short supply. With the harsh winter, we anticipate smaller supplies than usual. In some cases, we are the only Western source for these teas. 
Those of you returning to TeaBuy Korea will note that many of our tea prices have increased slightly. Morning Crane Tea is a tea service. It has never been a profitable business. In fact it simply grew out of a personal need to educate the Western world about quality Korean tea and tea ware. The best Korean teas were not available for tasting, so I had to offer them. During the 12 years I have been offering these teas there has never been a profit to speak of.  Expenditures have increased for the TeaBuy aspect of Morning Crane Tea and today the Korean KRW is poised to surpass the USD on the international money exchange market making it necessary to make this small change. I hope that you will continue to be part of the Morning Crane Tea Family. 
Morning Crane Tea is the offspring of Morning Earth Korea an enterprise that also operates on a near profitless basis and promotes Korea in additional ways. You can see some of what we are trying to do there by clicking the above link.