Korean green teas

[OhJungMin]

Hello everyone,
I thought I'd start this topic since I couldn't find a separate category for Korean teas...
I just got back from a trip to South Korea and I wanted to tell you about my experience and the teas I had while I was there.
First of all, Korean people are very friendly!!! I've never seen so much hospitality in any other country! I didn't know what to expect and actually a few of my friends told me not to go to certain areas after dark , but after spending a few days there I went there anyways - it was safer than in my backyard

As for teas, it turns out Korea is famous for it's Korean Green teas. They only have 3 different grades: Woojeon, Saejak and Joongjak. They differ by the month when they get picked.
All productions are family operated and therefore small - which means expensive!!!

I tried several kinds and fell in love with all of them.
I brought back 2 boxes of 100g each. One was picked in May and cost $30 , the other one was picked in June and cost about $20.
I found an online shop that sells Korean teas but it's way more expensive than buying it in Korea.

The guy at the shop told me that I should use colder water (70C) for brewing the May tea so that it doesn't taste bitter whereas I should use 100C water for June tea.
Does it make sense to you guys? Shouldn't it be the other way around? I thought the later you pick the tea the more bitter it's going to taste...
Or am I wrong?

[edkrueger]

First off, I have almost no experience with Korean teas. So take what I say with a grain of salt.

All productions are family operated and therefore small - which means expensive!!!

That isn't true, there are some giant producers O'sulloc and Hankook are two.

The guy at the shop told me that I should use colder water (70C) for brewing the May tea so that it doesn't taste bitter whereas I should use 100C water for June tea.
Does it make sense to you guys? Shouldn't it be the other way around? I thought the later you pick the tea the more bitter it's going to taste...
Or am I wrong?

That sounds right to me. The later tea isn't going to be nearly as bitter as the earlier tea when brewed the same way.

[rdl]

The guy at the shop told me that I should use colder water (70C) for brewing the May tea so that it doesn't taste bitter whereas I should use 100C water for June tea.
Does it make sense to you guys? Shouldn't it be the other way around? I thought the later you pick the tea the more bitter it's going to taste...
Or am I wrong?

i don't think later picked teas are more bitter. bitter in most cases comes from over steeping, whether with too hot water or too long a time.
what i think the shop was telling you is that the may picked leaves are more sensitive to higher temperatures because they are more tender so to speak. later picked tea leaves are hardier, and can take a higher temperature.
i am not very familiar with korean teas so thank you for the comments on your tea drinking in korea.

[OhJungMin]

Thanks for your replies.
Hmm, I didn't know about those 2 giant producers you mentioned. I would still go with a smaller operator - at least their teas are definitely hand-picked and carefully selected.

So, why are the earlier-picked leaves are generally more expensive (I think it applies to most teas, right?). Especially, if you say that later picked leaves will be less bitter than the earlier picked ones? Is it because the earlier leaves have more flavor? Just trying to learn more about my new addiction LOL.
Thanks in advance!

[OhJungMin]

I think I remember now what the guy at the shop told me...

He said: Use 70C water for the earlier tea and steep it for 2-3 minutes vs. use 100C water for the later tea and steep it only for 1 min tops.
He said that early leaves have much more flavor but it's all "hidden" inside and it order to extract it one needs to steep it for longer but in order to avoid the bitterness he suggests to use 70C water instead of boiled water...

[Chip]

Well, we can at least agree that Korean greens are generally pretty expensive, for one worth drinking anyway.

[Tead Off]

I think I remember now what the guy at the shop told me...

He said: Use 70C water for the earlier tea and steep it for 2-3 minutes vs. use 100C water for the later tea and steep it only for 1 min tops.
He said that early leaves have much more flavor but it's all "hidden" inside and it order to extract it one needs to steep it for longer but in order to avoid the bitterness he suggests to use 70C water instead of boiled water...

I find that Korean green tea is better with water 65-70c. All of it except the roasted teas which O-Sulloc sells, gets lower temp water from me. But, I have heard that some people like it around 80c. I've never had good luck at that temp.

The biggest difficulty with these teas is how much leaf to brew and how long to brew them. Expensive Ujeon can easily be ruined by bad brewing technique. You need to experiment with amount and time of brewing. I often brew a couple of tsp(maybe 4-5g) in about 120ml for 45-60sec for the 1st. Less time for 2nd.

Hopefully next year will be a better one for Korean and Japanese teas. By many accounts, the tea was not so good this year.

[David R.]

Hi !

You will find whatever info you are looking for on korean teas on Mattcha's Blog.

The korean way of brewing one's tea consists in using cooler water in order to have more steeps in the end, to see everything the tea has to say.

Ujeon is the most delicate tea. It is the first harvest of the year, in april. For one year, the tea tree has been gathering his strength to transmit it in its first buds. Really tasty. The other grades come from later harvests.

Speaking of temperature, Matt's advices are to use the following ones : 60°C for Ujeon, 70°C for Sejak, 80°C for Jungjak, and 90°C for Daejak, the lowest quality, generally used for tea bags. It is green tea after all, using boiling water can be a bit too much for the leaves.

Hope it helps. You should really go and see Matt's blog.

[OhJungMin]

Just wanted to share some of the pics from my last korean tea drinking

Enjoy!

Teapot:

The tea set (Korean Celadon - very beautiful):

Tea in the serving bowl waiting to be served:

Tea in the cups (I really like how GREEN the tea is.... although it's kinda hard to see it in this picture):

Leaves after the ceremony:

[debunix]

Beautiful tea set. And how was the tea?

[OhJungMin]

The tea was great!
It is my new favorite green tea, actually. It has a very distinct flavor - hard to describe - but if somebody gives me a cup of korean green tea I think I'll be able to tell.
Unfortunately soon I'll be running out of it so I need to start looking for some alternatives - as we all know buying korean tea outside of Korea can be very expensive.
Does anyone know of other green teas (Japanese perhaps) that taste similar to Korean green teas?

[AdamMY]

Does anyone know of other green teas (Japanese perhaps) that taste similar to Korean green teas?

Having had Korean, Japanese and Chinese greens, I would say you would be more likely to find a Chinese green that is closer to Korean greens than you would find from just about any commercially available Japanese green.

The Japanese when processing their green teas use steam, and a lot more steam (even for Asamushi) than most Korean greens probably ever see. Whereas Chinese green teas offer a very wide variety in terms of types of processing.

[debunix]

The most similar tea I've had thus far was the Togei Kabusecha sencha from our most recent OTTI #7 Asamushi tasting.

But don't know where anything else quite like that is commercially available.

[OhJungMin]

The most similar tea I've had thus far was the Togei Kabusecha sencha from our most recent OTTI #7 Asamushi tasting.

It looks like that tea is long gone

[edkrueger]

I don't have much experience with Korean teas, but some very asamushi teas, especially asamushi temoni sencha remind me of them.