Korean Tea Tasting @ Goyo (NY)

Overview: Mapping Korean Tea

This tasting serves as an introduction to the most representative forms of Korean tea and extends outward to include compositions that broaden the contemporary Korean tea catalog. Deokkeumcha and balhyocha stand as two of the defining Korean tea styles. Yujabyeongcha draws from historical winter-preservation practices, combining tea and citrus in a form shaped by seasonal necessity. Cheongcha adopts the wulong tradition, expressed through Korean terroir and handling. Together, these teas demonstrate how composition and growing region continue to shape its evolving expression. 

The selection draws from small, sustainable gardens across the peninsula: from Cheongyang County, further north than traditional tea-growing areas, where pronounced temperature variations nurture vigorous tea bushes; to the slopes of Jiri Mountain in Hadong County, regarded as the birthplace of Korean tea cultivation and home to native wild tea bushes; and to the southern island of Jeju, where volcanic soil and surrounding forest ecology influence the…