PProvenance
Enter
Korean · VI The Beverage Tradition

Boseong green tea (보성 녹차)

Boseong, South Jeolla Province

‹ The Beverage Tradition

I

Origin

Boseong, in South Jeolla Province, is the principal tea-growing district of Korea, and the name Boseong green tea is registered as a Korean Geographical Indication. Tea has been drunk on the peninsula since the Silla and Goryeo periods, first in Buddhist temples and at court, and the tea of the south has been grown commercially in Boseong on terraced hillsides in the modern period. It belongs to the Beverage Tradition as the leaf counterpart to the grain teas, and it is carried by the growers of the district and by the temple tea households of the south.

II

Description

Boseong green tea is made from the leaf of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, picked in spring and fired or steamed to halt oxidation, then rolled and dried. Korean green tea is graded chiefly by the date of picking: the earliest leaf and bud of spring gives the finest tea, and the later flushes give progressively stronger and coarser cups. The leaf is steeped in water well below the boil and served in small cups, and the liquor is pale green to yellow-green, clear and light in body.

III

The Thread

—Both are green teas of the first flushes, in which the leaf is heated early to stop oxidation and kept green. Sencha is classically steamed, whereas Korean tea is more often pan-fired, which gives a rounder and more toasted cup. Japanese
—Both are pressed or rolled green teas whose grade rests on the earliness of the spring picking. Longjing is pan-fired flat by hand in a distinctive manner, and Boseong tea is generally rolled into a finer twist. Chinese
—Both begin with the same species of plant and a tradition of temple tea drinking. Matcha is shaded before picking and ground to a powder that is whisked and consumed whole, while Boseong tea is steeped and the leaf discarded. Japanese
IV

Flavour Context

Green tea is drunk after a meal and between meals, and it is served with light sweets such as yugwa, yakgwa and tteok. The structural reason is that the clean, faintly astringent liquor clears the palate of oil and sweetness, and its delicacy asks for foods that do not overwhelm it. It is not paired with strongly spiced dishes, whose heat would obscure the fine flavour of the leaf.

Pillars V — VII
The full training pages are part of membership.
Quality hierarchy, sensory tests, and where the dish lives or dies — on every entry in the Library.
Enter · from $49 a year
← PreviousBokbunja-ju (복분자주)

‹ The Beverage Tradition · Contents · The Library