Origin
Yuja-cha is the tea of the Korean citron, Citrus junos, a fruit grown along the warm southern coast, above all in Goheung in South Jeolla and on the island of Namhae in South Gyeongsang. It belongs to the tradition of cheong, fruit preserved in sugar or honey, and to the winter household table, where the jar is made once the fruit ripens in late autumn and kept through the cold months. The drink is made in the home and sold in the market in the same form, and it stands among the established teas of Korea beside daechu-cha.
Description
The tea is a preserve diluted in hot water, not an infusion of leaf. Whole citron is washed, quartered, seeded and sliced thinly with the peel, then layered with an equal weight of sugar in a scalded glass jar and left to draw its juice into a thick, amber syrup threaded with strips of rind. A spoonful of the preserve, peel included, is stirred into hot water and drunk with the fragments of rind left in the cup. The flavour is bitter-sweet and strongly fragrant, with the oil of the peel carrying the aroma.
The Thread
Flavour Context
Yuja-cha is drunk on its own in winter, and beside rice cake, hangwa and other sweets served at the end of a meal or with guests. The sharp acidity and the bitterness of the peel cut through the sweetness and richness of such confections, and the heat of the cup suits the cold season in which the fruit is harvested.