Returning from Tea Tour Korea 2013 with a Darjeeling !?!

Tea Tour Korea 2013 was an extraordinary adventure into Korean tea ware and Korean tea.  In the process we identified more than twenty Korean teas we would like you to try plus a delicious Darjeeling.  “What!  A Darjeeling !!???!?”, you might exclaim.  “How did a tea tour to Korea come back with a Darjeeling? 

We thought you might ask so I decided I would get that question and this tea ‘on its way’ before we introduce you to some truly amazing Korean teas, the classic and new Dong Cheon teas and their producers.

We first learned of the tea Treasure Gold from our good friend Frank Benjowski owner of Teehandelshaus Benjowski in Berlin, Germany.  Frank is a passionate teashop owner and connoisseur who has traveled the world in search of special teas for his impressive teashop.  Those who have been there, tell us that it is the best teashop in Europe.  Frank has personally visited tea plantations throughout the world traveling to each one alone.  The only tea tours he has ever taken have been with us on Tea Tour Korea 2011 and again on Tea Tour Korea 2013.  We are honored that he joined us.

Frank is particularly known for his knowledge of Nepalese and Indian teas some of which are available exclusively at his shop.  We first learned about Treasure Gold from him as a very special autumnal Nepalese tea (a Nepalese Darjeeling) when he shared it with us in 2011 and gave it as gifts to several tea and tea ware artists on that tour - to their great response.  Our version is officially a Darjeeling from the famous Oakyti plantation in India.

Treasure Gold’s story is fascinating.  Nepal and India share a common boarder separated by the Mechi River.  Citizens from both countries travel back and forth easily and even work in the other country.  The countries also share similar tea plants particularly in this small area.  Occasionally some of these plants develop a distinctive golden leaf.  One of the tea advisors oversees tea plants in both Nepal and India.  It is this advisor that produces this prize winning tea - Treasure Gold.  These leaves don’t develop every year but when they do he has the tea pickers harvest them for this special production.  

They may be harvested in Nepal or India and are always carefully picked and processed mostly by hand.  The production this season was very small - just 15 kilo.

 

Quick hands inspect the pick

Frank Benjowski buys them all, for he knows how delicious this tea is.  Because of the friendship we developed with Frank, he allowed us at Morning Crane Tea to purchase a kilo so we could offer it to you.

Let’s look at the tea. 

I am first struck with the amazing bouquet emanating from the container - the rich flavor permeates the air, envelops me and draws me in.  The leaves are rich and varied and obviously all gold.  Only the drying and oxidation has changed them, imbuing each with a delectable provocative flavor.

On closer examination we discover tiny ‘hairs’ covering the leaves.  They must contribute to the savory taste that follows.  Are these the same as the coveted  tiny hairs on orange pekoe leaves?

For this tasting, I decided to use 4.25g of leaves in an 8oz glass teapot because I wanted to show you the leaves in action and the rich color of the liquor. 8oz is as large as I personally go when brewing any tea.

This image is of the first infusion taken about 10-15 seconds after pouring the water; i.e. pour the water grab the camera and take the shot.

With the first sip, I am struck at the abundant qi-cha that hits me quickly.  The tea is not bitter but rather smooth and tasty with floral hints that coat the mouth and tongue - slightly sweet with subtle spice and notes of citrus.  The taste is deep and long, holding its own after four infusions and it could have gone several more but I was eager to write this post.  In addition, with 8oz I was drinking a lot of tea.

Sorry, I’m still not one who is good at describing taste with each infusion, but hopefully I can give you a sense of the experience.

This image is after 3 infusions.

After four infusions I decided to image the leaves. 

They have not yet begun to open and, as I said, they seem to have much more to offer.  I’m not familiar with Darjeeling teas.  Will these leaves ever open?

As I type this post, now long after drinking the last cup, I am struck with the still lingering ‘mouth memory’ of this wonderful tea. 

I must end by saying a word about the cup.  

I selected a beautifully simple celadon cup of the perfect color for this tea.  The cup was made by the wonderful female ceramic artist Kim Yu Sung.  Kim Yu Sung is one of the only female celadon artists to have won the prestigious Gangjin Celadon Award at Gangjin Korea’s annual celadon competition held each year during the Gangjin Celadon Festival.  Receiving this award placed her among the nation’s best celadon artists.  I particularly like celadon for these darker teas - the perfect cup for this delicious tea. 

To learn more about how you might purchase some Treasure Gold go to our tea blog to learn the reasonable pricing on this rare tea. 

Kim Yu Sung is one of a group of tea ware artists whose work we will be introducing this year. Click here to learn more about the cup.
Were you looking for our 2013 teas?  Some of them can be found here.

Is This the Best Hwangcha Made in Korea?

Throughout Korea’s tea growing region there are hundred perhaps thousands of individual artisan tea producers with very small farms, picking and processing their own tea by hand in the same way that their ancestors did many years ago.  Almost all use wild or semi-wild bushes that are organically grown.  Most limit their production to ujeon, sejak and sometimes jungjak, far fewer Korean producers make hwangcha or balhyocha, and very few make hongcha, even fewer make ttokcha or matcha especially for commercial purposes.  

For the most part these small producers never get known outside of their personal group of friends or home villages.  Many produce tea simply for their own consumption and to give to friends.  Occasionally a tea is so good it is shared with a passing monk or nun who tells his or her friends and the word slowly gets out.  One day a nun who knows Shin In-suk told her about a delicious hwangcha she had in Jiri-san.  Jiri-san, the 'holy mountain of Korean tea'  has many villages  each with their own fine artisan tea producers.  The nun explained to Shin In-suk that the producer, Jeong Jae Yeun, makes her hwangcha before Buddha’s birthday and dedicates her entire tea production to hwangcha.  

That the tea is made before Buddha’s Birthday is extremely important to the production of the best hwangcha. 1  Tea made before Buddha’s Birthday is made of fresh ‘energetic’ young leaves that thus contain the most qi.  The difference in taste is remarkable explained the teaware artist Park Jong Il, Shin In-suk’s husband.

But who does that?  Most other hwangcha producers make their green tea first.  That puts their hwangcha production after Buddha’s Birthday and because it is made from older leaves the tea has less qi.

We have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Jeong Jae Yeun but hope to do that on Tea Tour Korea 2013. 

This is what we know about Jeong Jae Yeun.  In her mid-60’s Jeong Jae Yeun, who lives near Sancheon has dedicate most of her life to tea and produces only hwangcha, from organically grown wild and semi-wild bushes.  We also know her tea becomes highly recommended by the nun who told Shin In-suk and it also comes highly recommended by both Shin In-suk and her husband Park Jong Il.  If you have ever visited Park Jong Il most likely you have tasted Jeong Jae Yeun’s hwangcha.  On Park Jong Il’s recent trip to China he took this tea and tells me it received great reviews.

We at Morning Crane Tea are honored to be the only Western source for Jeong Jae Yeun’s hwangcha.  Supplies are limited.  Please go to our tea blog to learn more about this special tea offering and its price.  Contact us if you are interested in this tea.

 1. Note: Some artisan tea producers follow the lunar calendar. 

Go To First Park Jong Il Post

A Quick Note: Tea Tour Korea is Coming- May 2013

This is the first of a series of posts leading to Tea Tour Korea 2013.  It will also be one of the last tea tours we personally host so we want to make this tea tour as culturally rich as possible.  To that end, Tea Tour Korea 2013 will be a 'complete' tea tour with exceptional perhaps unparalleled tea and teaware experiences.  It will include:  1. Visits to selected Korean artisan tea producers,  2. Visits to selected Korean teaware artists,  3. The History of Korean Tea,  4. Meeting Important figures in the contemporary Korean Tea world,  5.  Participating in Korean Tea Ceremonies, 6. Witnessing tea being produced, 7.  Producing our own teas and  8. Investigating artists who make Tea related items     

Tea Tour Korea 2013 will be a non-profit tour hosted by us at Morning Crane Tea and Morning Earth Korea. 

Anyone can take you to Korea and introduce you to some people who make tea by hand and some ceramic artists who make teaware.  We have been told that no one else can give you the depth of a Korean tea experiences Tea Tour Korea 2013 will provide.  We will select from hundreds of possible choices the best tea producers, the best teaware artists, introduce you to some of the most significant figures in contemporary Korean Tea, take you into tea factories and have artisan tea producers teach you how to make various teas.  It is not just nokcha anymore.  You will meet personally with tea artisans who make jakseol, hwangcha, balhyocha, hongcha and ttokcha (possibly even matcha).  In addition, you can't leave Korea without experiencing some of their herbal teas.    

Will we have a temple stay?  Yes!  Will we visit Jejudo? Yes!  Will we go to historic sites? Yes!  Will we visit teashops in Seoul? Yes!  Will we visit onggi potters? Yes!  This list would in itself be a great tour to Korea but with the exception of Jejudo, they are add-ons to Tea Tour Korea 2013.  

We are waiting for the date of the Mungyeong Teabowl Festival to be announced to confirm our Tea Tour Korea 2013 dates.  That festival may be the most exciting teabowl festival in Asia.  Tea Tour Korea 2013 will be open to no more than 8 guests and we have some waiting on that list now -  including some who were with us in 2011.  Why would they return?  They have told us Tea Tour Korea 2011 was the most comprehensive tea tour they have ever experienced and while some of our visits will be the same, Tea Tour Korea 2013 will expand on the 2011 tour and will be even more comprehensive. 

Have you read Madeleine's post? Are you interested in joining us or learning more?  Contact us.  

Are you looking for illustrations?  Please wait for the follow up posts.  Those posts will not be found here but will be on the blog Tea Tour Korea 2013.  Follow that blog to learn more as Tea Tour Korea 2013 becomes a reality.

Tom's Moldy Pu-erh: What Would You Do?

For a number of years I have been interested in tea and teaware.  I enjoy a wide variety of teas including pu-erh.  There is a particular large 'black oil' pu-erh made by a Korean master in Yunnan but sold in Korea that I particularly enjoy.  But what little expertise I have regarding teas is limited to Korean teas.  That limited knowledge didn't seem to bother my friend Tom.  Tom had been to China and became interested in pu-erh tea.  Tom lives in Georgia in a fairly damp climate.  He is often plagued with mold in his home. Recently he called me to ask what he should do with the mold he is getting on his pu-erh.  I guess he thought I could help.  I told him I couldn't be of much help on this subject.  I called a friend who knows teas quite well but he too couldn't help because he knows how to prevent the mold and has never had to deal with it.  So I'm hoping some of you readers can help.

As you can see the mold is gray not the yellow mold that I'm told can be toxic.  I have also heard that one can simply brush it off with a dry toothbrush.

But 'common sense' tells me there is more to this situation than simply 'brushing it off".  Wouldn't that affect the taste of the tea?   In addition that won't solve his general moldy tea problem.  I suggested that Tom buy a dehumidifier for his house  and that If he does 'brush off' the tea that he should also blow it off with his air-gun to get rid of any mold pores that will remain on the tea after the brushing.  But basically, I'm wondering if he shouldn't just throw the tea away and take precautions to prevent it in the future.  Of course there is the other big issue for Tom.  He bought the tea while in China and really hates to throw it away.  What would you do?

Here is a closer look.

Here is an even closer look.

So, what would you do?
     

The World of Korean Ceramics: Available Book

 

This is a very quick post on the availability of the book The World of Korean Ceramics.  

I recently was able to make arrangements with the surviving author of this book Dr. Alan Covell for us to handle sales of the remaining copies of this out of print book.  Several of you have contacted me about this book but it was not yet available.  Now it is available, please contact me again if you are still interested.  I will accept orders in the order I receive them after this post. 

The book will be signed by Dr. Covell.   The price is $35.00.  The original price of this book at the time of its publication was $39.50.  I realize that this is slightly higher than some used copies.  However a blog based on the content of this book is being developed and will be available only to those who have obtained the book from this source.  All proceeds from the sale of this book will go toward our work promoting ceramics particularly Korean.  We are interested only in those who truly want to possess this book for personal research.

Contents:

 1. The Prehistoric World

 2. The Horserider-Shamanist World

 3. The Buddhist World

 4. The Confucian World

 5.  The Japanese World

One my wonder why Japan.  This is part of Korea's influence on Japanese pottery including Chanoyu, Japanese gains in the "Pottery War" and more

 6.  The Modern World

  

 Each section provides very interesting and rare information.

Appendices

Included are chronological tables, kiln Illustrations and maps of Koryo kilns, partial list of musuems and major Korean collections, bibliography, and maps of porcelain and buncheong (punch'ong) kiln sites.  

The book is richly illustrated.

This is just one of the many pages of illustration found in this book.  All of these Korean chawan are in Japanese museums. In case you are interested, the text below these chawan reads:

No one individual could take *Hideyoshi, who first was hospitable to the Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries, as his predecessor Nobunaga had been, by 1587 came to see that they presented a rival power, a rival loyalty, and he demanded absolute obedience from his subjects.  Kyushu had been difficult to conquer, and was not under such strong control because of its distance from his center of power (Kyoto-Osaka).  By sending troops only from the maritime provinces of Kyushu and western Japan, Hideoshi revealed his wariness of these strongly Christian areas.

Dr. Jon Covell now deceased was a learned scholar of both Japanese and Korean.  She was the first person to earn her doctorate in Japanese studies and lived in the Daitoku-Ji Japan for 10 years doing extensive research.  Daitoku-Ji temple houses many famous chawan.  Then she also lived in Korea for 10 years doing extensive research there as well.  That is where we first met.  Her son Dr. Alan Covell is a leading authority on Korean Shamanism and scholar on many aspects of Korean and Japanese culture. 

Again if you are interested in getting a copy of this book signed by Dr. Alan Covell, please contact me and include your shipping address and phone number.  I'll email you a PDF invoice and explain payment arrangements.

 


 

Jung Ki Bong's Travel Tea Set

   Jung Ki Bong is a third generation celadon artist from Haenam, South Korea, not far from the famous city of Gangjin.  Some consider him to be one of Korea's best celadon artists for his mastery in carving and inlay.  The walls of his showroom are lined with many well deserved awards and he receives several million KRW for this work.

 

 

a Jung Ki Bong Double Walled Jar 

A close-up view

Jung Ki Bong is so respected that the Gangjin International Celadon Festival invites him to present the celadon carving workshop for the International ceramic artists who visit that festival each year.  Here he is demonstrating for the American artist Bryan Van Benschloten.

Jung Ki Bong (center) with Bryan

   Jung Ki Bong, whose wife is a tea master, also makes great very reasonably priced teaware including a really exciting lotus travel tea set. 

 Another View

   The lotus flower, the symbol of enlightenment in Buddhism, is a perfect choice on which to base this beautiful teaset.  

   Additional images of teasets by Jung Ki Bong and other artists will be posted on our teaware blog in the near future.   Become a follower of that blog to be informed when they are available to see and for purchase.  Contact us if you would like to be on the  purchase waiting list.

   Turning to Korean tea.  Throughout Korea the "pick" has begun.  It has been a great growing season for tea, especially compared to 2011, and we are eagerly anticipating the results.  

   Morning Crane Tea will be offering a number of new teas from several great Korean tea producers.   We want to bring you some really unusual and very special offerings.  Some of these new teas will be available wholesale but most will only be available through us retail and in very limited quantities.  Because our goal is simply to help expose you to some great Korean teas we will making no profit on some of the teas we will be offering.  To be among the first to learn what will be available please email us to be placed on that list.  Also watch the new blog develop at Tea at Morning Crane Tea.  Follow that blog to learn about our new teas as they become available.

Goldfish Tea's Korean Tea Night

This is a quick post to alert you to a special event coming up in Royal Oak, MI at the Goldfish Teashop Thursday March 22.  

Jim and Janice Gurling, owners of the shop, will celebrate the coming of spring with a special Korean tea tasting and teaware event.  Goldfish is now carrying Dong Cheong Tea's Sejak, Jungjak and Daejak semi-wild Korean green teas to add to their Chinese teas.  The Korean teaware is by Park Jong Il accompanied by a small selection of my chatchan and chawan.  They have asked us to speak on Korean Tea, Tea Culture and Teaware.  This is the first time Korean teas and Korean teawares have been introduced in this way in Michigan.  I realize most of you don't live nearby but now you know another source for Korean teas and teaware and also know we do provide presentations on the subject.  Perhaps you have friends in the area and would be willing to tell them about this event.  If so, thanks for doing that.

click image to enlarge

(Just another quick note.  I know we are supposed to spell teaware 'tea ware'.  But why are teabowl and teaware spelled 'tea bowl' and 'tea ware' when teacup and teashop and teaspoon are not separated?  They say the English language is changed by the way we use it.  I'm spelling teaware and teabowl this way.  Please join me and if you know anyone on the 'dictionary committee' let them know they should change these words.  Thanks - pet tea peeve no. 1)