Like its Pacific Rim neighbors, Japan, China, and Indochina, Korea is
also a tea-drinking country with a rich ceremonial tea culture. Also
like them, Korea owes its tea heritage to the enthusiasm and devotion of
Buddhist monks who traveled the globe spreading the opportunity for
enlightenment and the special alertness that tea contributes to the
meditation process.
Tea drinking in Korea most likely began with a beverage made from tea
seeds brought from China during the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.-A.D. 668)
although legend has it that the Chinese teas were replaced by a native
tea plant known as Paeksan-ch'a, a white mountain tea which grew on Mt.
Paektusan and is said to be as old as Korea's Ko-Chosun era (2333-108.
B.C.). Today, this tea is still drunk in the hills of the Mt. Paektusan
and the surrounding area.
Tea has had an up and down life in Korea. During its Koryo Dynasty (10th
to 14th centuries) tea played a part in many aspects of its culture,
poetry, drama, art and song, and was served in a ceremony known as
Ch'a-rye. Although the name means "tea ritual" the drink offered has not
been tea for centuries past, but instead rice-wine is offered. Another
ceremony, Hon-ta, was part of the Buddhist tradition in which green tea
was offered to the Buddha resting in local temples. It, too, is rarely
observed today.
Buddhism was supplanted by Confucianism during the Choson Dynasty of the
fourteenth century, and with that critical change, the taste of tea went
out of favor. It slowly crept back only to be usurped in the late
sixteenth century when Japan invaded the country. The invasion by
Japan in the 1590s was unprecedented; there had been nothing like it
before. In an ironic twist, Korean potters forced to work in Japan
produced some of the finest tea bowls for chanoyu, many of which are now
considered priceless treasures.
Early in the nineteenth century it took a scholar with a passion for
formalizing tea in his own special tea room to reintroduce the culture
of tea in Korea once more. Chong Yak-Yong (1762-1836), a disciple of
monks at temples near Kangjin, was instrumental in forming a tea lovers'
society while in exile in Chollanam-do province. There, he and his
disciples grew tea and even years after he left, tea flourished in the
area. He is often referred to as Tasan or Tea Mountain, an apt name for
such an influential tea lover.
One Buddhist monk made an indelible mark on Korean culture during the
late Choson period: Ch'o Ui (1786-1866). Not only did Ch'o Ui write
about tea, he wrote about all elements of it from how it grew, how it
was produced, how best to prepare it, and tea's healthful benefits. The
book, "Tongdasong" or "Ode to the Korean Tea" was followed by another
classic, "'Tashinjon" or "Lives of the Tea Gods." He was known to be a
frequent tea drinking companion of Tasan with whom he stayed in his
youth before going on to become known as the restorer of the Korean Way
of tea.
PANYAR-O
Recent decades have seen a regeneration of interest in the Korean way
of tea, thanks primarily to Hyo Dang, Ch'oi Pom-sul, the great restorer
of tea for the 20th century. He wrote the first book on tea to be
published in modern Korea, "The Korean Way of Tea," and was a renowned
teacher of the Korean way of tea. Hyo Dang chose a more natural style
of ceremony and gave the name Panyar-o, the Dew of Enlightened Wisdom,
to the green tea he made. This name is also used for the form of tea
ceremony he taught.
Much of this tradition was subjugated from the early 1950s to barely a
decade ago but fortunately for all tea devotees, the tradition and the
beauty of Panyar-o is flourishing among young and old in modern Korea
which is only now beginning to appreciate its tea and tea ceremonies and
its accompanying tradition of creating the pale celadon pottery for use as vessels for tea.
FEMALE TEA MASTERS
Men are not the only devotees of the ceremony; Great Tea Master Chae
Won-hwa studied with Hyo Dang for ten years and is his accepted
successor. She continues to conduct Panyar-o at the Panyar-o Institute
for the Promotion of the Way of Tea in Seoul where she continues to
teach the tea culture of the Venerable Hyo Dang.
TEA SERVING ACCOUTREMENTS
Although Hyo Dang believed that drinking tea alone was the best of all,
the typical tea set of Korean ceremony (ch'a-gi) includes three to five
cups (ch'at-chan) along with a small teapot (ch'akwan) larger than
Chinese Yixing pots but considerably smaller than European ones.
Hot water is poured into the cups and the teapots to warm them, then
that water is discarded into a large bowl (kaesukurut). Additional water
is heated, then cooled in a smaller lipped bowl (mulshikim sabal) prior
to pouring it over the tea in the pot to be infused. The smaller lipped
bowl is refilled with hot water in anticipation of subsequent infusions.
After tea is steeped, it is poured into the cups which are then placed
on small saucers (patch-im). The host then places a cup and saucer
before each guest. Guests enjoy first the color of the tea, then its
fragrance. Using both hands, they hold the cups to drink the tea, first
observing the taste in the mouth and down the throat, then its
after-taste, again in the mouth. Korea observes taste sensations of
sweet, salt, bitter, tart and peppery, with many gradations in between
for its cuisine and for tea. Subsequent infusions are made and the
liquor poured into the lipped bowl which is passed around the guests who
serve themselves rather than the host continuing to serve.
In Korea, tea bushes can only be grown in the southernmost part of
the country. The finest tea comes from the slopes of Chiri
Mountain, but other tea plantations can be found in Posong near
Kangjin, Wolch'ul-san, and Cheju-do island. Tea is first plucked on or
just before April 20 (ujon), followed by those plucked May-5-6, (ipha).
Those tea leaves collected between the two primary dates are called
sejak. After the season, teas gathered are known as chungjak. Because
the tea produced in Korea is so modest, many tea plantation owners pluck
continuously, thus blurring irrevocably the types of teas forever. Also,
because Korean tea is available in such limited quantities, Japanese
greens are frequently used.
Among the sources for this article was Brother Anthony (An Sonjae ) of Sogang
University, Seoul, Korea. We are grateful for his contributions. For more
information about Korean tea, please access Brother Anthony's website at
http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/kortea.htm
