Madeleine's Tea Tour Korea 2011 Post

   Madeleine, an international business woman who enjoys both tea and tea ware, was one of our guests on Tea Tour Korea 2011.  She sent us a wonderful email and has granted permission to share it with you as a post.  The illustrations and footnotes are ours.

Dear Arthur and Mary,

   I am finally home after some rushing about here in the region, and I am finally setting down to write you both a much-deserved note of thanks.

   I have "The Book of Korean Tea", "The Way of Korean Tea", "Korean Tea Classics", all proudly displayed on my table and lately my friends have been looking through them and simply saying "wow".

  That is the best way to describe the trip - an eye opening experience into a world so close to me physically, but where thanks to you both, the veil of mystery has been lifted and one enchantment after another revealed.

   From the moment we got on our magical mystery tour bus and walked through the Spring air and historic gates of the fort at the Mungyeong Tea Bowl festival, to the rushing waterfalls1

Mountain Stream near Hwaeomsa

and temple bells in the Jiri Mountains, the peace of Hwaeomsa temple and drumbeats echoing through the valleys2,

 3:30 AM Drumming Hwaeomsa

the tea fields in Hwagae Valley and rushing river by the mountain side, 3

 

Wild Tea in Hwaegae Valley

A section of the above photo (click to enlarge)

 the soft contours of the sea and mountains as we neared Gangjin, the elegant tea ceremony at the Myung Won Cultural Foundation, the detailed archeology museums that opened up centuries of Korean culture - the trip was a multi-layered exploration of archeology, culture, religion, geography, history all brought together through a tea leaf steeped into a beautiful bowl of magnificent simplicity and energy.4 

Simple Tea 

   Each day was filled with these experiences brought to life through individual contact and exchange with master ceramic experts who all offered us tea in stunning natural settings.5

The Mungyeong Artist Oh Sung Teak serves us tea

  I will not forget the enchanted gardens, mountain top vistas sitting on warmed floors, walks though camellia forests

 Red camellias bloom at the tea temple Baekryunsa near Gangjin

and tea served by Buddhist monks6 and gracious nuns.  

 Tea monk Duk Jae, at Gu Chung Am, Hwaeomsa  2&6

Most of all, the open, warm and generous hospitality of lunch and dinner where small dish after dish flourished bringing regional delights and tastes amid friendship and laughter with our kind and laughing hosts.7

 A Korean Lunch

   The generosity and lack of artifice of highly accomplished ceramic and tea masters is a memory that I will carry for a long time to come - in each and every encounter, we were welcomed to handle treasures, patiently provided with answers to endless numbers of questions about tea preparation, hosted to wonderful and spontaneous tea and then always, provided with a beautiful gift.  Whether this was green tea, blossom tea from a tea master or an individual teacup from a ceramic master's studio, each item is treasured and savored with delight.

   It is a testimony to your generosity and friendship with each master that we were received with such kindness.

  Brother Anthony - An Sonjae

  My special thanks also to Brother Anthony,8 who opened the gates of the temple to us and bid us farewell in Seoul over lotus blossom tea served in a large jet black bowl with floating pristine lotus flower.9

Lotus Blossom Tea at the tea shop Tea Friend

   And finally, my sincere thanks to my travel companions, delightful multicultural group of tea experts consisting of Classic scholars, philosopher/attorney, intrepid world explorer and organic gardener, tea host with quirky sense of humor, attorney turned potter and video expert 10

 Tea Tour Korea 2011 group with Min Young Ki

   Exquisite, gracious, warm, as well as filled with laughter.  These words and sound sum up the trip.

   With very best regards and looking forward to keeping in touch on a regular basis,

   Madeleine

Footnotes: 

1.  These rushing waterfalls are at Hwaeomsa.  We will post on the Mungyeong Tea Bowl Festival later.

2.  Tea Tour Korea 2011 stayed at Hwaeomsa where we picked wild 'bamboo dew' tea under the guidance of the monk Duk Jae (5) who heads the Gu Chung Am at Hwaeomsa.  While there each morning we woke to witness the drum beating before early morning chanting at the temple.

3.  If you look closely you will see hundreds of wild tea bushes scattered across this steep hillside and going into the bamboo forest above. 

4.  I illustrated Simple tea with a bowl made by the international ceramic artist Min Young Ki.

5.  The tea ware artist Oh Sung Teak serves us tea at the Mungyeng Teabowl Festival.  The setting of the festival is one of the most beautiful settings in Korea.

6. The tea monk Duk Jae serves us wonderful hwangcha - yellow tea at his hermitage Gu Chung Am above Hwaeomsa.  We picked and processed 'bamboo dew tea' at Gu Chung Am.

7.  The dishes for this restaurant were designed by the international artist Jeon Seong-Keun best known for his incredible porcelain carving

8.  Here Brother Anthony sits by the mountain stream near Hwaeomsa.  I believe it is one of his favorite spots in the world,  It is certainly one of ours. The first photo is taken from the same area.

9. Tea Friend is a wonderful small tea shop near but not in Insadong.  The owner, Bo Hyun Sim, has many types of tea including a stunning variety of 'herbal' teas.

10.  The Tea Tour Korea 2011 group is seen here with the tea bowl artist Min Young Ki, his wife and son Min Bum Sik who is also a fine tea ware artist.  

11. We are accepting registration for Tea Tour Korea 2012.  There will be no Tea Tour 2013 but possibly another in 2014.  We are looking for 6-10 participants total and have 4 or 6 interested currently.  If you have an interest in joining us on Tea Tour Korea 2012 it is obviously not too early to register.  Contact us through this blog link.

Tea Tour Korea 2011: The State of Tea Bushes in Korea

 

Damaged bushes in Hwagae Valley

 

Tea Tour Korea was in planning for more than two years.  For several years before that we thought about proposing such a tour.  We have many friends and acquaintances that are Korean tea ware artists, have a great interest in Korean tea and have explored Korea’s tea areas - some areas quite often.  But even though I am a passionate consumer of Korean teas, knew some Korean tea producers and have studied Korean tea extensively, our true expertise is in the area of ceramics and tea ware.  I make tea ware not tea.  That is why in developing this tour we asked the advice and help of several experts on Korean teas to assist us in making this tea journey a special one.  I’ll return to these tea experts in subsequent posts.

Normally I would have begun posting about Tea Tour Korea 2011 at the beginning of the tour and followed it chronologically.  But Korea had a terrible winter and their tea bushes suffered terribly.  Have you ever been asked, “What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news?”  If I were to be asked that question I would pick the ‘bad news’ to be heard first just to get it out of the way.  So lets begin there.

Concern about the state of the tea bushes began when several of our Korean friends, on more than one occasion, told us that they were experiencing an extremely cold winter.  As spring and the tea tour were getting closer we received an email from Brother Anthony confirming that the winter was truly a harsh one and would have an effect on the tea bushes.  No one knew when tea might be ready for picking.  Tea would definitely be picked later than usual this year.  How much later, no one knew.

In at least two ways, Tea Tour Korea 2011 began as a great leap of faith, faith that there would be tea to pick and faith that we could even form a tour group.  We were not able to form a viable tea tour group in 2010 so we traveled with our friend Park Jong Il through this beautiful country simply to get a better sense of the area.  This year, our guests were slowly but steadily joining the tour and giving us early hope that a tour would form.  Then, for various reasons, some guests suddenly dropped out.  Most were fortunately replaced so once again the tour was on and off and on again several times.  In some ways I understand the reluctance to join a tour such as this.  After all, who are these people who want to take you on a tea tour?  There are so many scams out there.  Can you trust them?  What do they really know about tea or tea ware or even Korea?  To the courageous guests on our final international group we owe a great deal of gratitude for simply joining this tour.  It really was a leap of faith for these guests.  Better yet we could not have hand picked a finer group to travel with.  So if you were one of those guests, thank you again for your trust.

Once on the tour, what would these guests experience – especially if there was no tea! 

After beginning Tea Tour Korea 2011 by taking the group to experience some great tea ware, to which we will return in other posts, our small group of dedicated tea connoisseurs began the tea portion of our travels near Hadong in Hwagae Valley. 

Hwagae Valley is the most important area in the ‘holy mountain’ of Korean tea - Jirisan.  Our first view of Jirisan mountain looked promising even welcoming but I was shocked at what we found. 

 Weeds Survive Between Dead Tea Bushes

Sure, we know South Korea is a little north of the best growing zones for tea.  But I have heard that tea areas of China were also hit hard by the weather this year.  In Hwagae Valley we found thousands of dead bushes.  Some areas lost field after field.  When we stopped at The Okro-nokcha (Jade Dew Green Tea) Company, the oldest tea producer in Hwagae Valley, we were told that they lost nearly 80% of their bushes.  Oh Young Soon, a new tea friend and teashop owner in Insadong, who produces some wonderful Hwagae Valley hand picked and hand processed wild juk-no-cha 竹露茶 “bamboo dew” teas [1], said that nearly every one of her bushes were damaged. 

 

Members of Our Tea our View Dong Cheon Bushes w Br. Anthony

Dong Cheon Tea's bushes faired a little better but some fields were also destroyed.

 Still at Dong Cheon a Line is Drawn Between Good and Dead Bushes

By contrast, Ha Gu of Yosandang, a tea master who also produces superb wild juk-no-cha 竹露茶 “bamboo dew” Korean teas, was only slightly affected.

 Some of Ha Gu's Wild Tea Bushes

 

As was Jeon Ju Hyeon of the Yejeoncha Teashop whose Ujeon was very light and smooth.  Gwan-hyang Dawan a producer of extraordinary tea who is highlighted in the book The Korean Way of Tea also escaped great loss.  We will report on these stops in more depth later.

 Gwan-hyang Dawon Was Processing Tea Over a Wood Fire

To be honest I wanted to take photos of the lost bushes but as we drove up Hwagae Valley most of the bushes where we could find a place to stop were fine.

   

Overall in Hwagae Valley the cold winter was devastating yes but a catastrophic disaster no.  Never the less, the winter of 2011 will go down in history as a very bad winters for Korean tea.  Several artisan tea producers said it was their worst winter ever. 

Later in Bosong we also found considerable loss.  

 Two Images Taken of the Same Bosong Tea Area 2006 and 2011

These two di’s above compare images at one of my favorite tea spots. The bottom image taken a few years ago and the top image taken this spring show the damage there.  A total loss in that area.  Ironically the bottom photo was in my ads for the tea tour.  But all was not lost in Bosong.  Some bushes yes but in the distance, if you look closely, pickers are still busy picking and new bushes will eventually replace those that were lost.

 Bosong Pickers in The Distance Provide Hope for Korean Tea

As for what we found at the Gu-Chung-am Hermitage at Hwaeom-sa, stay tuned.  This is just an introductory report on the effect of the cold weather on the tea bushes in Korea.  There is much more to come as we present a series of posts on Tea Tour Korea 2011.

Added June 14, 2011:  I have to end this report on a good note.  Dong Cheong Tea, perhaps the largest organic tea company in Hwagae Valley, just told me by phone that in spite of their losses the prices for their teas this year will be the same as last year.  Thank you Mr. Ha!  Let's buy some Dong Cheong tea.  Incidentally, Morning Crane Tea sells Dong Cheong tea to retailers.    

[1] Juk-no-cha 竹露茶 “bamboo dew” tea is true wild tea growing in the mountains among the bamboo.  The plants are typically shaded and watered gently by drippings from the bamboo.  It is tea of the highest quality.

Tea Tour Korea Itinerary May 5-20, 2011

Tea Tour Korea seeks to introduce our guests to a Korea steeped in the traditions of Tea and Tea Ware and at the same time touch on the importance of the master traditions of several other aspects of Korean arts and culture through personal introductions to some of Korean Intangible Cultural Assets from other fields.  The logistics in developing this journey have been complex and will continue, but the bones are here and as we get closer to the tour they will be fleshed out to reveal what we hope will be an exceptional journey into the heart of Korean culture through Tea and ceramics. 

This post reveals the structure of the tour.  Each week, I hope to add a little more to the story and expand on the brief commentary you will find below.  We hope that you will join us on this very special adventure.

What to do and where to go will follow by personal email to each guest once the Tea Tour participants have made definite commitments.   It is time to make those commitments so email us soon.  This is a non-profit tour the final price will depend on the final number of guests.

Tea Tour Korea Tentative Itinerary.

T  May 05  Leave for Korea (Depending on your time zone)

Most of you will be crossing the IDL (International Dateline Line).  If you are in that group, you leave on May 5, 2011

F May 06 Seoul (provide your own meals)

Guests will arrive at the Seoul/Incheon Airport (ICN).  We will attempt to arrange meeting groups to gather at the airport and travel to the Hotel together.  

S May 07: Move to Mungyeong

This is a “6, 7, 8, 9 day”.  This means you rise at 6 AM, have breakfast at 7 AM, meet with Brother Anthony at 8 AM then board the bus at 9 AM for Mungyeong At 8 AM Brother  Anthony AnSonjae will present a discussion on Korean Green tea.  Brother Anthony of Taize is co-author of The Korean Way of Tea and a translator of Korean Tea Classics.  We are honored that he will be joining us.  

Move to Mungyeong.  Spend the afternoon at the Mungyeong Tea Bowl Festival. Some of the best tea ware artists in Korea live in Mungyeong including the only National ICA in Choson style ceramic ware - Kim Jong Ok.

S May 08 : Mungyeong 
This is a 6,7 8 day.  Rise at 6, breakfast at 7 depart for Mungyeong at 8. 

Spend the day and evening visiting the studios of selected Mungyeong artists.  This is the last day of the festival so there may be a ‘mixture’ between these two days in Mungyeong.

M May 09 : Icheon/Yeoju

This is another 6,7 8 day.  We go to Yeoju and Icheon
Icheon and Yeoju WOCEF Museums, visit important ceramic artists

including the Hae Gang Celadon Museum a tribute to the famous celadon artist Haegang (Yoo Kun-hyung).  Some of the most important and most interesting ceramic artists live in these cities we will visit a few of them and other outstanding artists. 

T May 10 : Gyeongju  (Buddha’s Birthday)

Gyeongju is one of the most important historic cities of Korea.  It was the capitol of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC – 935 AD) and as such is important to both Tea (tea was first planted in Korea during this period) and tea ware (the ceramics from this period is historically significant and in my opinion stunning.  We have several interesting events planned for this stop.

W May 11 : Gyeongju – Gimhae – Jinju

Early morning visit Seokkur-am and Bulgoksa move to Ulsan onggi village  Visit Gimhae National Museum. Move to Sancheong. We are now in tea country where wild tea flourishes in the mountains.

T May 12 : Sancheong - Hadong (B/D)

Visit Min Young Ki internationally renowned tea ware artist considered by some Japanese tea ware connoisseurs as "the best in Asia".  We then Move to Hadong visiting the tea area along the way.

F May 13 : Hadong – Hadong-Hwaeomsa Temple

Brother Anthony and Hong Kyeong-hee join tour.  Visit Private tea producers near Hadong, visit tea museum; drive to Hwagye valley.   View tea-fields.  Visit Ssanggye-sa temple. Arrive at Hwaeom-sa Temple, our Tea Temple  Over night at Hwaemsa-Temple stay or nearby Motel

S May 14 : Hwaemsa Temple

The morning chanting in the temple begins at about 3:30AM after the ringing of the bell etc.  Attendance is optional though encouraged (unique experience!).  Morning spent picking tea Afternoon spent drying and rolling freshly picked leaves. Over night at Hwaemsa-Temple stay.

S May 15 : Hwaemsa Temple – Boseong – Gangjin

Starts as yesterday. Receive completely dried, packed tea in the morning. Drive to Boseong. Visit Lee Hak Soo onggi (ICA) potter and Bosong Tea Plantation. Drive to Gangjin; visit the home of Dasan and Baekryeon-sa Temple.  Visit Ven Yo Yeon.  Visit the great celadon tea ware artist Jung Ki-bong.

M May 16 : Gangjin

Visit Gangjin Celadon Museum.  Drive to Daeheung-sa temple. Tour temple. Visit Tea ware artists

T May 17 : Gangjin – Chungwon-Seoul

Move to Chung Won-gun visit ceramic artist Lee Kang Hyo and Lee Tae Ho move to Seoul.

W May 18 : Seoul

Move to Bucheon Intangible Cultural Assets site,  meet Ha Il Nam Evening Tea 

Over night at Sunbee Hotel

T May 19 : Seoul

Free day in Seoul.   Evening Chongdong Theater, Traditional Korean Music and Dance

F May 20

Leave for Home

Waiting for the Price and a Firm Itinerary

 Sunrise

I am sure you are wondering why we haven’t posted the itinerary, precise dates or exact price of this tea tour.  To get you started, tentatively, the dates are May 5 – 20, 2011 and the price will be approximately $200 per day.  We always try to keep our prices under $200 per day.  The price will depend on how many are traveling with us. This price should be compared to tours that cost $350 per day because we stay at very good comfortable hotels and travel with our own private bus.  But this doesn’t explain the delay.  Essentially, I have made proposals to some government agencies in an attempt to secure small grants to subsidize part of your tour.  I have been waiting for responses to these proposals.  So the price could be a little lower.  The essence of the tour can be found on our welcome post.  Click here to go there.

 King Sejong Awaits as carved by ICA Park Chan Soo

 

Morning Earth is not like your standard tour company.  Actually we don’t think of ourselves as a tour company at all but rather as promoters of Korean arts and culture.   As part of our work we design and often host unique tours to Korea.  Our goal is to provide a better tour at a lower price as we introduce our guests to aspects of Korean arts and culture seldom attempted by others.  We want to introduce you to a Korea beyond the well-worn travel trails.  We want to introduce you to the heart of Korean arts and culture – to the people whose combined efforts provide the glue that sustain and enhance Korea’s rich culture, to the significant events that shine a spotlight on a particular part of Korean culture and to certain little known aspects of Korean culture like Korean Tea.  We also like to take you to those places where Korean culture is alive and thriving, to the temples, museums and even Saturday markets, to the out of the way nooks and crannies of Korea where you can just stand in awe of what is happening in this beautiful land we call Korea.  That is why we designed Tea Tour Korea.  Some knowledgeable travel professionals who have seen the proposed itinerary have called this tour, “The most culturally rich tour to Korea ever planned.”   I know you are waiting to see it too.  Thank you for your patience.

It is coming soon.  As we wait, please email me with your comments and suggestions.

Welcome to Tea Tour Korea

Welcome to our Tea Tour Korea blog. 

Korea is a destination tourist spot for many Asian countries.  Its beautiful mountains with their wonderful mountain adventures,

Korea's Mountains Hold Many Adventures
  

historic sites, 

 Bulgoksa Korea's most Famous Temple

bargain prices and friendly people lure them to Korea for wonderful holidays and even weekend ‘getaways’. 

On our many travels to Korea we have been drawn to a very interesting conclusion -- tea is the secret ingredient to much of Korea’s rich culture.  Without tea, Buddhism would not be the same, pottery would not be the same - anywhere in the world– and we would be denied the second most consumed beverage in the world - next to water.  

 Bosong Tea After Harvesting

Tea is at Korea’s cultural heart.  Without tea, and the practices associated with it, one can say that we would not have as many artists of many types throughout this beautiful land - Korea. 

So when you join us on Tea Tour Korea 2011, you will be joining us on an adventure not just to sip some very special tea but also to watch Korea’s rich arts and culture unfold before you while enjoying an occasional cup of their wonderful tea.  You will go beyond ‘watching’ to ‘experiencing’ important aspects of Korea’s culture first hand.  If you are truly interested in learning about Korean culture, nothing could be better.

Farm Dancers

 Our posts will start simple and as we reveal more aspects of the tour our posts will grow in detail.  As our blog grows, we hope your interest will also grow. 

On Tea Tour Korea you will not only see or “visit” Korea you will EXPERIENCE Korea in ways seldom attempted ever before on any tour.  And sometimes you will find that like the dragonfly it is the simple things that often seem to matter most.

We hope that you will join us by following this blog.  It will begin slowly and build to reveal the true nature of what we are planning – perhaps to reveal Korea in ways you have never thought of before.  Please join us as we “touch the heart of Korea” through tea.

The Simple Things

Sokkuram Fog

Near the ancient Buddhist temple of Sokkuram, early in the spring, the mountain mist often settles among the trees as it has done this morning.  Many tourists slowly walk along this path in anticipation of seeing the ancient stone Buddha but few pause to enjoy the mist.

A Hand-formed Potter's Home

 Not many miles away, inside this home set high on another mountain, a tea ware artist slowly wakes from his sleep.  He discovers that his daughter moved her yo close to his and has slept beside him all night.  The artist built this home by hand from raw clay and trees.

 His wife, already awake, is in the kitchen making breakfast.

A Monk Visits His Wild 'Bamboo' Tea

A hundred miles east, behind another ancient temple, the morning mist begins to rise after kissing the newly emerged tiny tealeaves on Jirisan.   Morning prayers and meditation have finished and several monks walk slowly behind the temple through the still moist woods into the bamboo forest.  There, among the bamboo, they find wild tea plants and check the tea leaves to see how wet they are from the morning dew.  These leaves are still a little too wet.  The monks will wait until afternoon to pick them.

New sprouting tealeaves are abundant.  It is about time, the winter was cold and the tealeaves started emerging later than usual.  Brother Anthony and Hong Kyeong-hee, authors of The Korean Way of Tea, will visit this temple in the afternoon along with some international guests who want to experience the picking and making of nokcha.  Some will stay the night at the temple so the monks are preparing for their arrival.

 Min Young Ki's Kiln Waits

  

A short distance away, work gloves sit on the ledge of the kiln of one of Korea’s most famous tea masters.  The gloves are waiting for the potter to load the kiln.  It will be loaded today then fired by wood - a ritual preformed often in this old kiln.   We can hardly wait to see the results of this firing.

A Bosong Tea Plantation

A hundred miles further east we find the Bosong tea plantations.   This plantation is beautiful and the site of several movies.  A Bosong tea plantation was the first Korean tea plantation to receive the prestigious international ‘organic’ label.

O'Sulloc Tea Plantation, Gangjin

  

The great tea and celadon city of Gangjin is nearby.  A tea company in Gangjin is quickly becoming well known and obviously has plans to export Korean tea in the near future.

A 2009 Gangjin Celadon Incense Burner

Gangjin is the home of Gangjin celadon.   Twelfth century China considered the celadon of Korea to be ‘the finest celadon in the world’ – every other thing on the ‘finest’ list was Chinese.   Nearly 80 percent of the Goryeo Dynasty celadon found in Museums throughout the world was made in Gangjin.  Gangjin’s artists are quickly reclaiming the reputation of producing the finest celadon in the world with their twenty-first century work.  

At Baekryeonsa Gangjin's Famous Tea Temple

In a mountain temple a famous tea monk walks through a camellia forest to the temple’s tea area surrounded by trees.  There he will personally pick his tealeaves.  These leaves will be for Ujeon.  Later pickings will be for Sejak, Jungjak and Daejak or his special Ddokcha a rediscovery of the ancient methods of the famous Korean tea monk Cho-Ui who lived at this temple.

The Mungyeong Chassabal Festival Grounds

Nearly two-hundred miles northeast many tea ware artists, including some national treasures, are waking, eating their breakfast and preparing it go to their annual festival - the Mungyeong Chassabal Festival - where international tea ware artists from nearly thirty countries are also exhibiting.   Held in a famous movie set the Mungyeong Chassabal Festival may be the most picturesque festival in Korea. 

A Group of International Ceramic Artist

Some authorities consider it to be the best teabowl festival in the world.

Azaleas Bloom on the Beakdu-daegan

If you like to hike, you may even have the opportunity to hike a little on Korea’s famous Beakdu-daegan.   The views from the top of this mountain range are magnificent.  The Beakdu-daegan curves at Mungyeong.  We want to thank Roger Sheperd for permission to show some of his mountain photos.

The Moka Museum Home

In another home, not many miles away, at a beautiful compound museum, a national treasure Buddhist woodcarver greets his stepdaughter as she helps her mother-in-law prepare his morning tea.  Perhaps he will carve for us when we visit him.

Contemporary Tea Cups by Cho Young-Kook at the WOCEF Exhibit

In the same city, museum officials are busy preparing to go to their museum.  There is much work even now to organize the famous World Ceramic Exposition scheduled for October.

TOYO Greets WOCEF Visitors

We will visit these famous world-class ceramic exhibition halls during our 2011 tour.  As mentioned, the ceramic exposition for 2011 will open in October, a drastic change from most previous years.

Are you a little confused as to where you are in this beautiful land of Korea?  Don’t worry, we will guide you, in a more orderly fashion, as you visit these places, meet these people, and have experiences like these and many more on Tea Tour Korea 2011. 

While it carries the name “Tea Tour”, this tour encompasses far more than tea. 

Steeped in a variety of cultural experiences, well beyond what is mentioned above, this is the perfect tour to introduce anyone to Korea’s rich and varied culture – not just to view it – but to experience it.  This tour will touch the heart of Korea by visiting the artists (of several disciplines), tea areas, museums, temples and other places that make Korea’s culture what it is today.   Touch the heart of Korea and Korea may touch your heart in return.

Become a follower of this blog and register to learn more about Tea Tour Korea.  Email us at:

MorningCraneTea@sbcglobal.net.

Please Include:

Your Name

Email Address

Mailing address

Phone number

Your mailing address and phone number are optional but appreciated so that we can send you information on Korea.   We keep the information private and in house.

We would appreciate it if you would include a short statement concerning your personal reasons for wanting to learn more about Korean arts and culture.

Note:

This blog is about developing Tea Tour Korea 2011 and will remain active after the tour.  Although we can’t promise you that we will ever plan another tea tour again – at least one on which we will be your hosts. 

Our goal is to make this May 2011 tour the most culturally rich Korean culture tour ever developed.  We hope that you will follow this blog as the tour develops and join us in May 2011 on what will be a fantastic journey through Korea’s rich culture.  We look forward to your comments and questions even suggestions.  Registration will provide you with extra and early tour updates, special opportunities and reserve your spot on Tea Tour Korea 2011– without obligation.  Visit TeaTourKorea.com for some additional information but be aware that this blog is the up-to-date site for Tea Tour Korea 2011.  The website will be updated later when we have more information.  In the meantime, last year’s information is there now – don’t get them confused.  Again, this blog is the up-to-date site for Tea Tour Korea 2011

Tea Tour Korea will take place in May 2011 and last for about 15 days.  The specific dates are coming soon.

We look forward to meeting you in Korea and to sharing some great Korean experiences with you.  Touch the heart of Korea.

Discussions on Korean tea and tea ware can be found at Morning Crane Tea blog and at dawan-chawan-chassabal blog.

The Korean Way of Tea

 To begin at the beginning of this blog, click here

There is something compelling about tea that goes far beyond the ordinary.  Each morning I sit with a Korean teacup, small, no handle, subtle in color and form, fitting my hand like no other.  It is filled with Korean green tea - picked early in the spring - warm to both the hand and heart.  Those moments take me away from the blur of daily life to peace and clarity.  For me, that is ‘tea’.

     I suppose each of us has their moment of ‘tea’ or we would not be interested in this web site.  We have discovered the compelling nature of tea.  For me that time comes from that perfect joining of Korean tea and Korean teacup.  

   This spring we hosted a small group of tea lovers and went into the mountains near Gangjin to visit Baekryeonsa an old temple where Cho Ui the great Korean tea masters once lived.   

Il Dam's 'Free brewed' Tea

While the monk Il Dam was ‘free serving’ us newly made green tea the great tea-master Ya Yeon returned from the temples tea garden where he had been picking tea and presented his collection to our group.  

Ya Yeon's Fresh Picked Tea

Ya Yeon has rediscovered the temples famous ddokcha an aged red tea in cake form once made during the Goryeo Dynasty.

Ya Yeon's Ddokcha

Koreans and Japanese have long known about Korean tea but Korean tea is little known in the Western world.  Few books on tea contain any information on Korean tea*.  However, knowledgeable tea connoisseurs have reported that handpicked and processed Korean green teas are among the best green teas in the world.  It is said of Korean green tea that it has both the taste of Luan tea and the healing-powers of Mengshan tea.

At the same time, knowledgeable tea ware connoisseurs have reported that hand formed Korean tea bowls are historically the finest tea bowls in the world.  Even today, many tea ware connoisseurs from around the world, but principally from Japan, travel to Korea to find outstanding tea bowls.  They have been known to pay enormous prices for new Korean tea bowls and present prestigious awards to Korean tea ware potters.  Most books that include information on tea bowls include long descriptions of selected Korean examples.  The famous book An Unknown Craftsman: a Japanese Insight Into Beauty by Japan’s famous aesthetician Soetsu Yanagi includes an entire chapter on one very humble Korean teabowl. 

The 'Kizaemon' Tea Bowl

The discrepancy between the appreciation of Korean tea and Korean tea ware is enormous.  We hope this tour will begin to pave the way toward a greater appreciation for Korean tea so that one day the two worlds of Korean tea, tea ware and tea, will both be greatly appreciated.

On my first trip to Korea, now more than thirty years ago, a friend took me to visit a potter.  The potter’s work was very Korean, made of porcelain and at first glance simple, humble and plain - quiet in its subtle beauty.  As we sat, the potter’s daughter, dressed in a simple white hanbok, walked slowly into the room carrying a tray on which was works by her father.  Quietly she placed the tray on the low table and sat on the floor.  It was fascinating to watch her first warm the bowl and cups with hot water and then with graceful fluid movements simply prepare tea.  I had never experienced tea like that before.  The flavor was so profound, the poetic moment unforgettable.  It was not a ceremony, but it was the Korean way of tea.   

In their book The Korean Way of Tea Brother Anthony of Taize and Hong Kyeong-Hee write:

‘Sitting in a traditional Korean house, with doors and windows open to the early morning sunshine, the taste of the first cup of tea, made with water that is far below boiling point, on a palate freshly awakened, is so intense, so indescribably fragrant, that from that day on the only question can be: ‘When shall I be able to go back and drink that tea again?’ 

That too is the Korean way of tea.  

Tea Ware Artist Park Jong Ill Prepares Two Types of Tea

Later we met with the potter Park Jong Il who after some exciting side trips through Jirisan tea country finally took us to his home high into the mountains near Gyeongju, the capitol of Silla at the time when tea was first introduced into Korea.  There we spent the night in the tea house Park Jong Il had made from raw clay he dig nearby and from trees hewn from the mountain.  With his simple natural tea ware, lightly glazed or just kissed by the now melted fly ash during the firing, we sat as he prepared tea.  Moments like that always awaken the spiritual side of tea. That too is the Korean way of tea.        

   It is these experiences and more that have guided us to offer you this unparalleled opportunity to experience the Korean way of tea.  

This is not a commercial tea tour highlighting the Korean movies filmed at one of Bosong’s tea plantations.  Your tour will be in-depth and will highlight both quality tea and quality tea ware.

The tour will begin in Seoul with an introduction to Korean tea presented by Brother Anthony of Taize, co-author of the book The Korean Way of Tea and one of the translators of Korean Tea Classics.  Then it will travel to the WOCEF site in Kwangju before traveling to the International Mungyeong Tea Bowl Festival where you will see the work of international and local tea ware artists.  Mungyeong has a thousand year history of producing tea ware.  Three ceramic Human Cultural Treasures live in Mungyeong among many other excellent tea ware artists.  This is one of the sites where Hideoshi’s army camped during the Imjin or “Pottery War”.  Many potters were taken from this area in that historic war.  They helped lay the foundation for Japan’s pottery today. 

Although we are beginning at the Mungyeong Teabowl Festival we usually like to avoid crowds and travel to out of the way places.  The tour becomes much quieter and spiritual as we trace both the history of Korean tea ceramics and the history of Korean tea.

Brother Anthony of Taize and Hong Kyeong-Hee authors of The Korean Way of Tea and translators of Korean Tea Classics are helping to plan and will participate in the tea portion of this tour.  As mentioned, at the beginning, they will introduce the tour.  They will join us when we enter the tea area of Jirisan and travel with us through Gangjin.  These mountains are famous as the areas that produce the “best teas in Korea”.  It is in Jirisan where tea was first planted in Korea.  The Goryeo Dynasty - that made Gangjin famous was the height of Korean tea and home of the great tea-master Cho Ui.  After touring important areas of Jisan Tea, Br. Anthony and Mr. Hong will take us to Hwaeom-sa  a very famous tea temple.  There you will experience temple life or you may choose to rest at a nearby hotel.  The following morning, Br. Anthony, Mr. Hong and the temple monks will guide you through the experience of picking and processing your own Korean green tea. 

The tea portion of the tour will allow you to witness several tea plantations, including Jirisan areas and Bosong and we will travel to Gangjin famous for celadon made during the Goryeo Dynasty.  Gangjin is an historic stop for Korean tea connoisseurs.         

We, with the help of Chung Yang-mo, foremost authority on Korean ceramics, are planning the tea ware portion of the tour.  We have more than 40 years of Korean ceramic research experience and have selected some of Korea’s more interesting ceramic artists.  They include a potter considered by some Japanese and Korean authorities to produce the finest tea bowls in Asia.  You will visit Intangible Cultural Assets of various ceramic styles and Park Jong Il, the humble potter whose raw clay home sits high in the mountains near Gyeongju as well as many others.      

We simply want to introduce you to both Korean ceramics and the Korean way of tea.  Our hope is that on this tour, with guests including tea connoisseurs, tea ware artists and others, you experience at least one moment when you will not only witness the Korean way of tea but will feel it deeply. 

“To read is to know, to travel is to understand.”

We hope that you will be open to the great experiences that await you on this tour.

Please contact us at: Morning Crane Tea to register and be informed about this great adventure as it develops. Please go to our introduction post for information on registration.