Thinking about Korean tea lately. Remembering all the time I spent in the teahouses in Insadong - a favorite neighborhood in Seoul - on the weekends, lounging over a cup of tea and the Korean alphabet. My three favorites were quince, jujube, and plum tea. Always served in a beautiful, earthy cup with a small wooden spoon.
Although I traveled around much of the country, I never made it to famous green tea fields. However, I did learn how to perform a Korean tea ceremony, an elaborate ritual with specific equipment and certain gestures and moments for each part of the performance. The ritual of drinking tea was always best when served with delicate rice cakes, pictured below.
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All this talk of South Korea lately had me sifting through my photo archive today. A colleague headed there over the weekend and, having lived in Seoul for a year, I was called on to give my advice on all that is Korean. Rusty as my knowledge is, I was also proud that I could remember how to navigate from Gyeongbokgung palace to Jogyesa temple, where to find green tea ice cream, how to say basic phrases, and why sundubu jjigae is the best.
