▲ Photo courtesy Daehan Tea

Originally appearing in Koreana, a quarterly on arts and culture from The Korea Foundation, the author Kim Dae-sung is an advisor to the Federation of Korean Tea Masters Society

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A good starting point for a tour of Korea’s tea country is the Gwangju area at the heart of the southwestern region, from where you can make a loop southward along the foothills of mountains that overlook the sea and numerous offshore islands, then turn eastward following the coastline and into the interior to arrive at Boseong, Korea’s celebrated “Capital of Tea.”

Gwangju: Tea Garden of ‘Three Adorations’

At the trailhead of Mt. Mudeung in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, traces of Heo Baek-ryeon (style name Uijae, 1891-1977), a master of tea as well as the Southern School style of classical painting, linger like wisps of early morning mist. After Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, he managed a large tea plantation of some 50,000 pyeong (about 165,000 square meters) on a slope of this mountain, which he named Samae Dawon. He was also a teacher; he founded the Gwangju High School of Agricultural Technology and taught his students about tea cultivation and processing.

Today, at the entrance of the artist’s tea garden stands the stylish, modern Uijae Art Museum, established by his grandson Heo Dal-jae, who collected his eminent grandfather’s works, memorabilia, and tea ware for exhibition. Visitors can view Uijae’s paintings of the “four gracious plants” (sagunja) in the traditional style along with his calligraphic brushworks, and representative artworks from each successive period of his remarkable artistic career. Then, they can linger at the gallery café for a taste of Chunseol tea and tea-flavored cookies, sticky rice cake, and red-bean jelly. Chunseol (meaning “spring snow”) is the name given by Uijae to the tea produced in this area from the slopes of Mt. Mudeung. Across from the museum over a stream and behind a pine grove is an elegant house, known as Chunseolheon, where Uijae lived, enjoyed tea with guests, and worked on his painting.

Chunseolheon served as a cultural space and salon where intellectuals from throughout Korea gathered to discuss the country’s future after liberation. Among his guests were foreigners, such as Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, the Romanian author of the novel “The 25th Hour,” with whom Heo had corresponded. He called Uijae the “Daoist hermit of Mt. Mudeung.” Uijae was a distinguished tea master and a warmhearted artist who gave his artworks and his tea as gifts to those who made the “pilgrimage” to his mountain home. Nowadays, his grandson lives there, where he paints as well as serves tea to guests.

▲ Photo courtesy Daehan Tea

Mount Wolchul: Haven for Literati Dilettantes

Vast tea plantations skirt the slopes of Mt. Wolchul, in Yeongam County, South Jeolla Province, which include several historic sites where you can learn about the tea culture of Korea’s southern regions. On the northeastern side of the mountain is Bulhoe Temple, famed for its jeoncha tea (jeon from the old Korean brass coin yeopjeon, which the tea leaf was thought to resemble), while over the ridge to the right stands Unheung Temple, where the Venerable Choui (1786-1866), known as the “Saint of Korean Tea,” entered priesthood at the age of 16. The area is also home to Muwi Temple, a refuge for the distinguished scholar and connoisseur of tea, Jeong Yak-yong (pen name Dasan, 1762-1836), during his time of exile, as well as the putative birthplace of Wangin, a legendary scholar who is known to have introduced paper and tea seeds to Japan in the fourth century.

Zen Master Choui was born in Singi Village in Muan County, on the southwest coast. Farther south, on Jin Island, is Ullim Sanbang, where Heo Ryeon (style name Sochi, 1809-1892), spent his later years. Sochi was a foremost master who learned tea-making, painting, and writing from the Venerable Choui and Kim Jeong-hui (Chusa, 1786-1856), an eminent calligrapher, epigrapher, and scholar of the late Joseon period. Ullim Sanbang, or the “Cloud Forest Mountain Studio,” is a gorgeous site with a pond on the grounds and wild flowers all around, even more picturesque, some say, than a painting by Sochi.

▲ Photo courtesy Daehan Tea

Gangjin: Elite Connoisseur’s Home in Exile

Back on the mainland, in Gangjin, located along the crook of a bay on the rump of South Jeolla Province, you simply must stop by the historic Dasan Chodang, the house of Jeong Yak-yong at the foot of Mt. Mandeok behind Gyuldong Village in Mandeok-ri. Dasan lived in this house during his 18-year exile, where he wrote prolifically and taught students, with whom he shared his passion for tea. He met the Venerable Choui there and enjoyed drinking tea with the renowned monk, expressing his joy in poems. He came to know Choui through a mutual tea-drinking friend, the monk Hyejang of neighboring Baengnyeon Temple.

When Dasan was eventually released from exile and left for home, his students formed Dasingye, a fraternity of loyal followers. Their descendants still meet every year at the home of the clan head of their famed teacher’s descendants, to make tea and affirm their loyalty to Dasan. From the Cheonil Pavilion nearby, you can look out at Gugang Harbor, and farther into the distance about a hundred kilometers away at Heuksan Island, where Dasan’s older brother Jeong Yak-jeon was exiled. The brothers missed each other immensely, as documented in their writings, separated by the sea for the long years of their exile.

Dasan had a broad, flat rock in his yard atop which he would brew tea whenever he needed a break from his reading, burning pine cones to heat the water. On another rock behind the house, he carved Jeongseok (“Jeong Stone”) in Chinese characters, an enduring reminder of his presence there.

In Gangjin, if you take a walk through the camellia woods near Baengnyeon Temple you will come to the site of a storied celadon kiln of the Goryeo Dynasty. The area has long been the center of celadon production. Traditional kilns and workshops continue to be preserved here. A great number of the celadon works designated as Korean national treasures have originated from this region.

▲ Photo courtesy Daehan Tea

Haenam: Hermitage of the ‘Tea Saint’

Nestled at the mid-ridge level of Mt. Duryun, in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, Daeheung Temple was the home of Choui. He wrote extensively on the cultivation, preparation, and enjoyment of tea. His most celebrated work about tea is Dongchasong (Hymn in Praise of Korean Tea), which consists of 31 passages on tea farming, how to brew tea, and old stories about tea. By walking about two kilometers further up from the temple, you arrive at the hermitage Iljiam, where the monk lived alone during his final years, savoring tea and writing poetry. He developed new methods for roasting and drying tea leaves, which are unique to Korea. In Dongchasong, he extolled the vibrant color and flavor of the tea he brewed. Sochi, mentioned earlier, often visited Choui to learn from him.

Hadong: Cradle of ‘The King’s Tea’

Across the Seomjin River at Gurye, South Jeolla Province, you reach Hadong on the opposite bank, in South Gyeongsang Province. The tea plantation of Hadong, nourished at the base of Mt. Jiri’s grandeur with constant mists rising from the 4-kilometer-long banks stretching from Hadong Harbor, is characterized by the countless terraces found on the hilly slopes. Though without a level field area, the site is well chosen for its good tea-growing soil, which requires pebble fields to make rainwater drain easily.

Hwagae tea from Hadong is well documented in historical texts. Choui wrote in his book that “Hwagae is the place with the biggest tea plantation, one about 40-50 ri,” or some 15 to 20 kilometers in length. In a document from the third year of King Heungdeok’s reign (828), in Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms), there is a reference to “Daeryeom, an envoy to Tang China, who brought back tea seeds, and the king ordered them planted near Mt. Jiri.” For this reason, the people of Hadong refer to the local tea as “The King’s Tea.”

Tea Festivals

Homage to the ‘Capital of Tea’ in Boseong

A large tea plantation that produces more than one-third of the green tea consumed by Koreans is located in Boseong. Manicured hedges of green tea plants flourish on terraces wrapped around the lower reaches of Mt. Hwangseong and the surrounding hilly countryside, a magnificent sight beloved by tourists and tea enthusiasts. The residents of Boseong, proud of their reputation as the “Capital of Tea,” stage the Boseong Tea Fragrance Festival in May every year; 2013 is the 38th year of the festival (http://dahyang.boseong.go.kr).