✨ Hola! Me llamo Soo. Hoy es el doce de agosto en dos mil veinte. Hoy estoy comezando mi experimento “1 day 1 Spanish with my tea.”
No estoy seguro de cuánto tiempo va a durar, pero queiro hablar español con fluidez. Creo que puedo hacerlo con té! 🍵
Deséame una suerte 🤞
Hasta mañana!
Hi! My name is Soo. Today is August 12th in 2020. I am starting my experiment 1 Day 1 Spanish with My Tea. I am not sure how long this experiment will last. But I want to be fluent in Spanish. I think I will be able to do it with my tea! 🍵
I have a love and hate relationship with black tea. Two years ago I had my first allergy attack after drinking chai, which I suspect.
I thought I would be okay, but I wasn’t. So I had to see several doctors.
Time to time I am okay with drinking black tea, but now I know my body will not react well for sure when my immune system is low.
I went to hospital, did my blood testing, the day I had to check my result I suddenly had to go to a tea garden (yeah right…speaking of responsibility), never checked my result 🙄 (ugh my money $$$). I had to fly out, so I haven’t checked the result at all.
Deep in down, I was so afraid that my test result will have caffeine as an allergen. I mean how could I enjoy tea as I have been, if I knew I had caffeine as an allergen?
Now that’s a toxic relationship.
It’s been two years, but today I could feel the allergy attack was coming again. After eating tea infused food, suddenly my throat was getting tight, my body was getting goosebumps (these goosebumps don’t go away until body recovers). I’ve had the same tea before many times, but today was the first time I reacted not well.
I have been working overnights with very little sleep or no sleep, so my immune system must have been extremely low. This afternoon, I felt like I was getting poisoned for moments.
I love tea, but there is no “I ♥️ tea” if I don’t exist anymore.
I am ready to embrace the test result. I am going to see whether I can pull out my test result online or something. If not, I will re-examine.
With coronavirus and everything, I am witnessing more and more how my life is so fragile. It’s like a glass. Just like glass is made out of sand enduring incredibly high temperature, maybe I am stronger than before with my experience and life skills.
But anything can happen in life, so to our fragile lives, one incident can take us down.
This is my note to self. Don’t take today for granted. Take care of yourself. Stop being stupid. Get out of a toxic relationship (hopefully with tannins).
Say goodbye to the complicated and energy-wasting tea egg recipe. I simplified the recipe for easier, healthier, and more delicious tea eggs. (because my life is already complicated. I wanna chill when I cook!)
This recipe is good for someone who cooks tea eggs for the first time or tries to cut down extra sugar, salt, or spices.
https://youtu.be/uIuM_UuIXQA
If you are looking for the classic tea egg taste, this recipe will be slightly mild for you. I added a note on the recipe card below, how many extra ingredients you will need to add to make the original tea eggs.
There’s always time to eat or workout. The choice is yours.
It’s Autumn in Melbourne, Australia.
With the ease of covid19 restriction, finally hiking is allowed since May 13th, 2020.
Although I was really looking forward to going hiking, with chill and rainy weather, I decided to stay inside and cook tea eggs instead. Oh well lol.
What is a tea egg?
Tea egg is a typical Chinese savory food commonly sold as a snack.
I first saw tea eggs as street food when I visited China for Guangzhou Tea Expo
Basically,
You boil eggs,
Crack the boiled eggshells,
Then, boil the cracked eggs again in tea with spices.
This was the first tea egg I cooked last year in 2019.
It is also known as the marble egg because cracks in the eggshell create darkened lines like marble patterns.
Do you feel hungry or crave for munches often? Tea eggs are very filling!
After I cooked tea eggs, I ate four eggs as my breakfast! They were so yum, I was kept eating.
I didn’t know how much eggs could fill me up. I had breakfast at around 8 am, then didn’t feel hungry at all until 3 pm.
Eggs rank high on a scale called the Satiety Index. This scale evaluates how well foods help you feel full and reduce calorie intake later on. Additionally, eating a diet high in protein may reduce obsessive thoughts about food by up to 60%.
Whether you want to lose weight or not, eating tea eggs can help you stay more focused and energized throughout the day because the feeling of hunger doesn’t distract you.
For me, it was a genuine surprise. It was nice to enjoy food without feeling stuffed. I liked how the feeling of fullness stayed for hours.
1. Cover the eggs in a saucepan with cold water. 2. Boil the eggs for 8 minutes 3. Drain the hot water. Cool the eggs under cool running water.
4. Crack the eggshell. Make sure to crack the shell to reach the inner side. Otherwise, you will not get a marble pattern.
Don’t pressure to hard though. It will break the egg.
5. Put the cracked eggs back into the saucepan. 6. Add 1 3/4 cups of water
7. Add all the ingredients (2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 star anise, 1 teaspoon of black tea, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder).
8. Boil for 15 minutes.
Done cooking.
This recipe is not as intense as the classic tea egg recipe. You can even enjoy the marinate sauce as tea soup with boiled eggs.
For the leftover eggs, you can marinate longer for the darker marble lines and taste.
You can enjoy these tea eggs as is. It’s also delicious with rice, noodle, or as a side dish.
Simplified Tea Egg Recipe
Say goodbye to the complicated and energy-wasting tea egg recipe. I simplified the recipe for easier, healthier, and more delicious tea eggs. This recipe is good for someone who cooks tea eggs for the first time or tries to cut down extra sugar, salt.
Drain the hot water. Cool the eggs under cool running water.
Crack the eggshell. Make sure to crack the shell to reach the inner side. Otherwise, you will not get a marble pattern. Don't pressure too hard. It will break the egg.
Put the cracked eggs back into the saucepan.
Add 1 3/4 cups of water.
Add all the ingredients (2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 star anise, 1 teaspoon of black tea, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder.
Boil for 15 minutes.
Video
Notes
If you want to enjoy tea eggs stronger, add the following extra ingredients to the recipe. Add 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce, 1 slice of ginger, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn, 1 teaspoon sugar, and half teaspoon salt.
I put together six online shops where you can buy Korean Tea in English. I hope this list can help you feel less frustrated and exhausted in search of Korean tea.
Let’s begin the scavenger hunt for…Easter eggs? No, For Korean teas!
Are you living outside of South Korea? Are you drinking Korean tea? Congratulation you are one of the 0.1% who is lucky enough to taste the tea.
If you are not a Korean speaker, I am even more proud of you because you’ve conquered the endless journey of finding Korean tea.
According to the World’s Top Export, South Korea tea import is ranked 64th, 0.3%, and export is ranked 50th, 0.1% of the global tea market.
The numbers are based on the sources from Alibaba, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), International Trade Centre, and Investopedia. It gets updated frequently, you can check the details below.
After I shared my first tea guide post about Korean tea. I received much positive feedback around the communities (thank you!), and also questions mostly about the struggle of purchasing Korean tea outside of Korea.
I am a native Korean speaker and have direct connections with people in South Korea. So, I haven’t used any site outside of Korea to purchase Korean teas.
However, I knew some tea companies that sell Korean tea in English, so I put them together in case you had no idea where to start from.
1. Tea Repertoire
Sujin, the co-founder of Repertoire grew up near Hadong, the oldest tea plantation region in South Korea.
She currently teaches the Korean Tea Masterclass at the U.K. Tea Academy with Jane Pettigrew, the renowned tea author of 16 tea books.
Tea Repertoire sells high-quality Korean tea with a full description including tea type, tea region, tasting notes, brewing guidance, background stories,everything in English!
You can purchase beautifully presented Korean tea with very affordable or no international shipping costs.
Based: in London, UK
International Shipping: Available. Tea Repertoire also offers free international economy delivery for orders above £35, free priority delivery for orders above £70.
Hankook Tea was founded in 1951 in Suncheon, South Korea. As green tea gained popularity in Korea, the company expanded the farm to encompass several acres in four locations – Youngam, Jangsung, Haenam, and Boseong. Each tea estate was carefully chosen for its ideal climate and geographic location for tea bushes.
The founder of Hankook Tea is registered as the Grand Master of Traditional Korean Foods by the Republic of Korea (South Korea). I appreciate Hankook Tea because I think it is the only major tea company that operates and actually sells products in English.
On the Hankook tea’s website, you can browse different types of Korean tea with a detailed description including tea type, tea grade, tea region, harvest time, and tasting notes. You can also purchase samplersonly.
Based: in South Korea, United States
International Shipping: Available. Although international shipping is available, I find Hankook tea’s international shipping is too much for people outside of the United States. For example, if you live in Australia and want to try one sampler that costs 8 USD, you will need to pay $54.10 for USPS International Priority Mail. However, if you live in the U.S. Hankook tea is a great place to order Korean tea.
Teas Unique directly sources organic, artisan, single estate green teas from the four major tea growing regions of Korea. The company imports Korean teas directly from the growers in Korea and package them in the USA.
On the Teas Unique website, you can browse a wide range of Korean tea with clear images and detailed descriptions including grade, harvest date, farm location, harvest method, and processing method. Depends on a product, you can also read a linked review by a tea reviewer outside of the company.
Wooree Tea sources Korean tea from only one farm in Hadong, the birthplace of Korean tea, over 1200 years ago.
When I checked the website, I couldn’t see detailed product pictures (clear image of tea leaves, wet leaves, and brewed liquor) or descriptions( harvest date, tasting notes, brewing guidance, etc.).
However, I could identify the tea farm Wooree Tea described.
Then, I was like ok, forget the image, forget the description, their tea is good.
But honestly, I wish there were more high-quality images and detailed descriptions.
Based: in Auckland, New Zealand
International Shipping: Available at affordable prices. I put my address in the United States and my shipping fee was $7.50.
After I published this article, people told me about Soocha Tea where you can find Korean teas directly sourced from the tea farms in South Korea for the US and Canada market.
“Soo(수, 秀)” in Korean means “excellent, outstanding, elegant, graceful, refined, etc.”, and “Cha(차, 茶)” means “tea”. Soocha also means “a written statement submitted to a king in person”, “several times, frequently”, and “waterwheel” in Korean using different Chinese characters.
My name is also Soo. So, I personally felt more attached to Soocha Tea when I read the description. (I know, I am biased lol).
Do you want to learn about Korean green tea? Start from here! This is the basic guideline for the Korean green tea and tea grading system based on the current regulation by the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS) in South Korea.
The world of Korean tea can be confusing with different terminology, history, and custom.
Before I overwhelm you with details, I decided to prepare this basic guideline, so you can understand the basic terms and how the tea grading system works in South Korea.
The Rule of Law and Enforcement
In 2015, the NAQS introduced the first tea grading system to organise and standardize the artisan loose leaf tea market.
The regulation is controversial til today because the major tea grading system is solely based on harvesting time.
This means if you are growing tea in colder weather where tea buds come out later than the warmer region in South Korea, you might lose a chance to sell your quality tea under a certain name that consumers acknowledge and pay a premium.
Curious about the overall law and enforcement for the tea industry in South Korea? Korean Tea Industry.
Want to know about the specific law and enforcement for the tea grading system in South Korea? Korean Tea Grades.
* They are all written in Korean.
The Official Korean Tea Grades
우전 Ujeon = Woojeon (雨煎)
Grade Name: Ujeon Meaning: Before the grain rain (gogu, 穀雨). Harvesting Time: Before Gogu (-4.19) Harvest: First harvesting/plucking Leaves: Two leaves and a bud
Tasting Note: A tasting evaluation is non-regulatory. I opted out the tasting notes for this post.
곡우 Gogu (穀雨)
Grade Name: Gogu Meaning: The first spring rain Harvesting Time: 7 days within Gogu (4.20-4.27) Harvest: First harvesting/plucking Leaves: Two leaves and a bud
Honestly, I’ve never heard of Gogu as a tea grading before I read the regulation.
People don’t use it except the government official who probably doesn’t drink any artisan tea.
Gogu is known as one of the seasonal days in Spring. It’s an important day for agriculture. That’s about it.
source: osulloc
세작 Sejak (細雀)
Grade Name: Sejak Meaning: A sparrow’s small and thin tongue Harvesting Time: 4.28-4.30 Harvest: First or second harvesting/plucking Leaves: Three leaves and a bud
image source: cholocwon
중작 Joongjak (中雀)
Grade Name: Joongjak Meaning: A sparrow’s medium tongue Harvesting Time: 5.1-5.31 Harvest: First or second harvesting/plucking Leaves: Three leaves and a bud
I only had roasted green tea in Daejak.
대작 Daejak (大雀)
Grade Name: Daejak Meaning: A sparrow’s large tongue Harvesting Time: After June 1 Harvest: Third-fourth harvesting/plucking Leaves: tea leaves
The Daily Korean Tea Grades (Unofficial)
Apart from Ujeon, Sejak, Joongjak, Daejak, there are also newly created and commonly used terms.
Geographically, it is very rare to harvest tea leaves in South Korea before April.
However with climate changes, sometimes tea farms harvest tea buds earlier than usual. With these tea buds, tea farms make the most tender and delicate tea.
These teas are sold as Teuk Ujeon means Supreme Ujeon, a higher version of Ujeon. It generally costs $100-150 USD for 30-40g.
But that’s what tea companies say. To me, it is another bad sales tactic. If I compare Teuk Ujeon to Ujeon, I barely see a difference or no difference at least on the internet. If you tried Teuk Ujeon that is truly superior to Ujeon, please let me know.
엽차 Yeop Cha
Grade Name: Yeop Cha Meaning: loose leaf tea Harvesting Time: After June 1 Harvest: Fifth harvesting/plucking Leaves: tea leaves and stems
You can easily purchase Yeop Cha from common Korean supermarkets such as Homeplus or Emart.
Since Yeop Cha is considered as the lowest tea grade that consumers don’t bother to pay a premium, I think NAQS opted out this category within the tea grading system.
For example, I purchased 150g of Yeop Cha less than 5 USD from Homeplus.
But you know what? Just because the market determines what is high and low quality doesn’t mean it carries the same value to you. I like Yeop Cha as much as Ujeon.
source: teazen
작설차 Jaksul Cha = 세작 Sejak
Many Korean teas are associated with a sparrow. I am not sure what’s so important about Korean tea and how it resembles a sparrow’s tongue, which is not even appealing. Anyway, Jaksul means a sparrow’s tongue. Jaksul Cha is usually equivalent to Sejak.
source: sundawon
우전 Ujeon = 첫물차 Cheotmul Cha
Cheotmul Cha means the first flush, usually means Ujeon.
Remember in order to sell tea under the name Ujeon, a producer needs to follow the official guideline?
What happens if there is a tea farm that gets tea buds later than usual and fails to prepare tea before the deadline?
Risk fines (under $10,000 USD) and sell tea as Ujeon anyway.
Sell Ujeon under Cheotmulcha, which means first flush tea.
Ujeon has the highest branding power, so Cheotmulcha is sold cheaper than Ujeon. This means you can purchase tea as good as Ujeon and pay less.
Although I love bargains I don’t wanna rip off hard-working farmers. This is one of the reasons why I think the regulation needs to be changed.
For Your Information, Cha = Tea
Cha means tea in Korean. So whenever you see the word cha, you can use tea interchangeably.
Jaksul Cha (작설차) = Jaksul tea
Dumul Cha (두물차) = Dumul tea
Ujeon Cha (우전차) = Ujeon tea
Lastly, Tea is cultural. Just because a certain term sounds cool, you can’t apply it everywhere.
When it comes to East Asia or any place, respecting originality is your best move, unless you have a legitimate reason.
While I am writing this post, I’ve noticed more and more tea companies in the West categorized Korean tea as sencha. Sencha is the term for Japanese tea.
If you are an avid tea drinker, you can easily notice that Korean sencha sounds as awkward as Sri Lanka Darjeeling or Yunnan FTGFOP. There is no reason to call any Korean tea as sencha unless a specific reason is backed up.
Are you considering to introduce Korean tea to the market? Please research or consult a professional before you mistakenly use a symbol or terminology.
Foreign affairs are no joke. No matter how your intention is innocent, your ignorance can put you in danger.
I hope this post helped you to understand some tea terms and the grading system for Korean tea.
“Nomad Tea Festival is a virtual tea festival dedicated to everyone who has a heart for tea. We are here to connect, engage, and lift the diverse tea communities around the world.”
Festivals, conferences, expos, all the events are more than simple entertainment. It’s a symbol where people meet, engage, participate, share, communicate, and grow as a community. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so many tea events got canceled, affecting thousands of people from small tea farmers to tea passionate fans.
I love this industry so much, I decided to implement a basic platform to organize a virtual tea festival. If you are a tea business, tea educator, tea performer, or anyone who is interested in participating in a virtual tea event, please check out the Nomad Tea Festival.
Tea Drinkers in Australia is a community where people drink, talk, and get to know this world better through tea gatherings. We respect diversity and take tolerance very importantly. Tea Drinkers in Australia was created in 2018. I wanted to combine Tea Drinkers in Korea and Tea Drinkers in Australia into one. However, I couldn’t due to geographic and technical issues.
Tea Drinkers in Korea is a community where people drink, talk, and get to know this world better through tea gatherings. We respect diversity and take tolerance very importantly.
I started the tea community in 2017 to expand more open and casual tea culture in South Korea.
Why did I create the Tea Drinkers in Korea?
Suffocation: South Korea is full of coffee drinkers. It was very difficult for me to find a tea gathering. Even if I found a tea event, there were limited seats and high barriers to attend. I soon felt frustrated and exhausted. I thought organizing an event would be easier, faster, and more fun.
Meeting Tea Friends: Meeting a tea friend is one of my favorite things! I wanted to meet more tea friends.
Have Fun & Grow: What happens when people who share similar interests meet together? We all get excited, freely share resources, and naturally learn & grow. I wanted to make my or anyone else’s tea journey process enjoyable.
Connect: There was a huge gap between tea businesses and tea drinkers. Tea businesses wanted more customers, however, tea drinkers didn’t even know those tea businesses existed. I wanted to share a place, hold an event at a tea-related place, save time for tea drinkers to find a place, increase sales for tea businesses, create a win-win situation.
Experiment: In the end, there was nothing to lose to create a tea community. I was curious about whether people would join the community.
Now we have 400+ members. Feel free to join if you are interested in Korean tea culture.
Due to bushfires in Australia, I’ve been breathing heavily smoky air for more than a month. It’s been very frustrating to experience how the toxic air significantly affected my breathing.
My nose feels blocked. My throat feels dry. I can’t do a sensory evaluation of teas. Then, I decided to get some help from my beloved friend, tea.
Medical Disclaimer: This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your physician with any questions that you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you read in this article.
Teas for Breathing, Lung Cleanse, and Your Overall Respiratory System
Tea comes from a plant called Camellia Sinensis. Depends on how tea leaves are processed, the result becomes one of the six tea categories.
All tea contains caffeine that acts as a bronchodilator. A bronchodilator is a substance that dilates the passages that air travels through. A bronchodilator helps respiratory muscles to relax, creates less resistance in the airways, therefore, increases airflow to and from the lungs.
Although all tea contains similar chemical compounds such as caffeine, catechins, theanine, polyphenol, and so on, you can find more medical studies related to green and black tea due to its popularity.
White Tea
White tea is made from the youngest, tender baby tea leaves in spring. White tea undergoes the least processing, yet still complex to make, and contains characteristics of delicacy, flowery, mild, and spring. When I drink white tea, orchids generally pop up in my mind.
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Green Tea
Why green tea and black tea look so different when they come from the same plant? That’s because of a different oxidation level. Green tea is unoxidized, black tea is fully oxidized. It’s so hard to generalize a tea because there are different types of tea within each tea category. However, green tea generally contains characteristics of raw, grassy, savory / umami. Premium green tea tastes sweeter and more floral.
Yellow Tea
Yellow tea is very rare and hard to produce. It provides all the health benefits of green tea, yet tastes milder and sweeter.
Oolong Tea
Oolong is a semi-oxidized tea in between 8-75% oxidation level and contains characteristics of fruity, floral, or smoky when the oxidation level is high.
Black Tea
Black tea is fully-oxidized and contains characteristics of malty, sweet, and robust.
Dark Tea
Dark tea undergoes microbial fermentation and is a fermented tea. The most famous fermented tea is pu-erh.
Caffeine and anti-inflammatory
You will breathe better when caffeine is consumed in moderate depends on your health condition. However, when you consume too much caffeine, it can cause trouble to breathe. For example, my heart pumps too fast and I feel uncomfortable to breathe when I drink a coffee (generally 1 cup of coffee contains caffeine equals to 3~7 cups of tea)
Tisanes
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Lemon Myrtle
The most concentrated source of plant citral (>90%). Citral contains powerful antimicrobial and antifungal properties, which are even superior to those of terpene hydrocarbons found in the renowned tea tree oil. This herb has stronger lemon scents than lemon but tastes delightful without acidity or sourness. It’s also nice for steam therapy.
Peppermint
Menthol, the main chemical component of peppermint, is an effective decongestant. Decongestants shrink the swollen membranes in the nose, making it easier to breathe. Menthol is also an expectorant. Expectorants loosen and bring up mucus from the lungs.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus leaves are rich in antioxidants and decrease mucus and expand the bronchi and bronchioles of your lungs.
One 12-week study gave 32 people with bronchial asthma either 600 mg of eucalyptol or a placebo per day. Those in the eucalyptol group required 36% less medication to control their asthma symptoms, compared with those in the control group, who needed 7% less
Licorice
Licorice is recommended to treat respiratory problems. Taking licorice as an oral supplement can help the body produce healthy mucus. Increasing phlegm production may seem counterintuitive to a healthy bronchial system. However, the opposite is true. The production of clean, healthy phlegm keeps the respiratory system functioning without old, sticky mucus clogging it.
Butterfly Pea Flower
Butterfly Pea acts as an expectorant and has shown to reduce the irritation of respiratory organs, useful in treating colds, coughs, and even asthma.
Ginger
Ginger helps to break down mucus, making it easier for your body to expel air. It also helps improve circulation to the lungs and reduces inflammation. One way to ingest ginger is to boil chopped ginger in water, strain the ginger out, add honey and drink it as a tea.
