Dado: Korean Tea Ceremony (How to Drink Korean Green Tea)

View More Pictures

There are three famous tea gardens in Korea where the best quality green teas are produced. The gardens are located in Boseong, Hwagae, and Jeju. The gardens in Boseong and Jeju are large and usually produce industrialized green teas. This herbal green tea from the Hwagae is cultivated on privately owned tea gardens located on the southern slopes of Jirisan Mountain, the most remote area from civilization in Korea, and are handmade, therefore producing more delicate teas which are of course, more expensive. Instead of the large breath taking plantations, the tea gardens of Hwagae are smaller in size and the tea trees lay closer to the ground and grow naturally, and are therefore also called "wild green tea."

How Korean Green Tea Different From

While internationally Chinese and Japanese teas are more widely known, Korean green tea is very different from them. And unlike black teas, which are fermented and oxidized before they are dried and shaped, Korean green tea is heated on an iron pot within a few hours of being picked, then rolled by hands and naturally dried in the shade. This allows for the tealeaves to infuse clear light liquids, which have a delicate and subtle flavor.

How to Brew a Cup of Korean Green Tea

There are a few prerequisites to a good cup of green tea, and everything from the quality of water and tea, and the temperature of the water, to when the tea is added to the pot, or how long the tea is steeped, can influence the final result.

When preparing tea for drinking, oolong teas are made using hot water, while that used for black tea should be virtually boiling. The water used for green tea should be much cooler, never more than 80 degrees Centigrade (176 degrees Fahrenheit). For high quality green tea, it is important to steep the tea in water that is about 50-60 degrees Centigrade (122-140 degrees Fahrenheit). This is to suppress catechin and activate the amino acids that are the key to green tea's refreshing taste. Generally, low grade quality green tea (most of tea bags) should be steeped in water that is heated to 70-80 degrees Centigrade (158-176 degrees Fahrenheit); this is lower than other teas, so as to minimize its bitter taste. If the water is too hot, or is allowed to remain too long on the leaves, the finest taste is lost and the bitter elements emerge. When preparing tea, add 50 cc of water (it should be boiled and then cooled to 50-60 degrees Centigrade) to 2 grams of tea per person, and let it sit for 1-2 minutes before drinking.

In order to prepare green tea in Korean way, we use a tea set usually consisting of a tea pot, three or five cups that are smaller than the English variety but larger than the little Chinese ones. In addition there is a large bowl for cooling the boiled hot water, with a lip for pouring the cooled water into the empty pot. The water in this large bowl is also used for warming the pot and cups before placing tea.

How to Serve and Drink Korean Green Tea

Dado is a Korean word literally meaning "the way of tea" or tea ceremony or more loosely etiquette involved when formally drinking tea. At first the different steps may seem complicated, but it does not take long to master them and to drink tea, alone or with others, to become a part of life. When one experiences this ceremony, one can fully understand that this ceremony is not for a show, and not that complicated and rigid as Japanese one, as Koreans feel that it is very important to remain natural while drinking tea together, although dado was also developed to help meditate and cleanse one's mind of needless thoughts. It is a way to enjoy all the pleasures the tea gives.

The process of pouring water and placing tea into a teapot is known as tooda. The placement of tea, depending on the order in which the water and tea are placed, can be known as upper placement, middle placement, or lower placement. In upper placement, the water is poured and then the tea is added. In middle placement, the water is poured halfway and then the tea is added, after which more water is poured. For lower placement, the tea is placed first and the water is then poured on top; this method is deemed more appropriate in the winter. In the summer, upper placement is preferred, whilst middle placement is suitable for the spring and autumn.
The first serving of a new batch of tea is poured directly into the cups, a little at a time, back and forward three times until the cups are filled, in order to spread equally the stronger tea that emerges from the bottom of the teapot. No water must remain in the pot, or it would develop the bitter taste that is so undesirable.

Korean green tea is usually drunk holding the cup in both hands. The first step is to view the color of the tea, the second to inhale its fragrance, the third to taste it on the tongue, the fourth to follow its taste in the throat, and finally there is the lingering aftertaste in the mouth to be enjoyed.

The water for the second and following cups can be a little hotter than that used for the first. The leaves having softened, the water needs to stand on them for only a very short moment, and then the tea is poured into the lipped bowl, which is passed around people serving themselves directly. This avoids passing cups back and forward. Ordinary green tea will usually have lost most of its flavor after serving three times, but very good tea may be used to make four or five rounds. The used tea leaves can be employed in a variety of ways: in cooking, in bathwater or as a hair-rinse, or to remove the smell from a refrigerator, etc.

Green Tea Health Benefits

Green tea has high contents of vitamin C, catechin and amino acids, all substances that for many years have been known to be great for your skin. Green tea is also a low-calorie drink and would be helpful for those trying to lose weight. Recently, "Yale University researchers detail the body of evidence linking green tea to better heart health and a lower risk of cancer (Reported by MSNBC)."

Korean Wooden Wedding Geese: a means of nonverbal communication between the married couple

View More Pictures

The wooden geese are used even after they got married. They are used as a means of nonverbal communication between the couple. If the female goose turns her back as in this picture, it means the wife is sulky and doesn't want to talk to the husband.

Korean Wooden Wedding Geese

View More Pictures

A couple of wooden geese is used in Korean traditional wedding since they symbolize a happily married couple who remains faithful to their partner their entire lives.

Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites - extraordinary stone tombs that have lasted millennia

View and Read More

Korea has the largest concentration of dolmens in the world. These incredible Megalithic funerary monuments were constructed by prehistoric peoples over 3000 years ago.

The prehistoric cemeteries at Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa contain hundreds of dolmens - tombs constructed of large stone slabs dating back to the 1st millennium BC. They form part of the Megalithic Culture found all over the world, but nowhere in such a concentration than in Korea.

The global prehistoric technological and social phenomenon that resulted in the appearance in the 2nd and 3rd millennia BCE of funerary and ritual monuments constructed of large stones is nowhere more vividly illustrated than in the dolmen cemeteries of Gochang, Hwasun, and Gangwha.

Dolmens are Megalithic funerary monuments, which are numerous in Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Korea has the greatest number of any country. The dolmens located in Korea are of great archaeological value for the information they provide about the prehistoric peoples who built them and their social and political systems, beliefs and rituals, arts and ceremonies, etc.

The Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa sites contain the highest number and greatest variety of dolmens in Korea, and indeed around the world. They also demonstrate the extraordinary ability of the prehistoric people 3000 years ago to quarry, transport and raise the stones, as well as how dolmen types changed over time in north-east Asia.