The traditional seasonal names used in Korea (brought from China) are
Ujon, Sejak, Jungjak (spellings vary, alas!) and I assume that these
correspond more or less to '1st, 2nd, 3rd flush.' The main problem in
answering your question, of course, is whose tea you are buying! The
Kwanhyang tea I am privileged to have access to is splendid right
through, even the broken leaves etc they pack and sell separately are
better than the top grades of a lot of other teas! On the whole, I
would say that Ujon is very often grossly overpriced (mentioned
yesterday) and since it tends to be volatile, the very delicate flavor
sometimes evaporates quickly once the pack is opened, or seems to
weaken within a few months even when sealed (Koreans do not use vacuum
packaging). So Sejak is usually the best for quality / price but a
good maker's Jungjak can be fine. There is no way other than actual
tasting, really. And sometimes nothing is specified, the tea is simply
sold as 'Chaksolcha' (sparrow's tongues tea) which is the traditional
name for what we now term Korean green tea (you only need to specify
'green' when the default is 'red / black tea'). Again, tasting will
tell. The Panyaro Tea I celebrate in my pages, made by Chae Won-Hwa
for use by herself and members of her institute, has no distinguishing
seasonal labels but on certain boxes the label is printed in gold, on
most it is in black. There might or might not be a difference in what
is inside . . .

Another topic: I was puzzled by the Franchia site, that says they sell
tea in measures of '1 pound including packaging'. The boxes
illustrated look to me to be the standard Korean model, which can only
hold 100 grams of tea. Do they mean that the remaining 400 grams are
cardboard? Caveat emptor! At least the process they illustrate is
that which should produce good tea though no tea can be better than
the field it comes from. Their words about 'no pesticide no
fertilizer' would serve to launch another diatribe . . . so no more
now.

Br Anthony / An Sonjae