Korean Tea Questions
Right, more info!
Barley tea: made by pouring boiling water onto roasted grains of
barley. Common variations use roasted grains of maize, or the dried
roots of Solomon's seal. Other possibilities too. Drunk hot or cold
instead of plain water and traditionally poured into the rice bowls at
the end of a meal as a final drink / mouthwash and to ensure that no
grains of precious cereal are wasted. Perhaps inspired by 'nurungji'
which is a rather more substantial fluid traditionally made by pouring
boiling water onto the crust of burned rice at the bottom of a rice
pot that has been cooked over a fire (now that 120% of Koreans use
electric cookers, they can buy separate electric cookers to make this,
though few do) and served after or sometimes even instead of ordinary
rice at the end of a meal. At home we always have a kettle of cold
barley tea (sold everywhere in tea-bag form) ready because we do not
quite believe in tap water and resist bottled water.
The home page of the Hangook Tea Company (parent company of
Chasaengwon) gives no prices in its (very complete) English pages but
the Korean pages list 70 gr of Ujon (1st flush) for $80 (taking Won
1000 to be $1)or 100 gr of very slightly later tea for $43. while
their more accessible Kamro / Jaksolcha (ignore spelling) is $30 for
70gr. These are quite usual prices for good hand-made tea. They have
recently introduced a more strongly fermented (oxidized) 'Yellow tea'
at $25 for 80gr. These prices are about those charged by Kwanhyang for
100gr packs, simply because she is a very humble lady who does not
want her friends to pay more though she ought to be charging double,
given the quality of her tea.
Turning to Sullok Tea (the most widely marketed industrially produced
brand) we find their top quality 'Illohyang' (never mind the meaning)
being sold at $100 for 60gr, followed by another prestige label
'Okro' (jade dew if you must know) at $70 for 70gr. Then we have Ujon
at $50 for 80gr, Sejak at $39 for 80gr, and Oksujin at $23 for 80gr.
They also have cheaper teas marketed as everyday brands.
No more now, time for tea
Br Anthony / An Sonjae
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