By An Sonjae
In most traditional Korean tea houses, the menu offers
a choice between a variety of Korean green teas and
Chinese Oolong tea. The green teas are often listed
under various poetic names, the most commonly used
being Chaksolcha which, you may be told, means
`sparrow tongues' to indicate that it is made with the
smallest leaves. More complications arise from various
subdivisions but the first question must be why Korean
tea is always described as `green' and what is the
difference between green tea and Oolong?
We already saw that while they ruled China, the
Mongols did nothing to encourage elegant tea-drinking.
When the Chinese once again began to cultivate the
drinking of tea as a refined activity among the higher
classes, with the advent of the Ming dynasty
(1368-1643), they did not go back to the Sung taste
for powdered brick-tea. Instead they promoted the more
natural form of loose-leaf tea that simple people in
the southern regions had probably been enjoying for
centuries.
The freshly sprouting leaves were gathered in the
early springtime and dried rapidly by being heated in
an iron pot over a fire. Without being allowed to
burn, the leaves were stirred and turned until they
were completely dried, either retaining their original
form or rubbed and rolled until they were tightly
curled on themselves. This is the form known most
commonly as Green Tea. The younger the leaves, the
finer the taste.
Soon a variety of methods were discovered by which the
delicacy of the taste could be accentuated. The most
important of these depended on the amazing change that
occurs if the leaves are allowed to wilt during a
slower drying process. The complex oils contained in
the fresh leaves are highly sensitive to exposure to
the air. If the leaves are first lightly bruised and
softened, the oils begin to oxidize. The sophisticated
Chinese tea-makers soon learned that the taste of the
tea varied enormously, depending on the degree of
oxidizing allowed before the final drying process. The
result was the great range of teas known collectively
as Oolong (black dragon) in Chinese, Oryong in
Korean..
The color of the tea made from the dried leaves
varies, as well as the taste. The young leaves dried
at once without being allowed to wilt (green tea)
produce a green liquid. The Oloong teas yield a
variety of shades of yellow. At the far end of the
spectrum, the most fully oxidized leaves produce a
strongly-flavored red-tinted brew that the Chinese and
Koreans call hongcha (red tea) and the English often
term`black tea.' This kind is the source of England's
national beverage, since it is the only kind of tea
produced in India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya.
As for the modern history of tea in Korea, after
centuries of neglect, early in the 19th century, the
great Confucian scholar Tasan (Chong Yag-yong) was
exiled for many years to his mother's home at Kangjin
in South Cholla Province. There he seems to have
learned the old ways of preparing tea leaves and
drinking tea from the monks in a nearby temple.
For several months he gave hospitality to a young
Buddhist monk, Cho Ui, who later established a
hermitage known as Ilchi-am in the hills above
Taehung-sa temple near Haenam. Cho Ui cultivated the
Way of Tea and in about 1836 he wrote a famous poem,
Dongdasong, in praise of tea.
That hermitage rotted away after Cho Ui died in 1866
but in the late 1970s it was rebuilt as a result of a
new revival of interest in Korean tea, inspired
largely by the Venerable Hyo Dang, Choi Pom-sul. He
might be considered to be the Cho Ui of the 20th
century, for in 1975 he produced the first full length
book about the Way of Tea to be published in modern
Korea. He played a major role in the Korean
Independence Movement, and founded several schools and
a university after 1945, as well as being the teacher
of virtually all the leading figures in the modern
Korean tea revival.
The teaching of the Venerable Hyo Dang can be summed
up in one phrase: Chadomumun (The Way of Tea has no
doors). He liked to stress that tea-drinking should
not be seen as an arcane mystery reserved for Buddhist
monks and initiated experts; he wanted tea to be
restored to all Koreans as part of their authentic
national heritage, for he was convinced that the Way
of Tea could bring wisdom and insight to people of
every social background.
Adapted from:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:O8ArdY7iIc0:www.hk.co.kr/14_6/199904/t465127.htm+Chinese+tea&hl=en
