There is a huge variety of tea in Korea. Be it bubble tea, sweet gelly-tea, milktea or just plain tea: Teaheads have flavors to explore. This one was special though.
When I visited Bongeunsa temple in Gangnam with two of my friends, we stumbled upon it’s traditional tea house. Though it seemed a bit like a tourist trap at first, we decided to take a look inside and were surprised to find a lot of Korean people there. I was especially amazed by the amount of business men who spent their lunch break enjoying some tea.

The selection of traditional teas was quite impressive and since we couldn’t decide which one to taste, we asked the shopkeeper what she would suggest. She told us that most westeners like the sweet taste of Jujube tea (Daechu-cha) the most. It also seems to be a traditionally Korean tea. But we wanted to dig deeper into Koreas tea secrets and asked, what her personal favourite tea was. After a long break, she told us about a very thick and strong herbal tea*, but advised against it. Normally, she said, the taste was too strong for western people. We ordered it anyways. As we were told, this kind of tea boosts your immune system and helps your mind to calm down – basically a mini-detox.
The tea house is located inside a traditional temple building. While there are chairs to sit on, we were more intrigued by the full-on asian experience: taking your shoes off in order to sit on a raised wooden floor at a shin-high table. While we were sitting cross-legged, watching either the kitchy table decorations or Gangnam’s breathtaking skyline, our tea arrived.

It had a pleasant spicy smell and was accompanied by some rice cakes and a little honey. While the shopkeeper stressed that we could always order more honey if the drink was too strong, I found the tea to be just perfect (we ended up eating the honey on its own). The brew’s taste had a dominat note of licorice root with supportive flavors I can’t quite pin down. All in all, it was delicious and rich (and we didn’t need any honey with it).
When we left the tea house, I felt sleepy but happy. The whole experience really decelerated my mind, even though we were amidst Gangnam’s overstimulating bustle. I do understand the business people who spend theor breaks there now.
Would I do it again? Definitely! I actually went back there with two other friends just a couple of days later.
Would I recommend to try it? Yes. Even if this particular tea doesn’t match your taste, there is a huge variety to choose from and the traditional experience is wonderful and calming. The tea costs about 5000₩, which is reasonable.
*Unfortunately, I forgot the tea’s name. But if you happen to be at the tea house and look at the menu: it is the first item (on the traditional list) that is exclusively served hot.
Title photo by Monique Friesen