Someyeon's 하나방(One room or space)

Located right behind Someyeon's Lotte Department store, this teahouse is rather quite easy to get to. Beside the store there's a street with food stands. Go straight down that one away from the hustle and bustle of the street with all the busses and stuff. You'll come to a tiny triangle where alot of adjulshis hang out smoking and chatting. Right next to the triangle is 하나방. 전통다원 means traditional tea house.

(This picture below was taken from the triangle 'park' right behind Lotte Dept.Store in Someyeon).

This particular time I ordered a 대나무 잎차. Daenamoo means bamboo and Ip cha means leaf tea. The tea comes in a little infusing bowl and looks alot like chives the way its all sliced up. Just add water to the bowl and put the lid back on. Then pour it through the filter into your little glass bowl. Bamboo leaf tea has a very subtle taste indeed. I recommend it during those dry weather yellow sand days. Some may argue that this tea is rather weak and impossible to ever make strong. Such is a valid arguement against this tea.
At Hanabang they do have the more fruitful 5 flavors tea 오미자차(Omejacha) and a very fine 대추차 (Jujube/Plum tea). They also have Pu'er/Boey Cha 보이차.

  The more popular tea here at Hanabang is their 대추차/Dae-choo cha. Daechoocha is made from jujubes otherwise known as plums. At Hanabang they give you a big cup of it and it is quite good. Their menu is divided into several sections: 보약차 or medicinal teas (there's that 약 word again!). 주국차: Chinese teas. 꽃차 flower teas (they have 2: rose 장미 and 국화 chrysanthemum). They have a section of summer specials: 여름별미 like Patbingsoo, ice coffee etc. Then there's their 잔통차 or traditional teas.

 Hanabang's interior is the ultimate in comfy cozy with plenty of seats. They also have amazing paintings all around. Near the counter they sell incense, some of which is of the kind you'd find in the temples around town. While there are others with more gentle scents there.
Many of us foreigners hang out at the Coffee Bean and Leaf in Someyeon, it is especially warm and cozy during the summer months. Well, a very fine alternative is Hanabang. It's all about knowing what to order, and I do hope I have been of some service.
Hanabang's hours are awesome:  Open 7days a week 10am-11pm.
Next time around I'll review more of their teas. But, alas this afternoon I'm off to another more old school teahouse, also in the Someyeon area. Stay tuned to channel T for more. Till then, stay steeped!

Break me a cake as carefully as you can...

As I have recently learned, here is how you break off bits from your Pu'er teacake. There is such a thing as a teaknife but you can use either a paring knife (as I am using here at home) or a letter opener. The point is to break off bits slowly and carefully. Do see the video below. MT.

A basic Pu'er 보이차

I feel like this is going to read like a WWII D-day briefing. It's been a rough day. "Sicily" teashop across from Pukyong National University is now a real-estate office. And the teahouse behind the Century building there actually does exist. (I thought I was going on outdated information). I'll do a review on Kyungsungdae's "나비춤"Nabichoom later.

Earlier this morning I noted the weather was warm, the sky was clear and I started the day with a fresh cake of Pu'er tea, one I had bought earlier in the week (shopping info. @thebottom of this post).

The cake was from the Haiwan Tea Factory in China. This one's number was 8878. Reading like a military serial number it actually contains very pertinent information. The 1st 2 numbers denote that  it was produced in the factory in 1988 using 7th grade tea leaves (hence the decent quality) and 8 showing that it came from the Haiwan Factory. (See the Wikipedia article for further details on factory numbers). I paid 30,000 won for it and as you will see it goes a long ways. You needn't all those tea pots and cups for this at home as this tea will work fine with any equipment you may have handy. Again, a fine start to the day, no sign even of choppy seas before storming the beach-head. And then....I prepared the tea.

The problem here was the tiny teapot. If you decide to get into any such things, do ensure that you don't get one with a sharp, upwardly pointing spout that upwardly exceeds the rim and lid. Suffice to say, tea was spilled. Next time I'm in Nampo I shall go to "GoMulDulE's Meeting" and test pour a few teapots scientific-like. (I'm a Lit.major. And if I was an engineer I'd most certainly get an F on teapot selection. Suffice, today was a lesson well learned and now taught to you dear reader. Thus it was from this point that I switched to my more reliable Korean style teapot pictured much farther below.                                                      

Here you can see that I broke off only a small portion, (about the size of 1 1/2 of a 500won piece) to use and as in the picture above you can see that at first steeping, it came out rather dark. It is recommended that you let it steep for 2 minutes. The picture above is what you get for 2minutes of steeping. After this I let it steep only for a short time. However now, later in the evening, I'm using the same leaves still but am letting it steep for a long long time (5min or so). The beauty of Pu'er tea is that you can get alot of mileage outta your leaves. Well worth the won indeed.

Pictured above you can see as evidence, the broken cake all set to store ziplocked away. Using only tiny chunks at a time, this tea'll last me for about 3-4 months at least. Now for shopping information. I bought this particular Pu'er in Nampodong below you can see Art Street with Kukje market on the left, the lighting

district on the right. I sometimes call this street stationery street with all the 문방구s along the way.

On the right side, the lighting district with all the lamp stores etc. The next street, running  paralell to art street is the one you want.

Here you can see it pictured below with its unique patterned street. Just go up this street walking away from the lighting district and towards the street with the busses but no subway. You'll pass a few umbrella stores etc. The tea shop is near the end of this street on your right. I'm afraid I don't have a picture of the store but I will when I do a review on it and another tour of Nampodong. They have all kinds of teas and chinese style cups there. I bought a teapot and cup set for 10,000 won there. Seriously, this place has the deals. Tis why its been in business for so long. Its also a place where I bought a 홓화차 or red flower tea. Turns out those little red flowers are the same kind the Egyptians used to color the cloth they wrapped their mummies in. But, I'm getting ahead of myself here. Till next time, stay steeped. MT.



A Must See Blog.

A Japanese priest and advisor to the World Haiku Association has been posting haiku poems, some of them written about areas hit by the Tsunami with after pictures. Quite moving indeed. A must see. Just click the link on the right, the "see haiku here" blog.
Thus in this humbled state I set of for Kyungsungdae with my camera. Best wishes all. MT.

Tea Tour Part One (Repost)

Apologies for the lack of pictures in the tea tour post. Here it is recast below. Tomorrow I'm off to Kyungsungdae's Tea House named "Sicily" which has for many years been turning PKNUs professors into true Sicilians. I shall also be looking for a teashop rumored to be located on the street behind K'dae's Century building. Stay tuned and hence without further ado...Tea Tour Part 1.2:

For those searching for teashops and tea houses look no farther. There's lots to cover so be patient, I aim to cover 'em all starting with Nampodong. Over the course of my 8 years here I have seen teashops and houses come and go. As to date in Nampo I my count is 2 teahouses 5 teashops.

Here are a few I dropped by earlier today.

 When you take the subway to Nampodong take exit 5. As soon as you reach the top of the stairs you'll find yourself in teacountry where the hunting is good. Right at the top of the stairs theres a small teasupply shop pictured here. A basic shop with cups a plenty.

  Here you can see exit 5 and the GSMart that is located nearby. Walk over to the GS and take that street on the left. Right where that white car in the picture is, yep, that street.

Next you'll see what's pictured below. This is the side street. The teashop is above the pharmacy (약) eeeeew Yagk: that's Korean for medicine. The teahouse is called 다래헌 or DaLaeHun. They serve a fine Boeycha there. I have yet to sample the rest of their menu.

 If you turn right at the pharmacy and go straight to the next intersection and turn left you'll find one of the best teashops in Busan.  지혜선 (JiHyeSun)named presumably after the owner, has a decent range of teas. Plenty of Oolongs and the Pu'er teas there are right from china all wrapped in bamboo ranging from 20,000won to 300,000won.
The street its on runs parallel with the GSmart side street.  
(They also have alot of teapots of the Chinese and Korean variety along with teabowls for Japanese green powder tea).

This next teashop is called 고물들의 미팅 or used stuffs meeting (GoMulDulUi Meeting.... sounds better in the Korean). It is an antique store with most of its stuff coming from China.

 To get there you need to get to Nampo's

Art Street

. Its the street with the underground art shops that isn't connected to the subway line. (why they haven't connected them I don't know *hmph*). Suffice, The easy way to get to the street is to go to

PIFF street

(the one with the 3 movie theaters) and walk to the StarBucks. When you turn the corner @the starbucks there's a Hagendaz. That's how you know your on the right track and street.
Go straight until you see your first children's toy shop (pictured upper left). There's 2 toy shops on that street. The little side street next to the toy shop is the one you want.
Right next to the toy shop is the antique store. I will post details regarding their portable teasets later. Do stay tuned to channel T, where like OPS bakery "Tastiness is transmitted" and transmission ends upon consumption.

GoMulDulEui Meeting has alot of inexpensive tea items and is one of the best places to go for a first time shopper. Many of the other places have either expensive teas or parts of tea sets to add to ones collection.

                                                                                                    

On the first floor they have teapots and various teas; mostly the cheap everyday kind of teas Pu'er and Japanese green tea powder both usually go for 20,000won. Lower end tea but stored well in metal containers and that's about the average price for Japanese green tea. They also have many imported Chinese items that are great as gifts to send home.

The real gems are located on the second floor where they have tea boards (more on that later), and even portable tea sets that you can bring hiking or camping. 

                                                                                                    

Enter The Dragon Pavilion if you dare.....

Earlier today my friend and I dropped by 융정다원 (YongJangDaWon) My pal grew up in Nampodong so he knows the area very well and tells me this teahouse has been around for quite a long time.
The easiest way to get there is to take the escalator up to Nampo tower. One flight up only on the escalator and you should see an enterance to a temple on your left. On your right is 용정다원 or dragon 용, 정pavilion 다tea 원 place or in this case according to the chinese characters garden. Apparently 차isn't the only character for tea. On the window you'll notice right away that they serve various coffees and smoothies now.  Go the distance! Their teas are amazing, if you know what to order, and I am at your service!
They are well known for serving Korean teas in the very traditional old Chosun dynasty style goblets and tea bowls.

I recommend their 오미자차 (OMeJaCha) or 5 flavors tea. It seriously actually has 5 flavours all in one sip: sour, sweet a tad salty and fruity are as far as I can discern. A wonderful fruity complexity indeed. The lady there informed us that she picks the fruit herself. Omejacha, you can't go wrong!  They are open 7 days a week too! Feel free to drop by anytime. And do make sure you go to the 2nd floor!!! (Way more character there).

Tea Tour Part One

For those searching for teashops and tea houses look no farther. There's lots to cover so be patient, I aim to cover 'em all starting with Nampodong. Over the course of my 8 years here I have seen teashops and houses come and go. As to date in Nampo I my count is 2 teahouses 5 teashops.

Here are a few I dropped by earlier today.











When you take the subway to Nampodong take exit 5. As soon as you reach the top of the stairs you'll find yourself in teacountry where the hunting is good. Right at the top of the stairs theres a small teasupply shop pictured here. A basic shop with cups a plenty.
 Here you can see exit 5 and the GSMart that is located nearby. Walk over to the GS and take that street on the left. Right where that white car in the picture is, yep, that street.

 

Next you'll see what's pictured below. This is the side street. The teashop is above the pharmacy (약) eeeeew Yagk: that's Korean for medicine. The teahouse is called 다래헌 or DaLaeHun. They serve a fine Boeycha there. I have yet to sample the rest of their menu but the proprietor is quite adept at a Japanese powdered green tea as he teaches tea classes there. 

 If you turn right at the pharmacy and go straight to the next intersection and turn left you'll find one of the best teashops in Busan. 지혜선 (JiHyeSun)named presumably after the owner, has a decent range of teas. Plenty of Oolongs and the Pu'er teas there are right from china all wrapped in bamboo ranging from 20,000won to 300,000won. The street its on runs parallel with the GSmart side street.  
(They also have alot of teapots of the Chinese and Korean variety along with teabowls for Japanese green powder tea).

 This next teashop is called 고물들의 미팅 or used stuffs meeting (GoMulDulUi Meeting.... sounds better in the Korean). It is an antique store with most of its stuff coming from China.

 To get there you need to get to Nampo's Art Street. Its the street with the underground art shops that isn't connected to the subway line. (why they haven't connected them I don't know *hmph*). Suffice, The easy way to get to the street is to go to PIFF street (the one with the 3 movie theaters) and walk to the StarBucks. When you turn the corner @the starbucks there's a Hagendaz. That's how you know your on the right track and street.
Go straight until you see your first children's toy shop (pictured left). There's 2 toy shops on that street. The little side street next to the toy shop is the one you want.
Right next to the toy shop is the antique store. I will post details regarding their portable teasets later. Do stay tuned to channel T, where like OPS bakery "Tastiness is transmitted" and transmission ends upon consumption.

GoMulDulEui Meeting has alot of inexpensive tea items and is one of the best places to go for a first time shopper. Many of the other places have either expensive teas or parts of tea sets to add to ones collection.

                                                                                                    

On the first floor they have teapots and various teas; mostly the cheap everyday kind of teas Pu'er and Japanese green tea powder both usually go for 20,000won. Lower end tea but stored well in metal containers and that's about the average price for Japanese green tea. They also have many imported Chinese items that are great as gifts to send home.

The real gems are located on the second floor where they have tea boards (more on that later), and even portable tea sets that you can bring hiking or camping. The second floor contains many tea accoutrements.



A cheap basic boey

I bought a basic boey tea round at a teashop in Nampodong. Will post tasting notes once I start it.
I also bought an odd one called "홍화차" or red flower tea at the same place. Not exactly sure what the flower is but will find out in due course.
Suffice; stay tuned to channel T.

The Zen thing that is 보이차 (Boey Cha)

In Korean 보이차 (Bo-E-cha) is the most common tea of teahouses and teashops in Busan. However, in Chinese and English it is called Pu-erh tea. Information on it can be found here:
 Wikipedia: Pu-erh_tea

 When you should find yourself in a teahouse you can use your magic 주새요 (Jewsayoh) and order Boeycha i.e: Boeycha Jewsayoh, (cha is Korean for tea). or Boeycha Hana Jewsayoh for one boeycha. They will bring over a fine collection similar to what is pictured here along with some hot water.

The fun of boeycha is that you get to steep it yourself for however long you like. The little clay teapot contains the leaves, hence, you put your hot water in there first. Boeycha is usually steeped for 2minutes. Afterwhich you pour it into the bowl provided or as with most teashops they provide you with a larger (usually glass) teapot. This is for your tea to cool before pouring it into the small cup. Sometimes they will give you another larger bowl. This is for when you first steep the tea. For all the dust and impurities that may be there, the leaves need a rinse off. Hence, first steep the tea then pour it out into this refuse bowl. Steep it again: the 2nd steeping is the one you can drink.

You can keep filling up this cooling pot/bowl at your leisure. Boey or Pu'er teacups are usally quite small as Boey tea is a sipping tea, (I shall post various brands and flavors later) where half the fun of Boey tea is the pouring and preparing; an appreciation of the art of tea. It's a Zen thing.