Saturday, March 26, 2011

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.

2 comments:

  1. P.S.: I just bought myself a set. Pu'er teapot (teapot: 잣주전자 ChaJooJunJa). For a complete Pu'er teaset average costs: Teapot: 20,000won. Glass teapot: 5,000won. Pu'er teacups: 1,000won ea. to 5,000won ea. Tea with a good friend: priceless.

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  2. Where do you buy Boey Cha powder in the U.S?

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