When in Seoul ... Dinner with Dance Performance !

As I'm rather short on time these days, here's some brief information about an amazing restaurant in Seoul that serves a fine full table of vegetarian Korean food with all the tables around an open area in the center where, while you eat there are several dance performances. I highly recommend it for a special night out in Seoul.

Here's a Korean language Naver Blog post about it. Dinner is, I believe 45,000won a person but it is well worth it ! Also you need at least 5 people in a group to make a reservation although I think they do make exceptions for 3-4 people possibly... I have put the location on my tea map as well.
Best wishes and do stay steeped !

Best Teashop in Town !!

I've found what is indeed currently the best teashop in Busan for hardware ! The shop is called Dae-Dok Myung Cha.  Although they do have some tea on hand for sale, they far surpass all other teashops in town for hardware quality, variety ~and~ price ! Directions to which may be found @the bottom of this post. And now into the review :

When you first walk in the door you'll find right at the front stacks of Korean tea sets all selling for 40,000won and up ! They have everything you'd need for a Korean tea ceremony including the cloth teaset covers at the back in their tea cloth & towel department. (pictured above at the back left). For Japanese Tea Ceremony they have several natsume (powdered tea containers) some fine laquerware ones and also ! : ones for nodate-picnic style sets with tupperwear style lids hidden under their shiny tops.

They have sandalwood incense (best used for standard tea ceremonies unlike the other floral Buddhist temple blends that most shops carry).

They have a wide variety of Yixing teapots as well as western style teaware. Dae-Dok Myung Cha also has Koren style celodon teapots too.




While I was wandering around their store I was in a tizzy wondering what didn't they have and I discovered they had Shilla Dynasty style teacups two different kinds! Basically one kind looks like black ceramic shot glasses but twice as tall and with a long curved pouring lip like you'd see on western cream container. So they're like the Chinese but bigger yet smaller than a mug. Great for any kind of strong tea or even sake or soju !
The other kind of Shilla teacups they have look like mini cauldrons on tripods ! Ideal for a nice nighttime fireside tea.

Here's a teahouse on the 2f on the same street. It says Dawon on the sign (tea place in Korean). I haven't been in there as they seem to keep odd hours.  Keep going down the street (if you're coming from Sajick station Exit 3) to get to Dae-Dok Myung. And here it is pictured below :









Dae-Dok Myung Cha is open everyday from 9am-7pm except for Sundays. This shop makes it well worth the trip to Sajick to see it as they have all the hardware you'd need to make any kind of tea in style!

Dae-Dok Myung Cha Tea store:-Do find them on the map below; I marked it with a fire sign for the time being.
Till next time,
Stay steeped!

Geisha Basket with Teaset for sale soon...

I have started my first online store on Ebay : East Sea Scrolls.

Soon I will be relisting Japanese Kago-Kinchaku Geisha Basket & Nodate Matcha Teaset & UkiyoE-Print

The pictures show the set for sale minus the tatami mats and the fireplace. Soon I shall post reviews on two teashops I have recently discovered. One of which is located in Busan's Sajickdong.

Gangnam Style? David Lo-Pan Style

For those familiar with Big Trouble in Little China, or Psy from South Korea : here's a video for you.

Soon I'll be posting a Geisha Basket with a teaset inside. All for sale soon on Ebay. 

David Lo-Pan Style

Till next time, stay steeped. P.S : 

KEEP CALM 

and 

CARRY ON, 

WHAT WERE YOU SAYING?

(sorry this tea is amazing) ...

(Shady Black Oolong : served over ice. Just sayin') review to be coming soon...

Raise Your Pinky If You Would Care For An Afternoon Tea !

Here's a brief review of two of the few British style afternoon tea services on offer here in Busan. There is one more out there I am told but I have yet to find it...Once I do I shall pin it on the map as I have all the others (including the others to be read of below).

It's no occident : for more Orientation do see the Tea Treasure Map of Busan.

Park Hyatt Hotel  (Centum)
Come on up to the 30th Floor for a fine Afternoon Tea : Coffee or tea and a three tiered tray of savories (scones pastries etc.) (Extra charge for Champagne).

Afternoon Tea is served Mon-Sat 2-6pm Sun 3-6pm
Reservations and information : +82 51 990 1300. 
Do call and check the price as it's been awhile since I'd been there.

They also have an evening service from 6pm-11 providing a fine variety of fine cocktails, wines and beers. 70,000won for two.


Further details may be found via their website : Park Hyatt Hotel Busan Just click "activities" at the top.

Here is another review and blogpost regarding Afternoon Tea at the Hyatt that has wonderful pictures to gives you a good idea of what is to be found high up on the 30th floor via the blog An Irish Girl Abroad.


Adela 7 (Haeundae New Town)
Oh the delights of Adela!!!  One lesser known place is the Bakery Cafe Adela 7 located in Haeundae New Town.

They provide sandwiches cheese cakes and chocolates! Hands down they are indeed the most devinely delicious for afternoon tea in Busan !

Although they are hard to get to in Haeundae (so far inland and all from the actual beach and a bit up from the Jangsan subway), many have told me that there is indeed a second location in Someyeon.  Once I find it I shall duly inform all of you savory net-surfing tea sippers!

That's the only downside to the Adela 7 in Haeundae : It's tricky to get to, whereas one in Someyeon ?  - well, win win and win ! While the Hyatt has the view and tea equal to Adela, Adela has savories far superior ! Until next time, may you find yourself in fine condition over a cup of the Camellia.

All the Tea from China to Your Door in Korea! Free Shipping!? Hot Gazoobies!

Ah, the problem of getting a fine Chinese tea at a decent price while here in Korea !

One option of course is, well, fly to China and get some. Rather costly for tea, although well worth the trip. 

Insadong in Seoul has a good Chinese teashop on one of it's side streets but, well, you run the risk of getting a nosebleed when you hear the prices they charge.

Nosebleed? Should've gone to Busan instead of Seoul for tea. No use crying over the bill. Consider it a lesson learned. See www.healthyfoodadvice.net for 3 cures (one of which involves vinegar and.. brown paper?)

(90,000won / $90USD for a 200gram bag of LapsangSouchong will do that to you).

Some these days are saying Seoul City's new motto "I Seoul you" is being used by some Korean people who complain about the rising apartment prices using Seoul as a verb in saying "Don't Seoul me! Lower the price a bit would you?"

 If you are willing and able to pay a price so steep there's a chance you're one of those high flyers who might even know the company of people like Prince Harry, Charles, Will and, grace: even the Queen!

Well then, you might as well get some from one of the companies the Queen has gotten a warrant out on: whose products she uses and thus have her coat of arms at the top labelled "By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen".  

See? Coat of Arms at top with text beneath. Like this text. Only not warranted by the Queen like on the box of Lap' Mountain above.

By Appointment indeed! Even here in lovely Busan a good DaHongPao goes for 50,000won for a rather small box. 

Which brings me to Alibaba: The Chinese website that is making billions of dollars. Sadly for us lowly folk not in the mercantile industry we cannot order from them, unless we want to order a tonne of the same tea at a time : Alibaba deals only in bulk orders. A tempting thought though:

Buy all the tea from Alibaba in bulk...

  and hoard it ! Warehouse it even! Mmm awesome...

 Fortunately, however, we needn't buy in bulk were we to board ourselves a fine flashy firefox to surf or paddle our way to www.aliexpress.com

The below is just a tiny drop in the kettle as to the many teashops and vendors you'll find on aliexpress :

• Hangzhou Jia Ya-fang Tea Store (Zhejiang China) I ordered from them and the Black Oolong Tea (Hei-Oolong Cha) was amazing (pictured left).

• QingQinTang Teapots The Place for cast iron 'tetsubins'. The Japanese use a cloth to open the piping hot lid. The Chinese and early Japanese used to use a special tong-like fork. Or, originally a 'fork' that was not so Fork-like for $33.99 (aliexpress, of course).

• China Grandness Tea Co. Ltd. Online since 2012 offering a wide variety of teas.

• China's Tea Store products pull down tab or scroll to the bottom to see the varieties of tea they offer.

• Chinese Chaodao : Bam! : Bricks of Da Hong Pao! Other teas as well listed on the left of the site.

As a side note, one great app for Chinese characters I highly recommend is Pleco. The app has several versions : iPhone/iPad, and two versions for Android. I often use the handwriting interface to look up Chinese characters like  陳元龍 for instance.

Later I'll do a review on the Black-Shady Dragon that is Hei Oolong Cha and how it is taken in China and Japan. Until then, do find yourself in steeped condition keeping warm with a fine cup of the camellia. 

Tea and Craft Fair at Bexco this weekend !

Well, I've updated the Tea Treasure Map of Busan to include the 2 new 오가.다 teahouses in Busan and also the wonderful O'Sulloc Teahouse located in Someyeon's NC Department store. I shall be writing a review on that fine teahouse in the next few weeks. They, like many of the new teahouses these days, are offering special seasonal menu items along with their regular menu items.

     Also, this weekend the 14th Busan International Tea and Craft Fair will be held at Bexco. It starts this Thursday Nov.19th and goes until the 22nd. 10am-5:30pm.3000won/person.  There will be many demonstrations of tea ceremonies as well as things to buy from various vendors.

I'm looking forward to the seeing the cast iron tea cauldrons that they are making nowadays in South Korea.

For those interested in 'matcha' or "malcha" in the Korean : I recommend looking out for the vendor that sells various teas in powdered form : they sell not only traditional green but various other non-caffeinated powdered leafies for wisking up in a teabowl (i.e. : barley leaf powders etc.).

One other vendor to keep an eye out for is the one selling 'golden bamboo shoot tea'. I hope they will be back again : last time they were handing out samples and it was wonderful ! Anyhow, I'm off to hit the sack after a fine Chamomile. Best wishes and stay steeped!

A New Starbucks-Like Teahouse : Seomyeon

A rather excellent teahouse has opened up right in the center at the heart of Busan's downtown area of Someyeon! It's called Hyung-Cha 향차 or Scent of Tea and its 2 doors down from the Seomyeon Rotary intersection.

It has been said that many of the teahouses in Someyeon tend be rather small cramped and crowded But this one is an exception ! Its style is very Starbucks like in its atmosphere and front counter. 

  Much like Starbucks the menu is up on the wall behind the counter and they offer a wide variety of tea infused drinks. I highly recommend their Oolong Latte although it is also possible to get tea 'straight up' as well. 

 The teahouse is easy to get to : Just come up from the Someyeon Subway station Exit 11. As you come up from the underground do not U-turn, do not cross any streets : Just walk 2 doors straight around the curvy corner and you'll see...

Straight ahead the green red and black sign and there, on the ground floor Hyung-Cha ! There's lots of seats and a great place to meet! Best Wishes and Stay Steeped! --M.W.T.

Someyeon's Vegetarian Tea House DaJeon 다전

 5 Years ago I was wandering around Busan's busy downtown area Someyeon when to my surprise I happened upon a sign for a traditional teahouse. The sign was small and the tea house on the 4th floor. Upon ascending the flights of stairs I came to the 4th floor which was essentially the roof ! On the roof was a house which was the DaJeon tea house. Da Jeon in English is Tea Field (They used the Chinese characters).

The tea house has been there for many years now and although hard to find, is quite popular with Busan's vegans in the know as it has a very delicious vegetarian menu. While quieter on the weekdays, there is a steady flow of patrons on the weekends.

Essentially, there are two ways to get there :
The more complicated way is by heading behind the Lotte Department store in Someyeon until you arrive at the intersection pictured at left. There's a Pizza Hut and further down a Tom and Tom's coffee.
Go down the street further from the Pizza Hut to the Tom and Toms and keep going down. Eventually on your left you'll come to a WaBar

 This is a view of the earlier mentioned intersection facing towards the Lotte Dept.Store. The Nike and the Apple Store. From the Lotte you'll pass these stores and be facing the Pizza Hut which is across from these two.

 After the Pizza Hut, on the left a blurry Tom & Toms. Keep going down until you see the WaBar on your right.

Here's entrance to the  tea house. Not much for signage. These stairs are to the right of the much easier to spot WaBar.

 See here? To the right of the WaBar is a green sign that says 다전 4F.

 The second and much easier way to get to the teahouse is to start before the famous (and much easier to find) Pagoda Hagwon. Next to it on the first floor is a cellphone store and a side street. Across the small side street is ...

*ahem* here is the cellphone store and the side street. Looking more to the right across the side street you'll see....

 Dunkin' Donuts. Go between the cellphone store and Dunkin Donuts

 down the narrow street to the next intersection where you'll discover :

 The WaBar mentioned before and the 다전 sign.

 Up, up on the 4th floor you'll find plenty of seats.

 Here's part of the menu in Korean and English !

 A fine spread indeed! Their BiBimBap was excellent!

We ordered the Pumpkin Latte and their Green Tea Latte. Their Pumpkin Latte was very smooth indeed!
They also have various herbal teas on the menu.
Now you can count yourself as another 'in the know' as it is a rather hard to find tea house tucked in on the 4th floor up above several bars.

Gwangali TeaHouse Okada

 Spring is here and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. The beach area is just starting to warm up. Down in the middle of Gwangali beach there is a new teahouse called Ogada or by its English name Korean Tea & Time. It is a great place to sit back and enjoy the seaview.

The tea house is centrally located right on the beachfront road.

Here's their phone number if you have trouble finding them though it should be rather easy.

I took these photos a few months ago, a week after they had first opened. They are much busier now and most likely will be very busy this summer. They have an awesome view of the beach and Gwangali and plenty of comfy seats.

Their teas are all distinctly Korean. They offer the traditional teas that can be found in most traditional teahouses around Busan and in Seoul.
However they also offer Korean tea blends : with nuts or cinnamon or other natural ingredients.

They do take-out as well as 'drink in'. Their website is www.ogada.co.kr
and there you can find their full menu. Most of it is in Korean however when you click the links you'll find that all their teas are written in English and in Korean making it very easy to select and order.

A great view and quite a menu. I'll post more details when I return there this weekend and check out another, though much smaller, teahouse in Gwangali. Until then stay steeped!
MWT.