Jiri Mountain Tea Company

  On April 22, 2012, I went exploring for wild tea plants or shrubs growing remotely and naturally on the rocky slopes of Jirisan in the Samsin area of Hwagae Valley. The path was somewhat muddy and slippery since it rained heavily the day before my hike. The weather was comfortable and a little windy at times. It was a steep, but not too strenuous hike until mid-way up the mountain. After that point, at about 250 meters /820 ft with a view of Jirisan National Park, the trek became more difficult. I was constantly attacked by swarms of blood hungry mosquitos. Finally, the higher that I had climbed up the mountain fewer and fewer mosquitos were pestering me. Along the way, I saw a mountain hare, snake, pheasant, squirrel, and sporadic wild boar tracks. I came upon giant boulders and swaths of tall bamboo trees that were about 15 feet/4.5 meters high swaying in the wind. Trekking along the way, I could hear birds chirping in trees. Finally, I came upon randomly growing patches of wild tea plants some of which were about two meters high. Some were shaded from bright sunlight by pine trees, while others were shaded by a dense canopy of bamboo trees. I also saw wild tea plants growing against huge boulders, along rocky terrain, and next to a semi-dry mountain brook. By late afternoon, I selectively plucked about 200 grams of fragrant early Spring wild tender tea flushes before descending back down the rugged mountainside. It was an interesting and refreshing afternoon exploring Jirisan for wild tea.

Live Well,                                                                                                                                        Jirisan Gabriel                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Spring has arrived in magnificent fashion in Jirisan (지리산)! Vibrant cherry blossoms, royal azalea blossoms, magnolia blossoms, forsynthia blossoms and nokcha flushes can be seen and smelled on idyllic mountain slopes throughout this area. Sunny Spring skies and warm afternoon breezes sweep across the verdant landscape awakening the first tender tea flushes of 2012 from their winter dormancy. Ujeon (first flush) nokcha plucking is on the way and only the choicest buds will be quickly but carefully plucked by skilled 아줌마(ajummas) or middle-aged women. These ajummas used their dexterous fingers to selectively pluck the first tender flushes of 2012. Aromatic fragrances of Spring blossoms float and gently caress the freshly plucked nokcha flushes which have a stimulating effect on one’s senses. The anticipation of brewing Jirisan nokcha, however, will have to wait until this Spring’s splendid nokcha flushes are passionately handmade using traditional Korean tea processing techniques that will ultimately produce a mildly, stimulating cup of tea nectar.

Live Well,                                                                                                                                                                            Jirisan Gabriel

Here is an interesting indoor billboard advertisement for Hadong green tea at Gimhae International Airport  in Busan, Korea which was sponsored by Hadong County and The Hadong Green Tea Institute. The G20 economic summit took place in 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. It was an opportune brand awareness campaign for Hadong County to introduce international visitors of its famous green tea history. Hadong green tea first became famous within Korea during the Shilla Dynasty (A.D.828) when it was given as a tribute to King Heungduk who was the reigning monarch at that time.

Live Well,

Jirisan Gabriel

Today in "The Tea Files" , I am going to share my enthusiastic visit to the Maksabal pottery kiln with you. The Maksabal pottery kiln is located at Hadong-gun, (county) Jingyo Myeon, Baekryeon-ri. Baekryeon-ri means "White Porcelain Village."

The kiln looks inconspicuous from even a short distance. Upon entering the pottery room, I thought for a brief moment that I was either at the wrong kiln or someone forgot to pay the electric bill. To my relief it was neither. The room was dark because the lights were purposely turned off. Sun, my translator, and I were kindly greeted by Mrs. Jang Kang who is the proprietor and master potter of the Maksabal kiln. We had an opportunity to speak with her today. Mrs. Jang, a gracious host, customarily offers her guests tea to drink from her beautiful handcrafted earthenware maksabal( tea bowl). It actually sets the mood for experiencing the teaware and offering of friendship to all of her tea friends (customers). It was at this time that  Mrs. Jang explained that she turns on the lights to the pottery room usually only after her customers have first consumed her friendship cha.  She told me that her pottery kiln has been operational for about  35 years and offers pottery classes there as well. We sat down, and while she was waiting for the water to boil, she offered us dried, soft, sweet, and very delicious persimmon fruit called "kotgam" in Korean. After the water boiled, she poured it onto Korean nokcha powder  and vigororously wisked it with a traditional bamboo wisk to a frothy matcha consistency. To this, she sprinkled pine pollen, a fine yellowish dust, for added health benefits she explained to us. In my humble opinion, I thought the matcha was satisfying, without the pine pollen. While sipping on the matcha from a handmade wood-fired maksabal, which is like drinking from a small rice bowl, Mrs. Jang explained that she only uses hwangteo (red clay) exclusively from Jirisan to create her earthenware tea bowls and other pottery wares. The hwangteo she states is 5,000 years old and only uses wood to fire her pottery kiln. This is consistent with her philosophy that her earthenware maksabal is unique and a totally natural product. All in all, it takes about one month from creating the product, baking it, and then going through the curing process. Finally, as we were finishing the satisfying frothy matcha, Mrs. Jang told us that  she  travels to Japan about 5 times per year to exhibit and sell her teawares there due to popular demand. Before leaving the Maksabal pottery kiln, I sought out and purchased a unique earthenware teapot and matching cups to take home with me. On the way out the door and as a parting gift,  Mrs. Jang gave me a matching maksabal for my teapot set. It  turned out to be a truly worthwhile and satisfying experience at the " Maksabal" pottery kiln in Hadong  County.                                 (You can see a few more photos in the photo gallery)

Live well,                                                                                                                                                                                            

Jirisan Gabriel

Last Wednesday morning, after a brief and light rain shower, I found myself slowly climbing up a steep mountain slope in Chim Jeom village to take in the view of the panoramic early fall tea landscape in Jirisan, Hwagae Myeon. The temperature was about 15 degrees celsius. Fog hovered over a mountain peak and slowly rolled down the valley and completely blanketing it within minutes. Growing on verdant slopes were chestnut trees loaded with large chestnuts and persimmon trees loaded with ripe persimmon fruit . I looked for a brief moment at some tender tea shoots drenched in dew. I seized the moment to pluck some lush-looking leaf tea. That afternoon, I made about 10 grams of handmade leaf tea using a small scale wok-fired roasting method which I had experimented with for the past couple of years here in Hwagae Myeon. Through trial and error and some processing techniques that I have learned from my Korean tea growing friends has given me the ability to make some decent handmade leaf tea. After roasting this fragrant autumnal tea, I managed to detect a few silver tips (tippy) among the emerald green leaf tea . I stored this small amount of fresh leaf tea in a round tea container for about 5 days. Tonight, I enthusiastically decided to brew and taste the tea . I added about 4 grams of  leaf tea to the pot and added fresh Jirisan (Jiri Mountain) run-off water, which I brought to about 70 degrees celsius or 160 degrees fahrenheit for 45 seconds, on my first steeping of this aromatic leaf. The fragrance was reminiscent of fresh mountain air wafting through a forest. I strained the initial tea infusion from an artisan earthenware teabowl into a glass teapot to get a clear visual of the tea brew. It yielded a bright green liquor in the pot. The tea liquor was sweet tasting with a young clean floral finish which I enjoyed very much. I had increased the steeping times on subsequent steepings to compensate for the decrease in water temperature. The second pot was just as delicious as the first steeping, but the taste was more pronounced on the palate. The color of the infused leaf in the pot was a visually appealing olive green. The third steeping of the leaf was more complex and left a deep, lingering taste on the palate. The fourth and my final pot had no loss in leaf flavor which led me to believe that I could have coaxed a fifth and maybe even a sixth pot of tea had I not run out of water. The spent tea leaves looked and smelled as fresh as the day I picked them.

Live well,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Jirisan Gabriel

Fortunately, I have discovered and have built personal relationships with a few Korean tea farmers in this area . One such farmer, Mr. Oh, is a seventh generation tea farmer and tea master in this area of Hwagae Valley. He is the proud owner of the "millineum" tea tree. Yes, it is purported to be 1000 years old and it still produces incredible tea. In 2009, a hundred grams of "millineum" tea leaf fetched USD$10,000. These Jirisan tea farmers work hard to produce unique, artisan teas. At harvest time their tea is tenderly and selectively handpicked, vigorously handrolled and hand-kneaded, and carefully hand-packed in small batches. The farmers are proud and loyal to their tea craft and it shows when you taste their distinctive and flavorful teas. The majority of these handpicked, unblended, loose leaf teas are processed as green tea and are produced in such limited quantities that they seldom leave Korea. Some coarse leaf teas get machine harvested as well for the domestic tea market in the form of teabags. Generally, (Balhyocha/발효차) is somewhere between an oolong and black tea in the oxidation process (about 70% oxidation), and  it is usually enjoyed by Koreans during the hot and humid summer months to quench their thirst . During the early 2011 Spring harvest, I may be offering very small quantities of 50-100grams of fresh, handpicked, organic whole leaf green tea, exclusively from Jiri Mountain.

Live well,                                                                                                                                                                                 Jirisan Gabriel

Sun, my wife, and I hiked to Baekhye village in Hwagae, South Korea. It is a steep hike to a small organic tea (camellia sinensis) farm at an elevation of about 400meters/1,312 feet. The afternoon temperature was about 18C/64F and sunny with intermittent breezes that kept the air, cool and fresh. I spoke with Mrs.Kim, a cheerful woman, with the help of Sun as my translator. The small farm sits on a steep mountain slope in Jirisan/Hwagae Valley on about 3 to 4 acres and has scenic panoramic view of Hwagae Myeon. Mrs. Kim who is 57 years old told us that she had only planted tea bushes about 20 years ago. She had farmed chestnuts, persimmons, and wild mountain vegetables prior to planting tea bushes. It's not a certified organic farm because its too costly to have it certified due to the size of the farm. However, Mrs. Kim told me that she doesn't spray chemicals or pesticides on her farm consistent with her belief that one should live in harmony with nature. Today, I was inspecting the tender tea shoots that were basking in the sunlight. The tea bushes are not mechanically harvested as one might see in a few other tea farms in this area. The prime tea season begins around mid-April and ends around the latter part of May. Mrs. Kim told us that during the tea season, she will work about 12 to 13 hours per day, with a 30 minute lunch break. At times, she is assisted by her mother who is in her seventies. It is incredible to see them both work. It is intensive manual labor, but they seem to enjoy it. The view is spectacular, the air is pleasantly warm, and breezes at times flow through the garden. Today, Mrs. Kim harvested about 2 kilograms of fresh tender shoots called Sejak. Sejak is a second flush tea. She handrolls/handrubs the tea to extract the juices from them and pan-fires the intensely fragrant leaf until she is satisfied with the result of the dried leaf. She tells me that most of her tea is sold to a small list of exclusive customers. We stayed there the entire afternoon and helped harvest her tea. I thanked Mrs. Kim for allowing us to encroach on her very busy day. It was a beautiful day and an interesting experience! My reward was that I received about 250 grams of incredibly fragrant sejak organic whole leaf tea.                                                                       

Live  well,                                                                                                                                             Jirisan Gabriel                                                                                                                                           

Now is the time in 지리산 (Jiri Mountain), (화개골) Hwagae Valley, when the first new flushes of the season awaken to fog shrouded mountains that deposit fine "mist and dew" in the early morning hours on the venerable tea leaf (camellia sinensis). The mornings are especially cool , followed by sunny afternoons which make tea growing on clean mountain slopes ideal conditions for an excellent harvest. It will be tea-picking time and all the time-consuming and painstaking effort by local family-owned small tea farms will reveal itself  to you in an extraordinary cup of tea pleasure. One cannot imagine the type of hard work that tea pickers endure so that you can enjoy a fresh, fragrant, and flavorful cup of tea. Fortunately, I am able to report to you from the famous Jiri mountain area of Korea that you will be able to contemplate it, at your leisure, over an exquisite cup of the best tasting artisan green tea anywhere. In the coming weeks, I will be visiting with tea farmers in this area with whom I have established personal  relationships with and hope to provide you with updates as the tea season  progresses.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about my tea blog at jirisantea@gmail.com . Alternatively, to post comments or place an order please visit and sign in at the member's area at www.jirisan.webs.com. 

Live well,                                                                  

Jirisan Gabriel