It’s no secret that East Asian nations are making some of the best teas in the world. In fact, tea has a deep-rooted role in many of their cultures – so does South Korea. A traditional tea ceremony at Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul with Trazy.com should be on anybody’s bucket list who is looking for a unique activity in Seoul!

First the facts: Tea Culture in South Korea

The traditional Korean tea ceremony, or darye (茶禮), goes back more than 1,500 years. The aim or darye is to enjoy tea with ease within a comfortable formal setting. Tea ceremonies are viewed as a way to find relaxation and harmony in the fast-paced Korean culture of today.

Korean Tea Cookie Making

Dasik, a Korean tea cookie, is a special kind of dessert eaten with tea since Korea’s Goryeo dynasty. The tradition and method of preparing Dasik dates back thousands of years and uses healthy ingredients, such as ginseng and other Korean herbs. They are also said to detox your body and balance your overall health.

The first part of the traditional Korean tea ceremony experience is making your own Dasik. To make these cookies, you press the different kinds of dough into wooden molds. There are many different shapes you can try out, from Korean flowers to butterflies or traditional symbols.

The Matcha Making Process

After making the Korean tea cookies, we learned how to prepare the perfect cup of green matcha tea. For example, you should always use a warm bowl and add water to the mixture in two steps. You also add as many teaspoons into your matcha bowl as there are people drinking tea. Since we were a group of 3, we added 3 teaspoons of green matcha powder to our bowl.

Order of Performing the Korean Tea Ceremony

Once we’d eaten our energizing tea cookies and drank our matcha, we moved on to the main part of the activity: the actual tea ceremony order. What I liked best about this part was that our tea professor emphasized the importance of relaxing your mind and creating a positive atmosphere within yourself when drinking tea. To do this, we repeated the following words twice:

I am precious. I am valuable. I am treating myself today.

After getting into the right mood, we learned how to set up our tea table. There are 10 main components to this: teacups, teapot, cooling bowl, large bowl, coaster, tea scoop, tea towel, tea mat, tea container, and lid holder.

The most interesting things I’ve learned from the tea ceremony experience include:

• There are two ways of pouring and offering tea that vary for females and males.
• You always use both hands during the ceremony.
• Patience is key. You always pour the tea slowly.
• At the end of the ceremony, you clean your hands with the remaining green tea.
• In winter, green tea foot baths and massages are customary.

How to book this activity with Trazy

The fact that it is quite difficult for foreign travelers to find out about unique festivals, events and seasonal destinations around Korea gave the two friends Jahyun and Kristine the inspiration to create Trazy, or Travel Crazy Korea! The platform allows you to book trips to unique destinations in Seoul, Busan, Jeju Island and many other exciting destinations!

BOOK ITHIS EXPERIENCE NOW

Besides the traditional tea ceremony at Bukchon Hanok Village, I’ve previously done a couple of other activities with Trazy.com, you can find them here:

• Ski Weekend at the Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort
• Mind and Body Healing at the Healiance Zen Center
• Nami Island and the Garden of Morning Calm Day Trip
• Whoo Spa Massage and Facial Treatment

Each tour lasts between 40 and 50 minutes.

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