Korea Dong Cheon Sejak Jaksulcha Semi-Wild Green Tea

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Green Tea Leaves
Flavors
Bread, Butter, Chestnut, Cream, Cucumber, Grass, Green Apple, Hay, Hazelnut, Honey, Lemon, Lettuce, Mineral, Oats, Peas, Pine, Salt, Soybean, Squash, Sugarcane, Sweet, Umami, Vegetal, Zucchini, Green, Corn Husk
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
0 min, 30 sec 3 g 8 oz / 236 ml

Currently unavailable

We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

1 Image

0 Want it Want it

1 Own it Own it

3 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Since I have made the decision to stay up tonight and have not posted anything in several days, I’m forcing myself to be productive and crank out another review. I am dipping much further into my...” Read full tasting note
    79
  • “Another nice Korean green tea. Description is perfect, green taste (i get peas) transition into sweet corn. Green aroma, perhaps a slight nice bitter along the sweetness, compared to some of the...” Read full tasting note
    94
  • “1st steep 160 35 sec Brews to a light green color. Taste is grassy but not bitter. There is a sweet corn taste, like the fresh green husks of the corn, and corn silk. Steeped leaves a fantastic...” Read full tasting note

From What-Cha

A Sejak (second picking of the year) Korean green tea featuring a brilliant fresh green aroma with a smooth sweet grassy taste which transitions into a lingering corn taste.

Sourced direct from Dong Cheon, a co-operative of small farmers with the goal of maintaining Korea’s rich history of tea.

Tasting Notes:
- Fresh green aroma with corn hints
- Smooth and sweet grass taste which transitions to a lingering corn

Harvest: Sejak (Spring), 20-23rd April 2016

Origin: Dong Cheon a co-operative of small farmers, Hwagae Valley, Jirisan, Hadong, Korea
Organic: Certified organic
Cultivar: Hadong (Descendants of the first tea brought in to Korea roughly 1,200 years ago)

Sourced: Direct from Il-nam Ha the president of Dong Cheon
Percentage of price going back to Dong Cheon: 40%+

Brewing Advice:
- Heat water to roughly 70°C/158°F
- Use 1-2 teaspoons per cup/small teapot
- Brew for 30-45 seconds

Packaging: Resealable ziplock bag

About What-Cha View company

Company description not available.

3 Tasting Notes

79
1048 tasting notes

Since I have made the decision to stay up tonight and have not posted anything in several days, I’m forcing myself to be productive and crank out another review. I am dipping much further into my backlog than I have been recently for this one, as I finished what I had of this tea either during the summer or fall of last year. Looking back over the notes I took during my review session, they’re horrible, just all over the place. I have no clue how well this review is going to go, but here it is.

I had no clue how to properly prepare South Korean green tea at the time I set about reviewing this one (still have no clue), so I decided on a multi-step Western brewing process. I started by measuring out 3 grams of loose tea leaves and then steeped them in 8 fluid ounces of 158 F water for 30 seconds. This initial infusion was followed by four others. For the second infusion, I steeped the tea leaves in 8 fluid ounces of 163 F water for 45 seconds. The third infusion lasted 1 minute 15 seconds and was conducted with 168 F water. The fourth infusion lasted 2 minutes and was conducted with 173 F water. The fifth and final infusion made use of 178 F water and lasted 3 minutes.

Prior to the first infusion, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of zucchini, peas, toasted sweet corn, cucumber, hay, soybean, and baked bread. After infusion, I found new aromas of grass, summer squash, chestnut, and asparagus. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered up gentle notes of zucchini, soybean, grass, peas, toasted sweet corn, chestnut, and summer squash that were balanced by hints of baked bread, hay, minerals, butter, cream, cucumber, and sea salt. The second infusion introduced mineral and butter aromas, as well as a vague vegetable broth-like umami scent. Stronger and more immediate notes of minerals, hay, butter, cream, and cucumber appeared in the mouth along with oat and grilled lemon notes and hints of umami, honey, and sugarcane. The third infusion offered a very vague grassy, vegetal nose with barely detectable lemon and honey presences. The tea liquor turned very creamy and buttery in the mouth with strong mineral notes. I noticed a slightly more prominent umami presence as well as hints of hazelnut, pine, lettuce, and green apple. The fourth infusion again offered a mildly grassy, vegetal nose. This time there was more of a mineral presence in the mouth, but I also noted prominent hazelnut and chestnut flavors and a swell of grass, vegetable, cream, and butter notes on each swallow. The final infusion offered little in the way of a nose and presented heavy mineral notes with very vague creamy, buttery, nutty, and vegetal hints.

This was a unique green tea, and I enjoyed certain characteristics it displayed, but it made for a somewhat uneven drinking experience overall. I can best sum it up by describing it as three more or less great infusions followed by two very disappointing ones. At least that description accurately describes the experience I had with this tea the way I chose to prepare it. Don’t forget that I was not in the best mental state and had no clue what I was doing when I was working my way through what I had of this tea. I’ll just stop here before I get off track. There are certain aspects of my life during this time that I do not want to talk about just yet. I guess this tea was pretty good.

Flavors: Bread, Butter, Chestnut, Cream, Cucumber, Grass, Green Apple, Hay, Hazelnut, Honey, Lemon, Lettuce, Mineral, Oats, Peas, Pine, Salt, Soybean, Squash, Sugarcane, Sweet, Umami, Vegetal, Zucchini

Preparation
0 min, 30 sec 3 g 8 OZ / 236 ML
mrmopar

Stay strong my friend. Better times ahead.

Evol Ving Ness

Be well, eastkyteaguy. We’re all rooting for you.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

94
338 tasting notes

Another nice Korean green tea. Description is perfect, green taste (i get peas) transition into sweet corn. Green aroma, perhaps a slight nice bitter along the sweetness, compared to some of the other Korean offerings.

Managed to get a nice second cup too.

Flavors: Green, Peas, Sweet

tanluwils

I’ve been looking to get me some nice Korean green tea, but it’s always over my by budget. Oh, and by the way, I received the 7536 yesterday! I’m going to let it acclimate for a month or so.

Rasseru

Great. You should try some, these are similar to your mao fengs and long jins, but their own thing

tanluwils

There is a nice Korean tea house in Manhattan called Franchia that serves/sells excellent sejak green tea, but at a premium. I think $30 for 50g.

Rasseru

I can’t think of one in London! Maybe some cheaper tea from a restaurant but that’s about it

Leafhopper

I’ve always been turned off by the high cost of Korean tea, especially because greens aren’t my favourite. I was also underwhelmed by Teavana’s Jeju Island Green. However, your two tasting notes might change that. Moreover, after Jiri Horse, some more balhyocha might be in my future.

What-Cha

With Korean tea it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

1) Jeju grown tea is a lot lower quality (due to cultivars and geography) and quite different from traditional Korean tea, it’s best to treat it as something different.

2) Korean tea which is hand picked and processed is very expensive due to the high labour costs in South Korea. You can get cheaper but it has to be a later picking (Daejak) which has larger sized leaves (larger leaves weigh more so are less labour intensive to pick a given weight) coupled with machine processing. It’s why I’ve found Dong Cheon’s Daejak to be the perfect starting point for Korean greens as it’s not expensive while being representative of what to expect from the more expensive earlier pickings.

Leafhopper

Thanks for the info. I figured Teavana wouldn’t have top-flight Korean tea. I might have to pick up some Daejak from you when my tea cupboard is a little emptier.

tanluwils

I’ve had some nice Korean greens when I was traveling in the Hadong, Gimhae, and Busan area, and I do think it’s worth a try. Personally, I still don’t think it’s worth the price for everyday consumption, since I can get something of comparable quality from China (hand picked!) or Japan for far less. I think it’s more of a fad in the West that will pass with time. Perhaps something as unique as Balhyocha or hwangcha will always have a place in the Western tea world.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

101 tasting notes

1st steep 160 35 sec
Brews to a light green color. Taste is grassy but not bitter. There is a sweet corn taste, like the fresh green husks of the corn, and corn silk. Steeped leaves a fantastic bright green color.

2nd steep 160 45 sec
Color of the tea is still lighter than I would expect of the leaves. There’s more grassiness here and less of the corn. A bit of a savory seaweed note has appeared.

3rd steep ~150F ~1.5 min
Sweeter, a light bitterness that coats the mouth

4th steep
Very sweet, less bitterness

https://www.instagram.com/p/BINrHTAj9kM/?taken-by=gooseberryspoon
https://www.instagram.com/p/BINgp-MDCGr/?taken-by=gooseberryspoon

Flavors: Corn Husk, Grass

Login or sign up to leave a comment.