Korean Sejak Green Tea

Sejak, thin sparrow, is Korean green tea picked from late April to early May, when the leaves are about the size of a sparrow's tongue. This Boseong sejak is balanced and gentle, with steamed greens, a nutty note, seaweed and a lightly sweet aftertaste. Brewed in a small teapot at 70°C.

Origin & Story

Korean green tea is graded by the day it is picked, and the grades are named after birds. Ujeon, before the rain, comes first. Sejak, thin sparrow, is picked next: after Gogu, around 20 or 21 April, and before Ipha, the start of summer, around 5 or 6 May. The leaves are plucked when they are about the size of a sparrow's tongue, which is why sejak is also called jakseol, sparrow tongue.

Boseong, in South Jeolla Province, is Korea's green tea capital, and by one count it grows about 40 percent of the country's tea. Most Korean green tea is roasted in a hot iron pot in a method called deokkeum, which is more popular in Korea than steaming, though steamed teas are made too.

Korea's tea story starts in the ninth century. In 828, according to the chronicles of Silla, King Heungdeok received tea seeds from the Tang empire and had them planted on Jirisan, in the south of the peninsula, and tea has been grown there ever since.

In the cup sejak is gentle and balanced: steamed greens, a nutty note, a hint of seaweed and a lightly sweet finish. It is a tea for cool water, and the usual advice is 60 to 70°C, which keeps it sweet. This page uses 70°C, 3 g for 240 ml and a steep of one to two minutes.

Reading the Flavor Profile

These values are comparative editorial positions within our own catalog, calibrated so entries can be ranked against each other. They are not laboratory measurements.