Korean Woojeon Green Tea

Ujeon, also written woojeon, means before the rain: the first Korean green tea of spring, picked before Gogu around 20 April. This Boseong version is sweet, soft and subtle, with tender greens, chestnut, a buttery popcorn note and a sea-breeze note. Brewed in a small teapot at 60°C.

Origin & Story

Ujeon means before the rain. Gogu, around 20 or 21 April, is the day that marks the start of the spring rain, and ujeon leaves are plucked by hand before it. It is Korea's first flush, the counterpart of Chinese mingqian and Japanese shincha: the youngest leaves and buds of the year.

The window is short and the leaves are small. Ujeon buds and leaves are tender, and the finished tea is sweet, soft and subtle rather than strong. It is the first picking of the Korean tea year, and the grades that follow, sejak, jungjak and daejak, come from larger leaves picked later.

Boseong is South 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 an iron pot, called deokkeum, which gives a sweet chestnut character, and that chestnut note is part of what you taste here, with a buttery popcorn note and a sea-breeze edge.

Because the leaf is so tender, ujeon takes the coolest water of all the Korean grades. One reference gives 50°C, and grading guides usually say about 60°C. This page uses 60°C, 3 g for 240 ml and a steep of two to three minutes.

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