The Boseong Green Tea Plantation
Located in the South Jeollanamdo Province, Boseong is famous for its green tea.
If you want to do any traveling around Korea, I’d argue that mid spring and early fall are the best times. This is an obvious reason because the climate is the most moderate and it seems we’re having a nice long spring this year!
So, what’s the history all about? In a nutshell, green tea has been drunk in Korea since the 9th century when tea seeds were brought back from China. The ideal land in the South Jeolla province allowed for the plants to prosper.
The Boseong plantations are a new sort of addition though. These came about in the 1930′s when the Japanese colonialists established the first commercial tea plantation. After Japan’s defeat in WWII, the land was left unkept until a Korean bought the tea fields and established the Daehan Tea Plantation (see below).
I must regretfully admit my disappointment. I even enhanced these photos, but the colors just weren’t as radiant as the hundreds of others I’ve seen on google. I think part of this was because winter had just recently departed, so the colors were just starting to emerge.
(Gosh, I’m looking more and more Korean in pictures). Either way, after the 3 1/3 hour car ride and wandering up a steep hill to the top, we were all ready to eat!
It’s a tourist trap, but its easiest to eat at the places that are located at the actual plantation or at the bottom.
If you know me, you know I love soft ice cream. I’ve missed frozen yogurt like mad since I came to this country, but this is the next best thing: Green Tea Ice Cream!! It was SO super good.
If you have the opportunity, I recommend traveling with Koreans. I don’t mean taking a Korean tour bus either, unless you want to be hounded with a bunch of weird questions. Some friends/students of mine took us and knew about a restaurant that was about a 15 min drive away.
I tried the Green Tea Bibimbap, which actually tasted like regular bibimbap and my boyfriend tried the Green Tea Noodles, which unfortunately had small pieces of pork or beef or some meat variety mixed in.
We also had Green Tea Ju and if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend that you try this. It’s soju, but with green tea. I don’t care for soju, but this stuff reminded me of sake.
If you can’t find Green Tea Ju, you could always try just taking a green tea bag and soaking it in a soju bottle?
I don’t think it has the same taste/effect though.
Anyong! Is this the same tea plantation they showed on that K-drama “Scent of a Woman?” You look like you’re really having fun.
I think it might be the same plantation! It was fun, thanks!!