Friday, March 29, 2024
FOOD&DRINK

The Beautiful Tea Museum 아름다운차박물관

(This post was updated in 2018)

One of the most relaxing things to do in Seoul is go to a teashop in Insadong. Even when the main shopping area is hectic with tourists, the backstreet teashops often remain half empty, calm and inviting.

The Beautiful Tea Museum  is a tea cafe combining the old and the new with its light and airy modern interior  set in a renovated traditional Korean hanok house.  On a warm day there’s an outdoor garden and on a rainy day you can sit indoors and enjoy the sound of raindrops on the rooftop.

There’s a small exhibition area (it is called a ‘museum’ after all) and they also have a small shop selling some lovely quirky ceramic and glass teapots and tea paraphernalia along with various green teas, blue teas, black teas, brown teas, herbal teas, and flower teas. But the main emphasis is on the cafe.

beautiful tea museum

I’m an enthusiastic tea drinker but not very knowledgable about the ins and outs of preferred water temperatures and brewing times for all the different types of tea!

I didn’t need to worry because when I finally chose one of the green teas from the substantial tea menu, the waitress  brewed the first pot for me. She brought a kettle of hot water along with the pot of tea leaves to the table and after filling the small glass teapot, she IMMEDIATELY poured the water into a glass jug. Now it was ready to pour into the tea cup and enjoyed at leisure. The tea had a delicate flavour – slightly bitter yet naturally sweet. I ordered a plate of rice cakes too.

But then she left me alone to brew the next pot by myself. Of course I proceeded to made the mistake of leaving the water in the leaves too long and produced a completely different tea that was too strong and too bitter!

Lesson learned. For the next pot I did as I had been shown. I could refill the teapot as many times as I liked. And after 4 refills the tea leaves were still going strong. The menu is not particularly cheap – prices start at around 9,000 won. A green tea made with fresh new leaves is 10,000 won. And some of the Chinese teas are more expensive. But for the atmosphere and the range of teas available I think it’s worth the price because after an hour or so in the cafe, city stress has evaporated away. And every time I go to a teashop I wonder why I don’t do this more often!

rice cakes

One thought on “The Beautiful Tea Museum 아름다운차박물관

  • Do you know how much their Korean teas cost? What do you think is their best-selling product? I love drinking tea every night (esp. Chamomile tea) before going to sleep! 🙂

    Reply

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