Harvest: Sejak (Second Flush)

It’s quite obvious this tea is hand plucked, while there is nothing wrong with machine picked tea there are few tea producing countries that do so well most notably Japan and Taiwan. The leaves have a grassy aroma with floral undertones. Other than that the leaves are quite thin and remind me a little of Bahzhong crossed with Indian greens, especially the strands with the flattened tips.

Tasting Notes: This was quite an interesting tea to begin with, I suspect it will either be my favorite of the three or the one I like the least. While it is tastes distinctly like a Korean green I cannot think of Senchas, it has a little bit of astringency from the citrus notes. Otherwise it feels very different from What-Cha’s 2013 Korean Greens that had more of a roasted corn taste than this. As an aside I am sad to say I ran out of the 100g of each of What-Cha’s 2013 Korean greens in March.

Harvest: Between Woojeon and Sejak (May 20th)

Tasting Notes: This feels like much fresher than the Dosimdawon, although I suspect it is because it is lacking the sharp citrus notes and astringency. Other than that it had a rather unusual creamy mouthfeel, I hesitate to describe it as being thick or thin, but it stood out to me. Perhaps because it lacks the astringency it feels fresher? Regardless it was quite nice, it did feel a little light, perhaps I should use more leaves next time. This was my first Gukwoo and I rather enjoyed it; it tastes more like a Woojeon than a Sejak though.

Harvest: Woojeon (First Flush)

The leaves are a little strange; while the Soa Gukwoo and the Dosimdawon had long and thin leaves this has shorter and flat leaves. I cannot help, but notice there are quite a few smaller broken up leaves mixed in and the occasional silvery tip. I am a little perplexed by this tea, I suspect it is not hand plucked. Regardless this lacks the floral aroma the other two teas had instead it had a nice grassy scent.

Tasting Notes: Another Korean green that tastes like corn! Color me surprised; joking aside this feels and tastes like the 2013 Korean greens What-Cha stocks, not as fresh and clean as the first two teas of this post, and have a slight roasted corn taste. Unfortunately this tea stands out the least out of the three and I imagine it doesn’t fair well against What-Cha’s 2013 teas.

I did enjoy all three teas, but they have a very similar flavor profile. I kind of regret sampling all of these in one sitting, because I do not want to sound overly critical of the Woojeon at the same time I feel I had to sample these three teas in one setting because I knew these were going to be very similar to each other. I mentioned before that I occasionally feel overwhelmed when drinking multiple teas in one session, but at the same time I believe my feelings are stronger. Nevertheless I have yet to say which of these is my favorite and you can probably guess which I liked the least. I prefer the Dosimdawon over the Gukwoo because of the astigency and it is the one I am most likely to order again, but each has their own merits. At the time of writing this the a 5g sample of the Dosimdawon is being sold for $4.55, a 5g sample of the Gukwoo for $4.74 and a 5g sample of the Woojeon for $5.37.