Talking Tea

For quite some time we've been wanting to explore Korean tea culture on Talking Tea, so we're very happy to be joined in this episode by Brother Anthony of Taizé, a prolific writer, translator and teacher and co-author of two notable books on Korean tea, The Korean Way of Tea and Korean Tea Classics.    Brother Anthony chats with us about the roots of his own passion for tea and his connections with the modern revival of Korean tea culture, and how that revival was spurred on in large part by the initiatives of the Venerable Hyodang, a Buddhist monk and tea maker at the Dasol-Sa Temple near Jiri Mountain (pictured), and his wife Chae Won-Hwa, who carried on the initiatives after Hyodang's death. We look at the history of tea in Korea and the connections between Buddhism and Korean tea culture, we discuss some of the unique aspects of how high-quality Korean green tea is processed according to the methods of the Venerable Hyodang and Chae Won-Hwa, and we look at why the quality of the tea and the tea-making pr