millionroutinesKOREAN ROOTS. EVERYDAY RITUALS.Be first to know THE PRACTICE · 차림
The leaves, the water,
and the words left behind.
See tea in real hands, follow dated archive records, and explore the manuscripts and methods behind Korean tea life. Then make a little room for your own cup.
Explore the historical records
PEOPLE, WATER, A SHARED CUP · 기록 속 찻자리
A photograph, dated archive records,
and the ways of preparing tea they help us explore.
View photograph ＋A two-handed cup and a low tea setting. Photograph date unspecified; not a Joseon-era image.
[다도 / 잎차 다리기3] 한국민족문화대백과사전 · © Academy of Korean Studies · KOGL Type 1View the image record ↗DATED RECORDS · 원문으로 보는 옛 차문화
02 APRIL · NEWSREEL · 1 MIN 27 SEC
Korea News No. 1326 records tea-association members learning traditional tea drinking at Bongeunsa. It also introduces a tea exhibition with historical vessels and books. This is evidence of twentieth-century teaching and revival, rather than footage of the Joseon period.
Watch “Traditional tea practice” · KTV ↗15 FEBRUARY · ARCHIVAL PHOTO COLLECTION
The Haeinsa collection records monks’ activities, including tea practice alongside meditation, calligraphy and communal meals. Open the original gallery to explore the photographs and their catalogue information.
View the Haeinsa photographs · e-History ↗These dated collections open on the official archive. The 1987 photographs carry KOGL Type 4; they are linked here rather than reproduced on our product website.
THE OLDER METHODS · 조선 후기의 차 준비
Historical accounts describe particular people and settings. They do not give us one ceremony followed by everyone.
Jeong Yak-yong drew water from Yakcheon, boiled it at a tea hearth and enjoyed tea on a flat stone, with the landscape around him.
Choui’s copied tea manual treats fire, boiling water, adding leaves, vessels and cup cloths separately. Preparing tea involved learning how to judge these things.
The historical account explains jungjeong as right measure: water, leaf quantity and brewing time should be neither excessive nor insufficient.
English summaries of the cited accounts. Modern brewing temperatures and timings appear in our practical guide below.
THE SURVIVING WORDS · 실제 차 문헌
Two historical works.
Photographs of real documents, with their sources.
[다신전] 한국민족문화대백과사전 · Academy of Korean Studies · KOGL Type 1
FAIR COPY OF THE TEXT · 1830
Choui Uisun copied and excerpted an earlier Chinese tea text, then prepared a fair copy in 1830. Its 22 sections range from gathering and making tea to water, vessels, fragrance, color and taste. It shows tea knowledge being studied and passed on in late-Joseon Korea.
Read the historical context · AKS ↗[동다송] 한국민족문화대백과사전 · Academy of Korean Studies · KOGL Type 1
LATE JOSEON · 19TH-CENTURY WORK
Choui’s 31-verse tea work brings poetry and practical attention together: making tea, judging water, preparing a cup and appreciating Korean-grown tea. The Academy of Korean Studies places its composition after 1831 and notes that the exact year is uncertain.
Read the historical context · AKS ↗Dates refer to the works, not verified dates of the photographed copies. Tea manuals and poems, not modern diary pages.
Documentary photograph of tea work. Date unspecified in the source image record.
[차잎 따는 광경] 한국민족문화대백과사전 · © Academy of Korean Studies · KOGL Type 1Source & image information ↗01 / MAKING THE LEAVES · 제다
Jeda means turning tea shoots and leaves into tea. Korea’s documented traditions include loose-leaf and compressed tea, with steaming or pan-firing among the methods used. Jeda was designated national intangible heritage on 14 July 2016.
Dasinjeon and Dongdasong record pan-fired tea making. The sequence below is an introduction to one loose-leaf route, not a recipe shared by every Korean tea tradition.
Pick and select the leaves.
Work the leaves in a heated pan.
Roll or rub the processed leaves.
Dry the tea for keeping and later brewing.
Methods and repetitions vary. Other documented routes include steaming leaves and making compressed tea.
Source: 제다 · Encyclopedia of Korean Culture ↗02 / PREPARING A CUP · 차를 우리는 일
Dasinjeon separates attention to the fire, boiling water, adding tea, vessels and cleaning the cup cloth. Fragrance, color and taste each receive their own section. Preparing tea was something to study, as well as enjoy.
These are our reading prompts drawn from the text, not a translation of its full instructions. For today’s tea, use the producer’s leaf quantity, water temperature and steeping guidance.
Source: 다신전 · Encyclopedia of Korean Culture ↗Open our practical brewing guide ↗Documentary photograph of tea practice. Date unspecified in the source image record.
[다도 / 잎차 다리기3] 한국민족문화대백과사전 · © Academy of Korean Studies · KOGL Type 1Source & image information ↗03 / LEAVING A FEW WORDS · 차와 기록
Manuals. Poems. Letters.
Different kinds of tea records, with different purposes.
The National Institute of Korean History discusses Jeong Yak-yong’s tea life through this collection of tea poems. At Dasan Chodang, a spring, a tea hearth and the surrounding landscape became subjects for writing. The record joins tea to a particular place.
Read the historical account · NIKH ↗When Jeong left Gangjin in 1818, a tea fellowship linked him and his students. Its written rules connected tea sent to him with continued exchange. The National Folk Museum’s 2019 exhibition presented Dasin-gye Jeolmok and related writings, showing the relationships preserved in those documents.
Explore the documented exhibition · NFM ↗1818 tea-making record · AKS ↗Charim borrows the invitation to notice and write. Fragrance, color and taste belong on one page; the place, company and a thought to keep belong on the other.
This is our new diary format. The historical manuals, poems and fellowship documents are its references, rather than an antique thirty-entry tea diary reproduced as a product.
Explore the Tea Diary & its format ↗OUR MODERN ADAPTATION · FOUR SMALL GESTURES
You can begin with a cup and tea you already enjoy.
The ten-minute format is a suggestion, with room to linger.
Lay out the cloth and cups. Put your phone aside. A table by the window is more than enough.
Warm the teaware, then brew the leaves using your tea’s recommended temperature and steeping time. Use the cooling bowl when needed.
Pour a little into each cup in turn, keeping the strength similar. Offer a cup to someone, or keep this moment for yourself.
Notice the aroma, the warmth, the first sip. Leave a little room for conversation, or simply sit with your tea.
THE SPIRIT BEHIND THE SEQUENCE
A modern home routine inspired by darye: attention to the tea and the person at your table.
An everyday adaptation, rather than a formal ceremony.
Explore its Korean roots ↗
IF YOU FEEL LIKE STAYING A LITTLE LONGER
A scent, a conversation, the light across the table. Keep a few words—or simply enjoy your tea.
Discover the Tea Diary ↗READ THE RECORDS · 출처와 이미지
The historical works and records here illuminate particular strands of Korean tea culture. Charim’s four-step home ritual is our contemporary adaptation.
The six distinct source photographs on this page are from the Academy of Korean Studies’ Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. Each selected image record is marked 공공누리 제1유형 / KOGL Type 1, requiring attribution. Titles and credits appear beside the images; photographs are resized for the web without adding or replacing document text.
Photographed works: 다신전 and 동다송. Documentary photographs: 차잎 따는 광경 and 다도 / 잎차 다리기3. The image records do not specify the copies’ or photographs’ dates.
The dated 1981 KTV newsreel and 1987 Haeinsa photograph collection are provided as official archive links. Their dates identify those records, not the undated AKS photograph. The Haeinsa images are not reproduced here.
Image records & individual KOGL notices ↗Encyclopedia content-use information ↗MAKE A PLACE FOR THE FIRST POUR
Meet our first tea bundle, in porcelain white and celadon.
Explore Charim