According to the Sam-guk Sa-gi ( History of three Kingdoms: Silla, Koguryo and Paeckje) tea was first brought into Korea by Kim Tae-ryeum, a diplomat, in 828 A.D. during the reign of king Hung-dok of Silla, and planted on the hill of Mt. Chi-ri. Afterwards, the tea trees were transplanted and cultivated by Buddists in many Buddist temples in southern provinces during the Silla and Korvo dynasties.
People tool: much delight in drinking green tea, and specially the kings, buddist monks and nobilities of Silla and Koryo enjoyed drinking green tea. And eventually, the green tea became an indispensable part in all important ceremonies during the Koryo dynasty.
After the Yi dynasty came into being, the. dualistic philosophy of China was introduced and respected while buddist temples declined as a result of strong oppression by the ruling class.
While temples were declined, the practice of drinking green tea was also declined.
Nowadays we find many tea plants grow wild, which are seemed to be planted around buddist temples during the Koryo dynasty.
Todav, Korean people do not drink home made green tea. Instead, they like to take coffee, black tea and other tea products imported from foreign countries. As a result, Korea had to pay 520 thousand in 1969 to import foreign made tea and coffee.
The natural conditions of southern provinces of Korea are very suitable in cultivating tea plants. If we develope the skill in producing good quality tea in Korea, we would be able to save the foreign exchanges that are being spent for importing foreign made tea products, and at the same time, we would be able to export our green tea to overseas.
The quality of Korean green tea is as good as that of Japanese green tea. Green tea contains vitamin C while coffee and black tea do not contain it.
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