#tea cafe

The other day some friends stood me up — but I was already on my way to Tokyo. We were actually planning to eat at a small cafe that was located in some kind of traditional looking food court.

Since I was already in the city, I just went to the location anyway. Luckily, I knew there was also a little tea cafe in there as well. So instead of being sad my friends stood me up, I spend some alone quality tea time!

Like I said at the very beginning of Blogmas, not all posts will involve “coffee”. Today’s post is about a cafe but it’s a tea cafe!

Welcome to the Osulloc Tea Museum!

Osulloc is a luxury tea brand that originated in Jeju Island, where tea farming & tea production (& tea drinking) is huuuuge! It started out as a small business but increased both its popularity & brand power through several decades.

Long story short: it is now a big deal, with many locations scattered throughout Korea, & their high-quality teas are famous with beautiful packaging, making them an essential “Korean souvenir”.

I have been to several locations in Seoul; however, this one that I visited is the Osulloc Tea Museum that’s located on Jeju Island. From my hotel in Jeju City, it takes just over an hr (by bus) to get to. Be sure to go here early, as it’s now a tourist attraction for both tours & free-roaming travelers like myself.

What makes this location unique?

The other Osulloc’s carry merch & has a small cafe (depending on the location), but this is like their main branch. It’s not reeeeeally a “branch”; I don’t using that term. It’s just different! They have several sections here that contain displays & a lot of educational information - about tea-making process, about tea cups & tea drinking culture from other parts of the world, about their own history as Osulloc, etc.. . having a wall of Osulloc tea packaging from the 80s to their current designs. Their merch section is also large, with “Jeju-only” products. Additionally, their cafe menu is more extensive too.

& so after I browsed through the rest of the Museum, I stopped by the cafe for a treat~ Bcos you have to!

The displays looked so real.

Green tea ciabatta sandwich?

More options.. .

FYI: there are no coffee drinks here.

I ordered a drink & a dessert.

The cake is their Hallasan cake & the hallabong-o-fredo (hallabong slush with hallabong cream & a piece of dried hallabong). The drink was super refreshing!

*hallabong = Jeju-famous tangerine. (some say it’s mandarin.. . others say orange).. . Tbh, I don’t know what the correct translation is but it is a sweet & citrus-y fruit that Jeju Island is famous for. It’s like on-par with their green tea.

A side profile of the cake. Starting from top to bottom: cream, green tea cake, green tea mousse, green tea cake, dense chocolate layer with crunchy rice crispy bits, & lastly, chocolate cake. So yummy!

I took some photos outside as well. I really like their logo!

The famous “photo-zone” spot in front of these 2 cup-shaped bushes.

all tea is good tea. there are no wrong ways.

From the sound of it rushing down a waterfall, to the feeling of mist dancing across your cheek, water takes many forms. It is all around and within us. We need it to survive. Water makes up more than half of our bodies. In the words of Jacques Cousteau, “We forget that the water cycle and life cycle are one.”

Water is among the three most essential elements used to create a Japanese garden: stone, the “bones” of the landscape; plants, the tapestry of the four seasons; and water, the life-giving force.

It is that force of nature that is so deeply woven into our Garden and helps us experience a sense of peace, harmony and tranquility, that feeling of being one with nature.

“Water connects spaces in the Garden, it connects humans to nature, it connects incoming visitors to the Garden experience and the lower garden to the upper garden,” said Justin Blackwell, longtime gardner.

Special features throughout the Garden draw our attention to the importance of water. Like the koto-ji lantern, with its long legs resembling a bridge of a koto, a 13-stringed flat harp. One leg is in the water, the other on land, symbolizing the interdependence of land and water.

The Strolling Pond Garden consists of an Upper and Lower Pond connected by a stream that flows beneath the Moon Bridge. The water is recirculated and connected by a babbling stream beckoning one to continue walking.  At the focal point of the Lower Garden is the Heavenly Falls, so named because Garden designer, Professor Tono felt it appeared to flow down from the Milky Way, known as the “River of Stars” in Japanese.

Gravel in the Sand and Stone Garden is raked to evoke thoughts of water. Straight lines may be calm water, small waves and a gentle stream, and larger waves, fast-moving water or waves breaking. A swirl pattern may be a whirlpool and overlapping semi-circles call to mind ocean-waves or the surf breaking on a rocky coast.

Water shapes many of the features in our Cultural Crossing expansion. Cascading ponds outside the new Welcome Center will be the first feature to greet visitors before they enter through the Garden’s gates. From the edge of the water, guests will meander up the zigzag path rising through a series of terraces with low native trees and shrubs, moving towards the forested and mossy hillside.

An ephemeral water feature below our new tea café will collect rooftop runoff water during the rainy season and channel it down the hill. As guests sit to enjoy a traditionally prepared tea and small treat in the Garden’s first-ever tea café, they will see and hear the sound of water flowing beneath them.