August 9th, 2025. Saturday. 10 am
Highland Park Community Center and Library, Highland Park, 1974 Ford Pkwy, St Paul, MN 55116
Today, green tea was on our minds. Without prior contact, three people brought in three different green teas. We started out by brewing a tea from Davidson’s and a tisane from Bellasia Tea; both were kindly donated by their company owners.
At each meeting, we begin with a bit of learning. In this session, the focus was on Korean teas. And more specifically, Korean green tea (Nok-cha), because that was all I had on hand. While green tea in Korea is popular, they have tisanes that outrank their popularity. These being Bori-cha (barley, also buckwheat) and Oksusu-cha (corn). If you haven’t tried these before, definitely don’t pass on an opportunity to do so.
Korean tea is sold with names that mainly include the plucking season and the producer, but also are sometimes given poetic names like Spring Dew. The majority of the tea is machine-harvested, with a few farmers still hand-harvesting to make specialty teas. The plucking season is separated into four sections.
- Ujeon – 1st Pluck around April 20th
- Sejak 2nd Pluck around May 6th
- Jungjak 3rd Pluck around May 21st
- Deajak 4th Pluck in the summer months
We took a quick break from the green teas to have a very rare, truly fermented tea from Ehime, Japan. After this tea, we consumed three other unique and delicious green teas.
As we drink our tea, we continue to strive towards our goal of becoming a non-profit. Right now, we are working on articles of incorporation and bylaws. We would appreciate any help that people wish to provide.
Teas we consumed:
- Earl Grey – Davidson’s Organic Teas
- Fairy Berry – Bellasia Tea
- Jeju Island Sejak – Cultivate Taste
- Boeseng Sejak – Cultivate Taste
- Ishizuchi Kurocha – Yunomi
- Gunpowder (2025) – Florite
- Ginger Peach Green – The Republic of Tea
- Laoshan Green – Verdant Tea
Minnesota Tea Society 
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