Cha Teul Tea House @ Bukchon Hanok, South Korea

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For those who've had a long day or looking for a quiet place to settle down to relax and to have a good chat with your friends, Cha Tuel Tea House is a place we would like to recommend.

Located in Bukchon Hanok, a district with the traditional Korean buildings and well-known for it's traditional village, this area is peaceful although there are quite a few tourists in the area. Even so, this tea house is located within and near the residential area where it is highly recommended that no loud noises are to be made to disturb the residents of the area. This makes the tea house a perfect place to visit for relaxation and a peaceful catch up with those you have as company.

Overlooking a beautiful scenery with mountains visible, this tea house has it's own garden area. If you look closely, you'll find the garden is decorated with little miniature figures. This place is also perfect to catch the sunset!

The seating style in this tea house is the traditional Korean style which is on the floor. They provide a cushion pillow for you to sit on the heated, wooden floor. We usually sit on the floor instead of the couch at home so it was nothing far from being unfamiliar or uncomfortable. However, they do provide table seating outdoor in an undercover area if you ask.

We took a while to order our teas as they had a huge range of teas on the menu. Some sounded very fancy and they even had descriptions under the name of each tea with the expected taste, flavour and the health benefits of the tea. There were tea which were good for eye sight, liver, digestion and even circulation of the blood in your body.

When placing our orders, the staff was very friendly and to the best of his English capability, explained the teas to us and gave us his thought on which one he liked the most and would also recommend. He also showed us the steps of pouring the tea and explained the best temperature of the water as well.

This one is the green tea set. It had a specific name however I have forgotten the name. This particular tea is only available during specific seasons due to the tea leaves availability. We were lucky enough to try it. It was indeed not the same as the usual green tea you'd get at the supermarket.

So I've once heard from a friend that if I were to ever visit Korea, I had to try out their Jujube tea as it was definitely different from the way the Chinese would brew the tea. My friend however did not tell me that it would pack on a punch to my tongue with the hin of sweetness and a huge hit of bitterness as an aftertaste. It was hard to take in as I'm no fan of the bitter taste. After a few sips, it got better as I got used to it.

It was also thanks to the help of the little Korean snack, rice puffs, which were sweet and made a great pairing with the teas!

Overall, we really enjoyed the visit. It was a good place to relax and rest our feet from the long day of walking. As it was not a noisy place, we were able to talk without being disturbed and felt totally refreshed after the visit. A little escape from the busy city!