Jangheung

Jangheung County in South Jeolla Province is the historical centre of Korean tteokcha (compressed-cake tea) production. Borimsa Temple, near Mt. Gaji in Jangheung, is the documented origin of cheongtaejeon (청태전, "green moss coin") — small disc-shaped post-fermented tea cakes pierced with a bamboo needle and strung together. The form was developed in the late Joseon period (1800s) by scholar Jeong Yak-Yong and priest Choi Sun-sa, who is credited as the era's foremost tea maker. Tteokcha was the dominant form of tea in pre-modern Korea before steeped leaf tea displaced it.