Teas / green / Hadong Ujeon (Pre-Rain)

Hadong Ujeon (Pre-Rain)
🇰🇷 South Korea

Hadong Ujeon (Pre-Rain)

하동 우전 · 河東 雨前

pan-fired

Hadong Ujeon ("pre-rain") is the highest grade of Korean green tea — the earliest spring pluck, harvested before the Gogu (Grain Rain) festival in late April from the four-grade classification (Ujeon → Sejak → Jungjak → Daejak, named after "sparrow" growth stages of the leaf). The most prestigious Hadong Ujeon comes from wild and semi-wild Hadong-cultivar bushes around Hwagae-myeon, the documented birthplace of Korean tea cultivation in 828 CE. Korean processing favours deokkeum-cha — pan-firing in a hot cast-iron cauldron — over the steam-fixing common in Japan.

Quick facts

Region
Hwagae
Harvest year
2025
Harvest season
early-spring
Cultivars
Hadong Jaeraejong (Hadong heirloom)

Brewing

Leaf
3.0 g / 100 ml
Water
70°C
Rinse
no
Gongfu steeps (s)
40, 30, 45, 60
Western (min)
1.5

Brew below 75 °C — Korean greens are even more delicate than Japanese sencha. The traditional Korean approach is multiple short steeps from a small pot rather than long Western infusions.

Calculate leaf weight for this tea

Tasting notes

Aroma
sweet hay, fresh chestnut, faint orchid
Flavor
delicate, mineral-sweet, light umami
Mouthfeel
silky, soft
Finish
clean, lingering sweet

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