A Traditional Tea House Experience

Seoul is filled to the brim with a variety of cafes with themes ranging from animal cafes to character cafes. They have become an integral part of the culture and daily life here. However, my friends and I were quite curious about the differences between these modern cafes and more traditional ones, so we made the short trip to Insadong.

Insadong is well known for its mix of the modern and the traditional, making it a fun place to explore. It is also home to two popular traditional cafes: Tteulan (뜰안) and Jongchun Rice Cakes (떡가게종춘).

Out of the two, Tteulan is the most traditional, from its food and drink offerings to the architecture and design of the building. Inside, you have the option of sitting at a regular table with chairs or at a soban (소반: short table with floor seating). If you choose to sit at the soban, you will need to remove your shoes, so make sure to wear socks! 

The two women who ran the cafe were extremely sweet and taught us the correct ways to drink the tea. They also gave us easy explanations about the tea flavors when we ordered to make sure we knew what we were ordering. If it is your first time having tradtional Korean tea, I would recommend going for a milder tea made from flowers or ginger rather than the mixed root teas as their flavor is quite strong.

What I found most interesting about this cafe were the in depth descriptions of the health benefits of each tea (which are attached above). For me, it was a very fresh perspective on food and drink.

If you are looking for a cafe with a combination of the past and present, then I would recommend Jongchun. Jongchun serves many traditional items, but the store is decorated in a modern fashion and they offer both traditional and modern drink options. If you do go to Jongchun, I would recommend trying sikhye (traditional rice drink)!