Feel free to contact us anytime regarding questions you may have about our products or Korean tea culture.
All of Merchant of Seoul tea products are USDA & EU certified organic.
Merchant of Seoul will only offer a refund if the parcel, in which the customer's order is in, has not been opened. In which case, the customer must send it back to Merchant of Seoul. Merchant of Seoul will not reimburse the shipping cost. Once the parcel is returned, the refund will be processed.
If you are unsatisfied with your order, please contact us to resolve it.
Merchant of Seoul offers shipping to Canada and USA, with orders being processed the day after on weekdays, excluding statutory holidays.
Shipping cost is determined via Canada Post with orders over $100 receiving free shipping.
All orders include a tracking number which will be emailed to customers upon purchase.
Import duties & taxes are customer responsibilities.
General guidelines are provided by farms and its tea masters but even they have their own individual brewing style for each tea! Why shouldn't you?
'Nok' means 'green' in Sino-Korean. It is the name for our region-based green teas.
'Ggoma' means 'small child' in 'Toh-bakkimal' (pure Korean). It is the name of our young leaf green tea.
'Agga' means 'baby' in 'Toh-bakkimal' and it is the name for our 'Oo-Jeon' grade green tea. 'Oo-Jeon' means 'before rain' in Sino-Korean. It is the name for top grade green tea in Korea, which are baby leaves plucked before rainy season.
The most typical grading system for Korean green tea is by its leaf size, where it is compared to a sparrow's tongue using the '-jak' suffix.
The leaf size order from smallest to largest are: Se-Jak ('Se' means baby), Joong-Jak ('Joong' means medium), De-Jak ('De' means big).
Now to make matters a bit more complicated, there are also grades for harvest time, which goes by 24 traditional Korean seasons. The important seasons here are:
-'Go-Goo' (~April 20th): This is the start of rainy season, and when flushes of Se-Jak grade leaves are plucked. 1-2 weeks before 'Go-Goo' is when 'Oo-Jeon' grade leaves are plucked. 'Oo-jeon' is a fancy title Se-Jak grade leaves acquire for being harvested before the rain. The start of 'Go-Goo' varies between regions (cooler climates, etc.).
-'Ip-Ha' (~May 5th): Se-jak grade flush.
-'So-Man', 'Man-Jong', 'Haji' (~June 20th): Start of Joong-Jak flush.
-'So-Suh', 'De-Suh', 'Ipchu': Start of De-Jak flush.
Within the Se-Jak grade, as mentioned above there is 'Oo-Jeon' but also a 'Teuk-Oojyun' grade. These are even more special baby leaves plucked right before rainy season. 'Teuk' means 'special' and 'Teuk-Oo-Jeon' is the rarest and the highest grade.
'Yup-Cha' grade are fully grown adult leaves harvested in the middle to end of the summer after many flushes. 'Yup-Cha' can be harvested well into Fall.
At the end of the day, farmers and tea masters are the ones that grade tea and sometimes the sizing and the seasonal pluck can conflict.
Merchant of Seoul's 'Nok' products are of 'Yup-Cha' grade (full grown adult leaves). Merchant of Seoul's 'Ggoma' is De-Jak grade. Merchant of Seoul's 'Agga' is Oo-Jeon grade with baby sized Se-Jak leaves.