보성녹차밭 대한다원 - Boseong's Green Tea Plantation

Originally, the trip to Boseong's Daehan Dawon Tea Plantation was supposed to be a simple day trip on a nice Saturday. However, I found that if you live in Jeollanamdo, the buses don't always go to your every desired destination. In my case, there wasn't a bus from my hometown of Naju to Boseong. Since that was the case, my trip turned into a weekend one. First, Friday night it was off to Mokpo to stay with a friend. Then we left from Mokpo's bus terminal for Boseong the following morning and toured for the day, catching the last bus back to Mokpo that evening.

Upon arriving at Boseong's bus terminal, if you want to get to the tea fields first you should go up to the ticket booth and get a bus ticket. If you simply say, "green tea" the ticket lady will know where you want to go and print you a ticket. The bus that takes you to the green tea fields is a green bus that arrives to pick people up in the last lane at the terminal. It will most likely arrive just moments before the time printed on your ticket, and it is always wise to show the driver your ticket to confirm its the correct bus if you have doubts. We also didn't know our bus stop, but it was fairly obvious once we saw the green tea hills nearby. It was also the stop all the couples got off the bus at, so we trusted that it was the stop that we wanted and followed them.

Step 1: Get your entry ticket. Tickets are cheap, costing only 4,000 won for adults. It is single entry though, so if you want to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant just outside the gate, eat first. The restaurant has great food and many vegetarian options if you prefer no meat. Their menu is almost entirely green tea related as well. As such, you can imagine the menu was a very healthy one. It offered foods such as: green tea rice, green tea-fed samgyeopsal, green tea noodles (spicy and non-spicy) and green tea pancakes, among others. I went for the green tea noodles, and I will say they were very tasty. The noodles themselves were very good, with a seafood flavored broth and vegetables and mussels included. It was a satisfying meal before our big exploration of the fields themselves.

Green Tea Noodles

The menu

Upon entering the plantation you will be tempted by a multitude of green tea shops selling almost anything green tea related you could imagine. My advice is, wait until after you hike around to spend all your money on treats.

If you head for the heart of the plantation from the beginning you will find yourself at the bottom of some steps leading up a rather large hill. Green tea is planted in neatly trimmed rows in all directions, weaving across the small mountain. The neat rows are aesthetically pleasing to the eye and as far as you can see there is nothing but a rich variety of shades of green. Follow the steps up the the first landing and you will find yourself in what I believe is the best overall view of the fields themselves. From there you can see the rows as they wind along up the hill, people dotting the rows up the mountain, and of course, vast amounts of tea. It was a sight unlike any I had seen before in my life.

We explored the plantation throughout the course of the day, taking all the trails, seeing the gorgeous fields of green tea, the magnificent cedar trees planted along the trails, and taking hundreds of photographs of the perfectly manicured tea rows. The plantation would be a dream come true for any child wishing to play hide-and-go-seek...oh how I wish I could've while we were there. I did crack into my childishness a little, climbing two trees along the trails for a better view of my surroundings. Even the back trails, secluded from the tea fields themselves were still filled with beauty. The tall, straight trees wrapped with vines and the sunlight shining through made the forest feel enchanted, with the small creek trickling with water making it ever more so.

While we explored, it was also impossible not to notice the hoards of Korean couples, all who were being way to ridiculously adorable for their own good. It hurt just looking at them. Seeing super cute couples really magnifies the status of being single. Young couples were holding hands, setting self timers on their cameras to get that perfect "kissing in a field of green tea" photo, and being every so romantic. It made me smile, it made me jealous, and it made me daydream. What a perfect place for a date.

Look at the depth of these rows

Green Tea Close-Up

The picturesque trees

The trees seen here at the right are noteworthy in the sense that they are recognizable in several dramas and movies that have been filmed here. They are the landmark of the green tea fields if you want to recognize this place in any Korean drama or movies.











Also worth showing is this fairy-tale-like road. The combination of the tall trees along one side of the path and the green tea on the other was nice to look at. It was so beautiful.








We stayed wandering around the fields until the sun started to set. Finally satisfied with our full camera rolls and green tea viewing, we headed to raid the gift shops and taste as many green tea things as we could.

At the first store we sampled green tea shakes and green tea ttkeobokki. They were both very good.

The green tea shake and green tea ice cream I had later on tasted basically the same, except for the fact that one I could drink. The ttkeobokki was very good. As you can see, the rice cakes themselves look a bit green. It wasn't too spicy and also included both fishcakes and cabbage, which I thought was a great combination.




Later on we bought an assortment of green tea products to take home. I  bought myself some green tea latte mix and Boseong green tea chocolate. They also had green tea candy, noodles, crackers of various types, fresh tea bags, and more in their shops. Its really the perfect souvenir, what would be better then something made from the green tea produced in Boseong? If you know any green tea lovers, the items also would make a perfect gift.

Lastly, this is the green tea ice cream that we tried as we were leaving the plantation and headed to find the bus stop. The people who ran the shop in the upper area of the parking lot where we bought it were very kind and helpful. They gave us great customer service, so I was happy to spend money at their store. The ice cream also tasted great and refreshing.





The bus stop was a bit difficult to find at first, but it can be found on the other side of the underpass near the main road. If you get close enough to the underpass you will see an English sign pointing you in the right direction. It was a lifesaver. Whoever posted that sign...Thank You. I will also throw in a disclaimer...if you take one of the countryside Boseong buses back to the terminal...some of the drivers are absolutely nuts. Our bus driver drove so fast on the tight, cramped roads, swerving this way and that. We were sitting in the back of the bus being thrown every which way. It was crazy. Overall though it was a great trip. Boseong is a very small, yet peaceful place to visit. Maybe I will find myself visiting it again in the future.

Korean Word of Relevance: The Korean word for green tea is 녹차 (pronounced nok-cha)