Traditional Teahouses of Jeonju Hanok Village

Probably the most Korean places in Jeonju Hanok Village are the traditional teahouses. A cup of herbal tea at an antique hanok (Korean style house) building is replenishing after a long day of walking. Today, I’ll introduce three popular traditional teahouses at the Hanok Village.

Dahwawon

Dahwawon means tea and flower. The graceful building rising above the tile-roofed wall is very eye-catching.

What’s special about Dahwawon is that a tea ceremony comes with free patbingsu (red-bean shaved ice), bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) tea, omija (schizandra berry) tea, maesil (Chinese plum) tea, and the like.

Gyodong Dawon

Gyodong Dawon is a teahouse located on a quiet alley. As I entered the premise, I was fascinated by the hanok madang (courtyard) and maru (raised wooden floor). I sat on the maru and gazed the sky for a while before entering inside.

The signature tea of Gyodong Dawon is ‘hwangcha’. It’s 10~24% fermented tea with savory but less astringent aftertaste. Hence, it’s easier to drink than the common fermented tea. Looking at the bamboos over the window while sipping a cup of hwangcha is very relaxing.

Haengwon

Our last teahouse today is ‘Haengwon’. Located near Pungnammun Gate, Haengwon can be found at the end of the street linking Jeolla Gamyoung (Joseon Dynasty’s provincial government complex) and Pungnammun Gate. The building of Haengwon used to be a restaurant built in 1928. You can see what the modern hanok building from the early 20^th century looked like.

Haengwon is run by a pansori master Sung Joon-sook. Every Saturday 4PM, gukak (Korean traditional music) live performance is held in the teahouse. Isn’t it awesome to enjoy both tea and the Korean traditional music at the same time?

The teahouses that we visited today are attractive in that we can experience both nice Korean traditional tea and the beauty of the hanok buildings. Modern cafés are nice, but the traditional teahouses in Jeonju Hanok Village can offer more relaxing time with your significant other. To relieve the stress from everyday life, I recommend heading to the teahouses of Jeonju Hanok Village.