Boost Weak Immune System with Traditional Hanbang Tea.
4 Easy-To-Enjoy Hanbang Cafés

The Ssanghwa Street

Editor Profile

Name: So-jin Moon (Editor, 28)

Sasang Constitution Type: So-umin (slim frame, weak digestive function)

I hope you are well amid the approaching winter. For me, the cold wind must have taken a toll. I have lingering fatigue even after sleeping for hours and my skin is prone to breakouts. Maybe my immune system is not working well. Naturally, I started looking for ways to boost my immunity. Then one day, I went to a hanbang (traditional Korean medicine) café with my friend and tried some hanbang tea. To my surprise, the tea was effective. It made me feel better and warm when I was shivering from the cold weather. We tend to think that hanbang teas are expensive and bitter like medicinal remedies prescribed at traditional Korean medicine clinics, but the tea wasn’t like that at all. Therefore, I hereby list four hanbang cafés that offer various experiences at reasonable prices so that you can have fun while maintaining good health.

What is My Constitution Type? Get Diagnosed by a Traditional Korean Medicine Doctor at the Hanbang Café, The Ssanghwa

The Ssanghwagung photo zone

Traditional Korean medicine doctor feeling my pulse to determine my constitution

The streets are lit with lanterns made of traditional Korean paper (hanji), and rows of alleys are filled with the hospitality of Koreans in Jongno! The Ssanghwa is a café in Jongno operated by a traditional Korean medicine doctor. I thought it was better to try a properly prepared hanbang tea because I wanted something good for my body and made a reservation for a physical constitution diagnosis in advance. When an employee guided me to a room inside the café, a traditional Korean medicine doctor greeted me as they do in traditional Korean medicine clinics. The doctor first asked about my health issues and physical characteristics and then started to feel my pulse. As expected, I am a so-umin. I have a slight frame and have cold hands and feet. I was advised to avoid cold food and foods made with flour. In addition, jujube tea was recommended to improve my digestive functions. I felt guilty as I enjoyed foods with strong flavors. The doctor also recommended ssanghwa tea which is said to balance the body and works like a medicinal remedy that is beneficial to everyone.

Enjoy a Cup of Hanbang Tea at a Joseon Palace

The front view of Ssanghwagung

A server brought our orders

After the diagnosis, me and my friend moved to Ssanghwagung with private rooms to enjoy some quiet tea time. This café consists of the main building, Byeolgung and Ssanghwagung. Inside Ssanghwagung, there were rows of tables decorated in traditional Korean concepts such as a court lady’s room, eunuch’s room, emperor’s quarter, and many others. We kept marveling at the interior. It felt as if we entered a Joseon palace. Somehow, I was happy and excited to see the cabinets with medicinal ingredients and cabinets inlaid with mother-of-pearl that are no longer easily seen in daily life. When we were having fun taking pictures at the guest house photo zone, a server in a doctor’s gown brought us our orders.

Colorful and Multiflavored Traditional Tea Ceremony Set Menu

The Ssanghwa’s signature menu, Traditional Tea Ceremony Set

The Imperial Set recommended for hanbang novices

If you thought hanbang cafés only served hanbang teas, think again. The following is the menu we tried. This is the Traditional Tea Ceremony Set, the café’s signature dish. It consists of ssanghwa tea, porridge, and a plate full of bite-sized desserts. Porridge and dessert may not seem like a good pairing but it is actually a carefully designed menu. You will awaken your empty stomach with a bowl of porridge containing healthful medicinal ingredients such as deer antlers and red ginseng. Then drink ssanghwa tea and eat ginseng, pumpkin, and ginkgo nuts as finger food. When you are finished, you will feel your body warm up. Do you still think medicinal ingredients taste bitter? Then try the imperial Set that consists of jujube tea, salad, and a fruit bowl. The salad with persimmon sherbet and a bowl of fresh fruits will wash away the bitter taste of the jujube tea. I felt it was a thoughtfully prepared menu for hanbang novices.

Refreshing Tea and Hanbang Foot Bath Experience, Tea Therapy

Taking pictures on the bench in front of Tea Therapy

Foot bath experience that relieves fatigue

If you want to know more about your physical constitution but getting diagnosed or having someone feel your pulse is too much, I recommend Tea Therapy. The exterior of the Tea Therapy building is old-fashioned and nostalgic. You can easily determine your body constitution using a flowchart-style questionnaire.

Choose Your Tea According to Your Constitution Color

Determine your constitution with a flowchart-style questionnaire

Flowchart-style questionnaire in multiple languages

When you finish the questionnaire, you will get a unique color that matches your constitution. Pick a hanbang tea in your color category as it will help you decide the menu. Most of all, the questionnaire is available in five languages, including English, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. It is a big advantage when visiting with your foreign friends. Maybe that is the reason why so many foreigners were in the café.

A Place to Enjoy Relaxing Moments With Like-Minded People

Drinking vitamin, vita tea

Gentle fruity aroma of mogwa (quince) tea permeating about

It was unusual but heartwarming to see many people from various countries enjoying hanbang tea together, so I took some time to look around before ordering. I could not but notice one thing. Every table had a bowl of shaved ice! The traditional Korean medicine doctor told me to avoid cold foods but one bowl could not be so damaging, right? So, my friend and I ended up ordering the four-season shaved ice with homemade boiled red beans, sweet rice cake with gugija (goji berry), and some vita tea and mogwa tea. The sweet and nutty aroma that filled the café was so tempting.
We tasted the mogwa tea first. The first sip of sweet tea that filled up our mouths with a gentle fruity aroma was a delicacy. Then, a bite of the dried jujube and cookies made with Job’s tears lifted our moods with their sweet yet healthy flavors. My friend ordered vita tea, which is brewed with healthy ingredients including gugija, persimmon leaves, and citrus peels. The ingredients matched its name. I tasted the vita tea as well and could understand why the menu said it was a vitamin drink. It was refreshing and clean when swallowed, and very uplifting.

Four-season shaved ice topped with mixed nuts and gugija

Chewy sweet rice cake with gugija

When our stomachs were warmed by the hot tea, we tasted the long-awaited four-season shaved ice. It was topped with a generous amount of mixed nut and gugija and was tastier than I imagined. The nutty, sweet, and cool taste made me understand why this menu item is beloved all year-round. However, my favorite but least expected menu item of the day was the sweet rice cake with gugija. It was moderately chewy and the nutty flavor was addictive. I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I came home. If you have granny taste buds like me, I strongly recommend you try it.

Unique Foot Bath Experience with Medicinal Ingredients

Medicinal foot bath solution prepared by a traditional Korean medicine doctor

Foot bath experience with tea

If that was it, we wouldn’t call it a proper hanbang café. There is also a foot bath section outside Tea Therapy. At only 10,000 won, you can enjoy a foot bath in a medicinal solution prepared by the doctor. They have two solutions. I chose Relaxing A which is a stress buster. My friend, who is vulnerable to cold weather, chose Warming B which warms up the body and helps with circulation.
I was imagining the typical scents of medicinal remedies because it was a solution of medicinal ingredients. But to my surprise, an uplifting peppermint scent filled the air when I poured the solution into the water. Then the water felt surprisingly soft on my skin. All I did was soak my feet in the foot bath but I felt instantly relaxed and drowsy. It was a nice relaxing moment.

Healing time enjoying tea and a foot bath

Tea and foot bath experience outdoors

While I was talking with my friend, I noticed the person next to me was sitting alone. So, I pulled up my courage and started a conversation. She was from Singapore and traveling alone. She came here because these traditional teas are unavailable in Singapore. I was happy to hear that she liked her pear and bellflower root tea and we talked about many things. Then our time was up and we had to bid adieu to our new friend. I still think about that day at Tea Therapy. Sweet and tasty desserts and tea, the fatigue relieving foot bath, and the short but sweet conversation we had with our new friend from Singapore. I think it was the fun moments we had at Tea Therapy that made us head to our next destination as if we had wings on our feet.

Experiences for Each Constitution! Hanbang Café Next to Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic, Damiga

Consulting the traditional Korean medicine doctor regarding physical constitutions

Damiga is full of medicinal ingredients

The traditional Korean medicine doctor explains my physical conditions

Seoul Gyeongdong Market is full of the friendly and vibrant energy of people from the neighborhood. Located in the market, the hanbang café Damiga has a unique structure as the traditional Korean medicine clinic is seen through a hole in the wall. Do you want to know why? It is a café that sells hanbang teas and drinks, but it is more of a traditional Korean medicine clinic. The owner is very serious about traditional Korean medicine.
Damiga is operated by the Hyoseong Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic and was the first hanbang café in Seoul. It is famous for offering more specialized and authentic hanbang teas than other hanbang cafés. An experienced traditional Korean medicine doctor will tell you about your condition without feeling your pulse and will give you a short guide to the characteristics of the four physical constitutions (So-umin, So-yangin, Tae-eumin, Tae-yangin). It was more like short lecture on physical constitutions.

Find your constitution with a simple test

Healthy tea for each constitution

However, when all is said and done, this café enjoyed years of popularity with its “chejil tea” (tea for all constitutions). You will get a tea recommendation after completing a short test on a tablet. There are six hanbang tea recipes available: Gyeongsin tea for weight control; Jangsaeng tea for vitality; Onjung tea if you have cold hands and feet; Cheongpye tea if you have a weak respiratory system; Seongju tea if you have weak liver function; and Chongmyeong tea if you need to relieve stress and boost brain activity. Choose one of these recipes and add ingredients into your chejil tea. The tea will taste different before and after brewing the medicinal ingredients, so you will need to control the amount.
I chose Chongmyeong tea because my constitution is so-umin and I’m vulnerable to stress. The red-colored Chongmyeong tea has peppermint, Dendranthema indicum, and Polygala tenuifolia. At first, I was doubtful whether the tea would taste good. I was worried that a potful of unfamiliar medicinal ingredients would taste bitter. But I was relieved after my first sip. Interestingly, it had a clean taste. The tea became stronger as I added more herbs into it, but the charms were stronger as well.
My friend chose Gyeongsin tea as she recently started a weight loss program. It had Job’s tears and green tea leaves that cleanse the blood and the light flavor was enjoyable. It was interesting that the various ingredients created a deeper aroma rather than giving off individual scents. I guess it is the professionalism and skill that make the difference.

Place to See and Taste Happiness

Gyeongsin tea good for weight control

Chongmyeong tea good for stress relief

We were not the only customers fascinated with the brilliant tea colors. When we were at the café, foreign tourists were around us and they were all admiring the glass teapots filled with beautiful teas. The beautiful colors of chejil tea, different from the standard traditional teas, must have been interesting. We were not exceptions. At one point, we became so curious that we had to ask the owner how they developed such beautifully colored teas. She said she started the café so that young people could easily try medicinal remedies, which typically have a bitter flavor. The menu was designed with the concept of people feeling happy and healed when they looked at the beautiful colors. I thought the teas had beautiful colors because the owner blended her kind heart into them. My body and soul became warmer as I sipped the tea made with her recipe even after it cooled.

Hanok Café Harboring the Depth of Hanbang, Chamdajeong

Photo zone in front of Seoul K-Medi Center

Hanbang tea and desserts enjoyed inside the hanok café

Are you familiar with hanbang tea now that you have visited the hanbang cafes listed here? Do you think the bitterness of medicinal ingredients feels refreshing? Then it is time to visit Chamdajeong. It is a café located right next to Seoul K-Medi Center. It is a place where hanbang masters like myself go to because it is a great place to wrap up your day of hanbang-related experiences including foot baths, clothing, games, exhibitions, massages, and the opportunity to get some refreshments. It is a place to experience genuine traditional teas and desserts.

Ssanghwa Tea and Sipjeondaebo Tea are Made Every Day

Chamdajeong’s signature menus

Chamdajeong is housed in a renovated traditional Korean house called a hanok. Every morning, the café exudes a deep hanbang tea aroma because they make their teas including jujube tea, ginseng tea, ssanghwa tea, omija tea and other teas at the café. I ordered their signature ssanghwa and sipjeondaebo teas. Ssanghwa tea is made with 10 ingredients while sipjeondaebo tea has 13. How can hanbang lovers like us pass them by? We pompously ordered two menus.

Ssanghwa tea pairs well with desserts

Ssanghwa tea with lots of garnishes

But our courage failed us when the ssanghwa and sipjeondaebo teas were delivered to our table. The aroma was stronger than we thought. It was genuinely “hanbang” than any other hanbang teas we had previously. However, I closed my eyes and drank it. I was surprised the taste had an unparalleled depth and strength. It was more of a medicinal remedy than tea. The strong bitterness stopped me from drinking more but as I tried the garnishes of dried jujube, pumpkin seed, sunflower seeds, and pine nuts, it started to taste better. I liked the healthy feeling that the tea gave me, full and warm.

Sweet and Bitter, A Fantastic Pair

Banana injeolmi and flower injeolmi

Chewy injeolmi stick

Still not familiar with the bitter flavor, we ordered desserts everybody would love -- banana injeolmi (bean-power coated rice cake), flower injeolmi, and injeolmi stick. You can see that they are chewy and sweet. The sweetness alone could be boring but a sip of ssanghwa tea followed by a bite of the rice cake was fantastic. The sweetness of the rice cake covers the bitterness of ssanghwa tea, while the flat finish of the rice cake is richly filled with ssanghwa tea. The pairing was fantastic. After switching between the two, we found ourselves left with empty cups and dishes. I felt as if I leveled up as a hanbang tea master.

Set menu with steamed rice wrapped in lotus leaves

We could have left the café but something felt undone. My friend must have felt the same. We exchanged glances and ordered a set menu with steamed rice wrapped in lotus leaves. We desperately needed a fixing of rice after traditional teas and desserts. How can you pass a chance to eat some steamed rice wrapped in lotus leaves with six side dishes, soup, and seasoned laver? Peel back the lotus leaves and you get steamed glutenous rice. I could feel the stickiness with every spoonful of rice, which became more savory as I chewed. All the side dishes were perfectly seasoned and I felt like asking for refills repeatedly. I actually asked the server if refills are available and she said yes. The set menu has different side dishes when seasons change. So from now on, my friend and I will go to Chamdajeong every season.