Ujeon (Pre-Grain-Rain)
Ujeon is the top grade of Korean green tea, plucked from the very first, smallest spring buds before Gogu (Grain Rain, around April 20). The name literally means before the rain, and it is Korea's close parallel to China's pre-rain (yuqian) spring tea: the earliest, tenderest, most expensive pick. The variable that matters most is exactly that timing, since true ujeon is scarce, fleeting, and made from leaf picked in a narrow early window.
Look for very small, uniform, tender leaf and buds, a clean deep color, and a delicate sweet, nutty, lightly vegetal aroma with no scorch or dullness. Genuine ujeon is uniform and obviously hand-sorted, reflecting the tiny early pluck; coarse or mixed leaf sold as ujeon is a red flag. The cup is gentle, sweet, and low in astringency, and the best lots carry real depth despite their lightness. Hadong and Boseong producers are the names to look for, and the early-spring harvest year should be clearly stated. Because true ujeon is scarce and costly, be skeptical of cheap leaf carrying the label.
Ujeon comes from Korea's main green regions, especially Hadong on the slopes of Jirisan and Boseong in South Jeolla, with some from Jeju. It is defined by timing: the leaf is plucked before Grain Rain, when only the smallest tender shoots are available, which is why yields are tiny and prices high. The benchmark processing is deokkeum, repeated hand-firing and rolling in hot iron cauldrons, which gives Korean green its nutty-sweet signature. The combination of the earliest pluck and meticulous hand-work is what puts ujeon at the apex of the Korean green grades.
Ujeon is delicate, so brew it cool with plenty of leaf, like a fine Chinese green. Western: 70-75°C, 3 g per 200 ml, 1-2 minutes, 2-3 infusions. Gongfu or traditional: 70°C, 4-5 g per 120 ml in a small pot, 30-45 seconds for the first steep, ascending, 4-5 infusions. Korean practice often cools the water in a separate vessel (sukwu) before pouring; never use boiling water on a tea this tender.
€40-80 (about $43-86) per 100 g for typical ujeon; €100-200 (about $108-216) per 100 g for top hand-made lots from celebrated Hadong or Boseong producers.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Sejak
The next grade down, picked a little later just after the first pluck; very similar in style but slightly fuller and more affordable.
Jungjak
A mid-season grade from larger leaf, more robust and a more practical everyday Korean green than the scarce ujeon.
Longjing (Dragon Well)
The Chinese parallel, where the earliest spring leaf carries the same kind of calendar-marker premium; both reward picking before a key spring date.
Bi Luo Chun
Another famous early-spring Chinese bud-and-leaf green, useful for tasting how Korean pan-firing diverges from Chinese style on comparably tender leaf.
Ujeon (before the rain) and China's mingqian (before Qingming) express the same idea in two tea cultures: the most prized green is the one picked before a specific mid-spring calendar marker, after which the leaf grows faster, coarser, and less sweet.