Some 688 tea poems were written by 119 Korean scholars during the early Chosun Dynasty, and this is not a small number of tea poems compared to those written in the Ming Dynasty. By far the greatest number of these poems were written after the mid-15th century while the Yi Dynasty was first being established. This was the period in which the power of SARIM school was being formulated, that is to say, it was the period when the tradition of SUNBI scholars was being established. The characteristic feature of the SUNBI spirit can be found in their scholarly attitude toward solving all problems--problems ranging from the ultimate to the mundane matters--strictly by following the classical canon. They believed that they are obliged to fulfil their human duties by faithfully carrying out moral obligations precisely as taught in the classical canon. This attitude toward their offices and profession might have attributed to the background of tea etiquette and rituals. In other words, the scholars who had served in the capacity of one of the government positions wrote tea poems in which they dealt with matters related to their official duties. This explains why so many tea poems were written in early Chosun Dynasty comparable to the number of tea poems written in the Ming Dynasty.
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