뇌원차(腦原茶) 고찰

A Study on the ‘NoewonCha’

<Goryo's NoewonCha(腦原茶)> was famous for its elixir of life such as <Goryeo ginseng>. But due to lack of historical records, we know too little. In this manuscript, we tried to grasp every aspect of the NoewonCha. It is square-shaped like a rice cake(DDeokCha<餠茶>) with no holes in it. The pattern presupposed phoenixes<鳳凰> or samjoko(三足烏). It is about the same size as the ChonCha(錢茶) of Goguryeo tombs and the same shape as CheongtaeJeon(靑苔錢). The Gak(角), which is the unit of the NoewonCha, was 3.75 grams, the same as the amount of money, Don<錢>, such as gold and silver coins. NoewonCha were valued at 40 to 1,600 times more than DaeCha(大茶) The manufacturing Technique was influenced by Song(宋). But the ChaGo(茶膏) would not have been squeezed. Thus, NoewonCha was the ‘core’ of Goryeo and boast of its YakCha(藥茶) as the best cure-all. The story that there are 13 DaSo(茶所) in the JangheungDoHoBu is due to misinterpretation. In Jangheung, there is only one HyangYeoDaSo(香餘茶所), and in Boseong, there is GaeulPyungDaSo(加乙坪茶所) and PogokDaso(蒲谷茶所). At the center of these three DaSo(茶所), GaeulPyungDaSo is the direction of the GaeulChonDaHyang(加乙田茶鄕), of Silla, which is the JedaSo(製茶所) and the origin of the NoewonCha(腦原茶). Bosung(寶城) is a new revelation that the origin birthplace of the NoewonCha