Ssanghwa-cha: The Korean Dark Herbal Brew That Most People Outside Korea Have Never Heard Of

Dark as coffee, aromatic as a decoction, deep as a Korean winter: ssanghwa-cha is one of the most complex and culturally distinctive drinks in Korean tradition.

In Seoul in winter, the 다방 (dabang), those small Korean tea houses established since the 1960s, still serve cups of a dark, fragrant liquid, often crowned with a raw egg yolk and a few pine nuts: this is ssanghwa-cha (쌍화차). A drink with no equivalent in Western culture.

In Korea, ssanghwa-cha is as ordinary as coffee in France and as historically loaded as jasmine tea in China. Yet outside Korean communities in major cities, this infusion remains almost entirely unknown to the wider Western public. That is precisely why it deserves to be told.

1. History of ssanghwa-cha

Ssanghwa-cha (쌍화차, 雙花茶) takes its name from the Chinese characters meaning "double flower". It is a decoction of roots and botanicals drawn from the traditional Korean herbal practice of hanbang (한방). Its origins trace back to the Goryeo period (918 to 1392), when formulas for root decoctions already circulated in court medical texts.

During the Joseon period, ssanghwa-cha was prepared and consumed in Korean households, particularly during the cold season. Each family maintained its own recipe, passed down through generations, with regional variations depending on the plants available locally. Royal court physicians recorded their formulas in medical encyclopaedias such as the Dongui Bogam (동의보감), the great Korean medical treatise compiled in 1613 and still studied today.

In the 20th century, the drink was democratised through the rise of the dabang during the 1960s and 1970s. These popular tea houses, present in every Korean city, made it a daily drink. Today, ssanghwa-cha is sold in concentrated sachets, instant powder, and artisanal form prepared to order in traditional Korean restaurants.

2. Ingredients and their aromatic profiles

The base recipe for ssanghwa-cha includes seven to nine botanicals and roots, always consistent in their broad outline, with variations depending on the maker. Here are the principal components and their aromatic contribution.

3. Sensory profile: what it actually tastes like

If you have never tasted ssanghwa-cha, the first cup can come as a surprise. The colour is dark, almost black, close to coffee or a very concentrated pu-erh tea. The aroma is complex: cinnamon arrives first, followed by earthy and herbaceous notes, with a background sweetness that recalls liquorice.

On the palate, ssanghwa-cha is gentler than its appearance suggests. There is none of coffee's bitterness, none of black tea's astringency. The texture is slightly full-bodied, silky in quality versions. The finish is long, spiced, with that distinctly Korean angelica note that appears in no Western herbal blend.

To situate it within familiar reference points: imagine a blend of spiced chai tea without milk, a liquorice and cinnamon decoction, and something uniquely Korean that none of these comparisons fully captures.

4. The two Korean formats

5. How to prepare it at home

Concentrated sachet version (더작약쌍화)

Powder version (쌍화다방)

Dissolve one level teaspoon (approximately 8 to 10g) in 180 to 200ml of hot water at 90°C. Stir until fully dissolved. Ssanghwa-cha in powder form takes under two minutes to prepare and delivers an experience very close to that of the Korean tea houses of the 1970s, with that slightly nostalgic quality that is a large part of its charm.

6. The dabang: the Korean tea house of ssanghwa-cha

One cannot discuss ssanghwa-cha without mentioning the dabang (다방), the Korean café-tea house format that dominated hot drink culture in South Korea from the 1950s through the 1990s. Before Starbucks arrived in Seoul in 1999, the dabang was the meeting place of choice for artists, students, and business people alike.

Ssanghwa-cha was served there by uniformed attendants, in blue porcelain cups, with that pine nut garnish that has become iconic. Today, a handful of historic dabang still survive in Seoul's Jongno and Insadong neighbourhoods, now places of nostalgia as much as of tasting. For a guide to preserved tea houses in Seoul, the Korea Tourism Organization maintains curated listings in English.

7. Our Maison Boseong selection

We offer two ssanghwa-cha references, chosen for their quality and authenticity: a premium concentrated sachet version and a classic powder version.

To explore our full range of traditional Korean infusions, visit our Korean Fine Grocery collection. And if ssanghwa-cha has sparked your curiosity for Korean botanicals more broadly, our Coffret Herbier Ilsangdawan offers six floral infusions as a first exploration.