Since Starbucks entered Korea, cafe culture has been growing, and tea house has just begun to emerge as a new cultural space.
I think it's a phenomenon where people's tastes are diversified from plain coffee and black herbal tea to caramel maccitato and milk tea.
Among them, I went to a teahouse run by Steven Smith Teamaker, an American premium tea brand.
Steven Smith is considered as an icon in the global tea market such as Steve Jobs.
The special thing of this tea house is that, it works with Kia Motors and is connected to a car exhibition space.
The exhibition space is called BEAT360 and I can feel the synergy with the tea house.
The interior feels quite large. I heard that one-third of the 1487.6 square meter area is used as a tea house.
Tea house alone won't feel this large.
Because of the large space, the tables are quite far apart, giving me a pleasant feeling.
I think there's a variety of office workers and people who came to see the cars.
When I sit inside the tea house, I feel like I'm in a cafe.
In particular, the interior that creates a future atmosphere seems to reveal the identity of this store.
It would be nice to relax outside on such a nice day like this.
I guess they'll have a showcase here when a new care is announced.
Before coming here, I searched web about this place, and it says bingsu(ice flake) is popular here. But, since it is the only store directly operated by Steven Smith Teamaker, I ordered a white tea called White Pedal.
To put it simply, there is black tea among high-end tea and white teaa among high-end green tea.
The white pedal is a combination of chamomile petals for flavor on a Chinese white tea which is rich in antioxidants.
Soft taste with a slightly sweet scent makes my mind at peace.
It's a nice place to have a cup of tea and look around the cars on display.
It is open from morning to evening and is closed on holidays and the third Monday of every month.
It's about 5 minutes away from exit 2 of Apgujeong Rodeo Station.
Address: 417 Apgujeong-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
