The Tearoom​—Part of Life in Korea

By “Awake!” correspondent in Korea

IN Seoul, the capital city of Korea, there are 2,800 tearooms, or about one for every 2,000 persons! That may seem as if people in Korea are very thirsty. But tearooms here are popular for reasons other than the drinks they serve. They are a place to socialize.

A person may unexpectedly meet someone on the street and want to have some quiet, confidential talk. Or it may be that businessmen want a place where they can meet. Usually homes are small, and families are large. There is little privacy there. But tearooms, located in every neighborhood, have long been natural meeting places.

It is becoming increasingly common for youths in their late teens and early twenties to meet their “dates” at a tearoom. It is true that dating is not considered in good taste in Korea unless the couple are engaged, and then it is expected that there will be a chaperon. However, many young people have broken away from older customs, and for them tearooms have become a place to rendezvous.

Tearooms also are used by parents to arrange marriages. This is usually done through a go-between, or mediator. This one will often meet with the parents in a tearoom and, while having something to drink, he will search out the background of the family, as well as the qualities of the prospective bride or bridegroom. After negotiating, parents of both sides will meet together​—in the local tearoom.

Then, too, restaurants serving Korean food do not serve coffee or tea. So persons may go to a tearoom for after-dinner drinks. Also, people use tearooms for waiting. Often tearooms adjoining theaters are just for that purpose.

These tearooms are filled with small, low tables. There is often little or no daylight inside, and the lights are turned low. Music adds to the mood. It may be loud and brassy, or of the milder type. Frequently there is a big television screen showing some sports event or a daily drama.

Usually the owner is a widow or a mistress of some businessman, attired in attractive and expensive Korean dress. Working for her are very polite and friendly waitresses called reji. They are usually in their early twenties and attired in miniskirts.

Circumstances vary in each teahouse. Some cater to particular types of people. For example, in the downtown business district there are those designed to appeal to businessmen. Other places in the city cater to entertainers, and still others to college students. Many are designed for no particular clientele, but just for anyone who may want to visit.

Competition between tearooms is great. In order to win customers, they try to keep ahead of other tearooms by means of attractive decor. Their names are selected to add to the atmosphere. For example, there are the “Paradise,” “Crossroads,” “White Bear,” “New World,” “Rose,” and so forth.

Most tearooms serve the same things. There are tea, coffee, fruit juices, health drinks made from herbs and, in the summer, iced drinks. Many also serve whiskey tea and other things alcoholic. There is also raw egg in hot coffee, called “morning coffee.” However, tea and coffee, syrupy sweet with sugar, are the mainstays of the business.

A feature of tearooms that some people like is the telephone, since not all homes have one. Calls can be made for a nominal charge. And if a call comes in for a person, he will be paged. Some businessmen with no office of their own will use a certain tearoom as the center of their operations. They may even print the telephone number of the tearoom on their business card and make their phone contacts there. Tearoom management, however, does not approve of the practice.

At the entrance there is usually a fancy cloth-covered message board. There a neatly folded message can be inserted, with the name showing of the person for whom it is intended. This communications system costs nothing. Newspapers, too, are available at tearooms and are passed around from table to table.

A person may spend considerable time in a tearoom, even though drinking is only incidental. In such case the money for something to drink is called cha-ri-kap, the price for the seat taken, rather than for what is consumed.

These places may be called tearooms, but really they are more than that. They are a part of life in Korea.