Osulloc (오설록) is a South Korean tea brand founded in 1979 when the Amorepacific Group — one of South Korea’s largest cosmetics and consumer goods conglomerates — established the Seogwang Tea Garden on Jeju Island to revive Korean tea culture, becoming the first modern commercial Korean green tea brand and developing what are now the largest tea gardens in Korea on Jeju’s volcanic basalt soil with the subtropical climate that supports the cultivation of Camellia sinensis at the southernmost limit of the Korean peninsula. The brand is most closely associated with the Osulloc Tea Museum (오설록 티 뮤지엄) on Jeju Island — opened in 2001 as South Korea’s first tea museum, set within the Seogwang Tea Garden, and one of the most visited attractions in Jeju with over a million visitors per year — which offers tea tastings, educational exhibitions about Korean tea history and cultivation, and a tea shop and café that serves green tea ice cream, matcha lattes, and Osulloc tea products to the enormous Jeju tourism audience. Osulloc’s corporate connection to Amorepacific gives it not just financial resources but a synergistic relationship with the parent company’s beauty and wellness brand positioning — green tea is a key ingredient in many Korean skincare products, and the Osulloc brand bridges the tea beverage and the green tea extract skincare markets in the Korean consumer imagination.

In-Depth Explanation

Osulloc’s significance in Korean tea culture is foundational: it created the modern Korean commercial green tea industry and simultaneously built one of Korea’s most iconic cultural tourism destinations.

Reviving Korean Tea Culture

Korea has a long history with tea — Buddhist temple tea ceremonies (다례, darye) and the scholarly literati tea culture (선비 다도) trace back to the Silla and Goryeo dynasties — but commercial tea cultivation had essentially collapsed by the 20th century due to centuries of political upheaval, Japanese colonial disruption, and the social shift away from traditional tea drinking customs. When Amorepacific founder Suh Sung-hwan established the Seogwang Tea Garden in 1979, it was an act of cultural revival as much as a commercial investment.

The choice of Jeju Island was strategic — the volcanic island’s subtropical climate, with warm winters and well-drained basalt soil, is more suited to tea cultivation than the colder mainland Korean climate.

Korean Green Tea: Sejak and Jungjak

Osulloc produces Korean-style green teas using the steaming method (more similar to Japanese green tea than Chinese pan-fired green tea) and harvesting categories similar to the Japanese shincha/sencha system:

• Dolsongi (돌숭이): Earliest spring harvest, most tender.
• Sejak (세작): “Fine sparrow” — early spring, fine young leaves, delicate, sweet, highest quality.
• Jungjak (중작): “Medium sparrow” — slightly later harvest, fuller flavour.
• Daejak (대작): “Big sparrow” — later harvest, stronger and more robust.

Jeju Tourism and the Tea Museum

The Osulloc Tea Museum is central to the brand’s public identity — a beautifully designed cultural and commercial space within the Seogwang Tea Garden, featuring exhibitions on Korean tea history, interactive displays, tea tasting counters, and the brand’s flagship retail. The café’s green tea ice cream and matcha products have made Osulloc a food tourism destination that attracts visitors who might not otherwise seek out Korean tea culture.

History

• 1979: Amorepacific Group establishes Seogwang Tea Garden on Jeju Island; Osulloc brand founded; first modern commercial Korean green tea production.
• 1980s–1990s: Korean green tea garden expansion; domestic distribution; Korean tea culture revival.
• 2001: Osulloc Tea Museum opens on Jeju Island — South Korea’s first tea museum; major tourism attraction.
• 2000s–present: Osulloc becomes South Korea’s most recognised tea brand; national and international retail; café and food product expansion; over 1 million museum visitors per year.

Social Media Sentiment

• Korean consumer culture: Osulloc is the quintessential Korean tea brand — universally recognised, associated with Jeju Island, and a source of national pride in the revival of Korean tea cultivation and culture.
• Jeju tourism: The Tea Museum and the green tea café products (particularly green tea soft-serve ice cream) are among Jeju’s most photographed and shared food tourism experiences on Korean social media.
• K-beauty crossover: Osulloc’s parent company Amorepacific’s skincare brands (Innisfree, Sulwhasoo) use Jeju green tea as a hero ingredient; the overlap between the tea brand and the beauty brand creates a synergistic wellness and nature identity that resonates strongly in the K-beauty consumer space.
• International: Korean diaspora and K-culture enthusiasts globally are familiar with Osulloc; the brand appears in K-drama product placement and Korean food media.

Last updated: 2026-06

Related Terms

• Korean Tea Culture
• Sejak Tea
• Jeju Island Tea
• Green Tea
• Amorepacific
• Korean Tea Ceremony
• Matcha

See Also

• Sakubo – Japanese Study

Research

• Osulloc founding (1979) by Amorepacific: the Seogwang Tea Garden and the revival of Korean commercial tea cultivation.
  Summary: Documents the 1979 founding of Osulloc by Amorepacific Group — the establishment of the Seogwang Tea Garden on Jeju Island as the first modern commercial Korean green tea operation, the cultural revival context (Korean tea culture had essentially collapsed by the 20th century after centuries of political upheaval, Japanese colonial disruption, and social change), the strategic choice of Jeju Island for its subtropical climate and volcanic basalt soil suited to Camellia sinensis cultivation, and the scale of development that made Seogwang the largest tea garden in Korea.

• Korean green tea varieties: Sejak, Jungjak, and the spring harvest calendar.
  Summary: Examines Osulloc’s Korean green tea harvest system — the spring harvest categories (Dolsongi early spring, Sejak “fine sparrow” highest quality, Jungjak “medium sparrow” fuller flavour, Daejak “big sparrow” robust later harvest), the steaming processing method more similar to Japanese than Chinese green tea, and the flavour characteristics of Jeju-grown Korean green tea: clean, sweet, slightly umami in the highest grades, marine and vegetal in character.

• The Osulloc Tea Museum: South Korea’s first tea museum and Jeju cultural tourism.
  Summary: Covers the 2001 opening of the Osulloc Tea Museum on Jeju Island — South Korea’s first tea museum, designed within the Seogwang Tea Garden, featuring exhibitions on Korean tea history and cultivation, interactive displays, tea tasting counters, and the flagship retail and café; the over one million annual visitors and the museum’s position as one of Jeju’s most photographed tourist attractions; and the green tea ice cream and matcha café products that have made Osulloc a food tourism destination accessible to visitors who might not otherwise engage with Korean tea culture.

• Amorepacific’s Osulloc and the K-beauty green tea synergy.
  Summary: Examines the synergistic relationship between Osulloc (Amorepacific’s tea brand) and the parent company’s K-beauty brands that use Jeju green tea as a hero ingredient — particularly Innisfree (mass-market) and Sulwhasoo (luxury), both of which feature Jeju green tea in core product formulations; the way this convergence of tea beverage and green tea extract skincare creates a unified Jeju nature / Korean wellness identity in the consumer imagination; and Osulloc’s positioning as the authentic source of the same green tea ingredient that appears in the parent company’s most successful beauty products.