All about cherry blossoms 🌸

If you're learning Korean, you need to know this word: 벚꽃.

It's everywhere right now with people stopping in the middle of the street to take pictures, slower traffic so people can watch the flowers from the car — even just whole areas shut down so people can walk around and look at the beautiful pink and white flowers. Every bench is occupied underone, young love springing, and probably at least 1 cheesy K-drama being filmed with the petals falling.

Welcome to cherry blossom season.

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Let's get into it.

벚꽃 is a compound: 벚 (cherry tree) + 꽃 (flower), which is simple enough. But, Koreans don't just look at the blossoms. They do 꽃놀이, which literally means "flower play" but really means packing snacks, a blanket, and probably(?) a bottle of 소주 and going to sit under the trees with people you like.

It's the Korean version of Japan's 花見 (hanami), and it's just as much about the food and the company as it is about the flowers.

But where do the first cherry blossoms bloom in Korea? That’s right — Jeju! The 벚꽃 개화 (cherry blossom bloom) starts at the southern tip of the country and moves north over a few weeks. Jeju kicks it off, usually in late March.

And what’s even cooler is that Jeju is home to 왕벚나무, the "king cherry tree." These cherry trees are much bigger, have deeper pink, and more luxurious feeling petals compared to regular cherry blossom trees. For decades, Korean and Japanese researchers argued about whether Japan's famous Yoshino cherry (ソメイヨシノ) actually originated from Jeju's 왕벚나무. The theory was that they were the same species. However, more recent DNA analysis showed they're actually distinct species, which settled the debate but didn't make it any less interesting. Jeju's 왕벚나무 is its own thing, and you can see wild ones growing on 한라산. There is even 벚꽃 막걸리 (cherry blossom Korean rice wine) produced in Jeju that uses 왕벚꽃 in the aging process to add a lovely floral aroma.

Cherry blossoms are so part of the culture that Naver Maps (Korea’s equivalent of Google Maps) has a “cherry blossom” button to show where to go see the cherry blossoms. It’s only for this time of the year, but it shows the highlights! It says 벚꽃 명소, which means “famous cherry blossom places” where 명 (famous/renowned) + 소 (place). You can also see the same thing in Kakao Maps.

The blossoms only last about seven to ten days. Koreans call the peak moment 만개, meaning "full bloom." The petals falling is almost as famous as the bloom itself. There's even a wildly popular song by Busker Busker called 벚꽃 엔딩 that resurfaces on the Korean music charts literally every single spring. It's been doing this for over a decade.

And if you hear someone say 벚꽃이 졌다, that means the blossoms have fallen. 지다 is the verb for flowers falling or fading, and it carries a little bit of that "beautiful things don't last" feeling.

If you're in Korea right now, the big spots are 여의도 (Yeouido in Seoul), 진해 (Jinhae, near Busan), and right here on Jeju, the 제주 왕벚꽃축제 along 전농로. But honestly, just walk outside. They're everywhere.

By the way, we just moved to Jeju! If any of you reading this are in Jeju, reach out, and we’d love to grab a coffee!