Korean food consists of carefully selected high quality, and unprocessed natural ingredients obtained from
nature. Korean food is tasty, good for health, and has a rich taste with various layers despite its simplicity.
This is why foreigners love Korean food, and the popularity of traditional Korean drinks has also spread
beyond Korea to other countries. In Korea, the MZ generation is enthusiastic about their grandmother's
era foods, and a new buzzword "grandma's food" has emerged. Sikhye (sweet rice punch), sujeonggwa
(cinnamon punch), omija (schizandra) tea, and heugimja (black sesame) tea are representative
traditional Korean drinks. Recently, sales of these drinks such as sikhye and sujeonggwa have increased
while product offerings have become more diverse.

In the case of Choroc Maeul, sales of sikhye made with domestically produced organic malt oil and rice,
and sujeonggwa made with domestically produced ginger, dried persimmons, and organic sugar
increased by 17% last year. Paldo Food's "rice punch sikhye", first released in 1993, surpassed cumulative
sales of 1.8 billion products at the end of last year. Ediya Coffee sold a combined 250,000 cups of "sweet
rice drink sikhye", which was one of the two types of limited-edition seasonal products released in
August 2022, in just three weeks. The sikhye, which was released by Ediya, is the third traditional drink
released after 'Ssanghwa-cha (medicinal herb tea)' and 'Ginger Tea', which were introduced in 2020, and
'Bokbunja vin chaud (Korean raspberry wine mulled wine)', which was released in 2021. Dongwon F&B's
"yangban omija" transformed into a new taste that is acceptable to young MZ generations and foreigners
by eliminating the unique sour and pungent taste of omija. They added apples instead of sugar to make
the drink seeter. In January of this year, Homeplus, a Korean discount store retail chain, saw a 47% year-onyear
increase in sikhye sales for a month.

Sikhye is undoubtedly the most popular traditional drink in Korea and abroad. It has a subtle and
balanced blend of sweet and strong flavors. Sikhye is made with malt oil, and less water than usual,
and cooked with slightly scorched rice. In most households, it has a unique taste that has been
passed down for generations from grandmother to mother, and to daughter-in-law. Sejun Food is a
fermented food company that has commercialized this traditional drink. They began making traditional
sikhye from 1991. To preserve tradition, they followed the "Somunsaseol," a practical encyclopedia of the
Joseon Dynasty. They established standards for each process, such as how to rinse rice and at what
temperature to simmer the rice and malt oil extract. During the mass production process, they found that
traditional methods produced the traditional taste better than modern methods.

After numerous failures, Sejun Food succeeded in creating the traditional Korean drink sikhye that can
be stored at room temperature for a year without preservatives, using modern technology such as high
temperature and high-pressure sterilization at 121°C. They achieved this by inflating rice grains to create a soft
texture and adding the unique aroma of barley malt and ginger. They also obtained patents for their concentrated
beverage production technology and hold numerous patents for the production of traditional beverages
such as sikhye, sujeonggwa, and bokbunja. They use only the finest ingredients, such as the highest-grade
rice from Yeoju in Gyeonggi Province and barley malt from Andong in North Gyeongsang Province. They even
developed a version of sikhye without rice grains. The founder and CEO of the company was named the firstever
"the No. 1 Korean food master of sikhye" in 2018 and the company's product was designated as an excellent
cultural product by the South Korean government in 2019 (K-Ribbon Selection). They have also been recognized for
their contributions to the global expansion of traditional Korean beverages, exporting sikhye and sujeonggwa to
eight countries, including the United States. Sejun Food obtained halal certification in Singapore in 2015 and was
awarded the commendation for contributions to the development of the food service industry in 2022.