Our story
The story of Yeo
July 2022, Jeonju Hanok Village
The owner's husband ran a shop in the Hanok Village for years. Visitors kept asking the same thing: "Is there anything special to do here?" He never had a good answer. Every activity on offer could be found anywhere. Jeonju is the city of moju, yet nowhere let you make it yourself.
As it happened, someone in the family had been brewing moju for more than twenty years: his older sister. She made it the way their mother and grandmother had, and brewed it for church gatherings. The owner doesn't drink, but she loved that moju. "You should sell this," she told her.
So in July 2022 they opened a small room with a view of the old Gyeonggijeon shrine. The pandemic was still fading, so at first guests followed a video with earphones on, each at their own pot. Today the sister herself is at the tables. We call the person who brews with you the moju host. She was the first.
The name: Yeo, 與
The shop is called Moju Yeo. Yeo is the character 與 — "together," "with someone." It was chosen for a place where you sit across from another person and share what's in the pot. The red seal on the sign carries this character.
"You've come all this way. I want you to feel at ease and enjoy it. My mother always said: if something bothers you, it bothers others too."
Kwon Eun-a, owner
That's why every table is set before the guest arrives. The hope is that when you walk in, you feel: today, someone is taking care of me.
The moon
The moon on the sign has been there since the first shop. The owner says the guest is the moon: the table is prepared the way you'd welcome the moon. Along the path she planted evening primrose, a flower that opens only when the moon is up.
What they didn't expect
At first they thought the point was simply to share good moju. Then guests started saying something else. "I stirred the pot without thinking about anything, and I felt lighter." An hour of slow simmering while looking out the window turned out to be, for many people, the first quiet hour in a long time.
So they kept the space calm. No posters on the walls. Tables built for this room. The 1960 ridge beam left exactly where it was. They moved to this building for the garden: ground floor, a courtyard just for the guests inside.
A lingering sip, an easy mind, a warmth that stays
There's one thing they hope you take home: a memory of Jeonju. Someday, somewhere, you'll taste moju and think, "I made this myself, in Jeonju."
To the owner, moju is a treasure. To her husband, it's a memory: the moju his mother, and then his sister, used to brew.
"Moju is a treasure. It's something our ancestors made and we kept."
Kwon Eun-a, owner"Moju means mother's wine. That's why we leave a blank line on the label for whatever you want to say."
Kwon Eun-a, owner"Guests say stirring the pot with an empty mind is the most relaxing hour of their trip."
What guests tell us"Our overseas guests care less about the taste than about having made it themselves."
Kwon Eun-a, owner
