The Italians of Asia
- The first cup of coffee was served in South Korea in September 1886 to American diplomats. The whole story here.
- In 1896 the Korean emperor Gojong was the first Korean to drink coffee and fall in love with it.
- It was not until the 20th century that coffee became a beverage for everyone.
- Cafés, so-called Dabangs, were opened all over the country, the first in Seoul in 1902.
- After the Second World War the Americans introduced instant coffee.
- With the opening of the Korean market from 1988 onwards, the underground Dabang gradually evolved into Western-style cafés, followed by Starbucks in 1999.
- The Korean TV series “Coffee Prince” from 2007 formally released a coffee boom.
- While the older ones still prefer tea to coffee, coffee is a status symbol to the young generation.
- 2005 there were around 800 coffeeshops in Seoul, in 2015 it was already 15,000.
- In Seoul there is almost every few meters a coffeeshop, in which significantly more coffee variations are offered than in Europe.
- Some of them are, of course, special themed cafés where you can pet and feed cats, dogs or even sheep. Here is a small overview.
- Coffee in Korea has its price, because a medium-sized milk coffee costs around 5 € twice as much as a noodle soup!
- The free Internet of the coffee houses and the expensive rental prices of the capital attract writers and philosophers.
- In 2013, coffee consumption in South Korea was 5 times higher than in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.
- Today, no Asian nation is so crazy about coffee as South Korea.
- A South Korean drinks coffee at an average of 12 times a week.
- With a growth in the coffee sector of 30%, this is fortunately also true for the demand for high-quality coffee and speciality coffee.
Preparation
In addition to the Italian classics based on espresso, you can also find sugar bombs on the menue: raspberry truffle latte, peppermint mocha, cherry blossom frappuccino with pink chocolate flakes. Perfect to combine with honey butter bread, Belgian waffles, muffins and cupcakes.
But also thirdwave coffee lovers will be more than happy. Here is an overview of roasters and cafes
더치 커피 – deochi keoppi
Perfectly fitting to the Slow Coffee movement Cold Drip Coffee is trendy in Korea. That’s how it works.
- Has its origin in India as phenti hui
- Beat 2 tbsp instant coffee, 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp hot water until it is creamy and fluffy foam
- Add cold or hot milk in a glass and top the coffee foam.
- You can decorate the coffee with instant coffee, cocoa or crumbled cookies.
- Went viral on tik tok in South Korea in March 2020, thanks to South Korean actor Jung Il-woo and the South Korean TV show ‘Top Recipe at Fun-Restaurant’