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Cafe Hopping

LATE FALL OF SEOUL

THE JOURNEY OF SOUTH KOREAN COFFEE

We all know South Korea for its industrial business, K-pop and teen idols,
Korean soap operas and famous brands such as LG and Samsung. However, South
Korea had already surpassed Japan and became one of the most coffee-consuming
nation after the US, coffee is a brand new title for South Korea.
According to the data from ICO (International Coffee Organization), only in
2014, the amount of coffee consumed in South Korea had reached to 1,900,000
kg, the consumed amount for one person is 2.3 kg., In other words, one drinks
about 2 cups of 310 ml /cup. South Korea is the most coffee consuming nation in
Asia; in 2016, the numbers of cafes were three times bigger compare to 2015. For
example, in Seoul, on the average of 10,000 people, there are 17 cafes opened, the
density is even higher than Seattle. Therefore, this kind of explosive power helps
pushing the coffee culture in South Korea forward to a new level.
In fact, the coffee culture in South Korea has only been popular for about
half century, compare to other European countries and the US, South Korean cof-
fee culture is still premature, but it has a lot of potential. Unlike tea culture in
China and Japan, which has already been there for thousands of years, before
coffee became popular, South Korea has no favorite drink. Around 1950, Japanese
tea culture made its way to South Korea, but people in South Korea didn’t accept
that. Until the Korean War, under the influences of the US military, coffee culture
became popularized. In the 80s, the Seoul Olympics brought the coffee culture
into a new level.

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