Coffee in Korea

Coffee is really, really popular here. In our building, on the first floor, we have at least three coffee shops. It seems like every apartment building has a coffee shop. And like coffee shops in America, shops here also sell cakes and various breakfast foods. A lot of shops have English translations on the menus, plus baristas are polite and patient with us pointing at things. It's convenient that there is no Korean word for Latte or Vanilla. So if I want to order a vanilla latte it is just... "banilla latte," according to my translate app anyway. Coffee is also sort of pronounced like "coppee" which is easy. Although when students forget their books and need to go to the office to make photo copies, they always laugh when I tell them to go make a copy (yep, because it sounds like coffee).

The first place we tried was Ediya, which is a popular chain here. We had vanilla lattes and breakfast sandwiches there on the first morning after we arrived. Across the street from Ediya is Coffee Presso which has like.. yogurt coffee drinks? We haven't tried those yet. We've tried Nain B (9B), another place in our building, and we also walk past a place called Coffee and Cake. The cafes all have interesting names

Coffee and cream waffles at Coffee Presso

The coffee shops have fun names too

There are blow-up advertisement signs outside of shops too

Another popular coffee product here is...

 instant coffee! 


Emart display for some of the most popular brands

The previous teachers left behind some instant coffee packets which I have been enjoying quite a bit. We haven't been able to find any half & half or cream, though there is regular milk, but it is very easy to drink this black.

"The smallest cafe in the world" This is a cafe americano style coffee

One type of instant coffee I have really been loving is the latte variety. The package contains both the instant coffee pieces as well as powdered milk, which saves me from having to track down half and half (which I have not seen here at all) or even buy milk. Maybe it sounds weird or unappealing, but it has been super convenient and tastes great.

KANU brand, cafe latte
The box has a velvet-y soft texture to it which is kind of cool


Like in America, coffee strength is noted on the package

One of the more popular coffee chains here, Ediya, has its own line of instant coffees you can easily find in the store. We decided to give this one a try. Notice the box says "sweet" on it; the packaging actually includes sugar along with coffee pieces inside.

Ediya brand instant coffee

This is a little random, but one of our Korean coworkers went to Vietnam over the Chuseok holiday (Korean thanksgiving) and he brought back gifts for everyone. For Sam and I he brought us back coffee. But not just any coffee--weasel coffee.

For those who don't know, weasel coffee is created by allowing civets, different kinds of weasels, to eat the coffee beans. Once they pass through the civet, the beans seem to lose some of their acidity and they are collected, cleaned, and processed into coffee grounds. At first we were a little skeptical, but then we made some. Some of you may know that I used to volunteer at Zoo Boise, and one of the animals there, the Binturong (which is a civet), had a smell that was extremely reminiscent of buttered popcorn. I know that sounds crazy but next time you are at the Zoo or happen across a Binturong... just trust me on this. Well the coffee smelled exactly like a Binturong, like popcorn. The taste was fine. I'm not sure how to describe it, just smooth, nothing too crazy. I think the smell threw me off the most haha

Anyway! We will no doubt be continuing our coffee journey here by trying new brands, different shops, and flavor varieties. There is a green tea latte that I want to try ☺


Thanks for reading! Look forward to more food posts in the future