Koreans love coffee a lot and drink almost every day, so that South Korea is full of coffee shops and it has a unique coffee culture. In South Korea, coffee is a part of life style and more than a drink. Office workers drink coffee after lunch to gain more energy, students drink in order to stay up late, and what is more, drinking coffee after a meal is almost a ritual. Especially, Koreans love ice Americano, even it is cold winter, they order only AA (ice Americano).
Of course, you can easily find some famous chain coffee shops at streets, such as Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Tom N Tom’s, Ediya, Angel-in-us, Holly. However, there are some Korean coffee shop chains, that also are very famous and their drinks are incredibly good. I want to tell you about three Korean unique coffee shop chains and one famous tea brand.
Paik’s coffee
Paik’s coffee was opened in 2006 and until now this coffee chain catches public interest a lot. The owner of Paik’s coffee tried to break the misconception among customers that “cheap coffee is of low quality”. Finally, he found a decision.
Today, the Paik’s basic Americano costs 1500 WON (hot), 2000 WON (ice), Latte/Mocha are around 3000 WON and the quality of coffee is pretty good. The coffee has savory and deep flavor. The size is big, almost 500ml. Also they provide some kind of ice-creams, lemonades and juices.
The main colors of building are blue and yellow, so it should not be hard to find their shops. I enjoyed the Green Grapes Lemonade. It tastes very delicious.
- Official website: www.paikdabang.com (only Korean)
- Instagram: @paikscoffee_official
Mega coffee
This is another coffee shop chain in South Korea with good prices for drinks. If you are on a budget, Mega coffee will be a good decision. The price and size of drinks are very nice. For instance, the cheapest drink is Americano 1500 WON (hot), 1800 WON (ice) and the most expensive drink is Unicorn Frappe 4800 WON. They have some amazingly looking examples of drinks. If you do not know well, which drink to choose, look at the examples, I hope they will help you to pick one. They provide some interesting and amazing drinks, such as Strawberry/Mango/Plain Yogurt smoothie, Strawberry Cheese Holic/Mint/Real Chocolate Frappe and some regular and fruit teas, ades, juices. Also you can grab some sweet cakes, sandwiches, hotdogs, that are not very expensive. Today, Mega coffee has branches all throughout South Korea, so it would not be difficult find their store.
- Official website: www.megacoffee.me (only Korean)
- Instagram: @mega_coffee
Billy Angel Cake company
Billy Angel provides coffee/teas and it is famous for fabulous cakes and desserts. They offer 100% home-made cakes and cookies, using best ingredients, that are pure and healthy. In addition, Billy Angel is ranked first in 2016, 2017, 2018 on Korea satisfaction customer index in dessert cafe field for the first time.
The store interior is simple and beautiful. You can find 20 kinds of fresh cakes and dessert menus. Billy Angel provides a delivery service for customers, so you can enjoy their sweet cakes at home too. The most popular cakes are Milk Crepe, Fresh Strawberry, Carrot cake, Red Velvet crepe.
If you will visit Hannam-dong, be sure to visit and try their drinks and cakes. Also they have branches in Gangnam-gu, Jongno-gu, Mapo-gu, Seongnam-si, Suwon-si, Daegu and other places.
- Official website: www.billyangel-en.com (Korean/English/Chinese)
- Instagram: @billyangel_cakecompany
Gong Cha
Gong Cha is one of the most famous tea brands, particularly in Asia, translates to “the best tea contributed to emperor”. Opened its doors in 2006 in Taiwan, today Gong Cha became a hit with many customers. After establishment, this tea brand expanded in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Macau, Philippines, Singapore. Since 2012, it opened in USA, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Brunei. Today, there are approximately 1500 stores in over 20 countries worldwide. It provides a good service and products. What is more, it has a good reputation as NO.1 tea franchise brand. Korea’s first store was opened in Hongdae in 2012 and in two years over 200 stores opened in Seoul city.
Gong Cha serves about 55 different drinks, such as milk teas, fruit teas, coffees, ice smoothies. This bubble tea shop gives some options to choose, like size, sugar level, ice. Depending on size, drinks can be large and regular. What about sugar level, there are “sugar free” (0%), “little sugar”, “half sugar”, “less sugar” and “full sugar” (100%) options. The ice level also divides into “No ice”, “Less ice” and “Full ice”. In addition, you can choose some toppings. Mostly, all toppings are jellies, fruit jelly, coffee jelly, pearl jelly, coconut jelly.
- Official site: www.gong-cha.co.kr (only Korean)
- Instagram: @gongcha.official
I hope this post about coffee shops was informative^^ Don’t forget to comment if you have any more recommendations or tips related to this post. Thanks for reading and have a nice trip!
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