What Korean Cafés Actually Serve

Korean Coffee · Part 4

Most Korean cafes sell one drink in enormous volume and make their margin somewhere else. Knowing which is which changes what you should order.

01 Americano carries the menu

One drink dominates in a way it does not elsewhere.

Americano, usually iced, is the default order across the whole market from the cheapest chain to the most careful roastery. It is the cheapest item on most boards and the one most people are drinking.

Espresso on its own is rare.

It is on the menu, but ordering one will occasionally get a second glance. A handful of espresso bars have opened in recent years and they are treated as a specialist format rather than the norm.

Latte is the second pillar.

Iced more often than hot, and frequently flavoured. Vanilla, hazelnut and condensed milk versions sell steadily, and seasonal editions arrive every few months.

02 The rest of the board

Non-coffee drinks are a full category, not an afterthought.

Grain lattes made from roasted barley or black sesame, sweet potato latte, misugaru, yuzu tea in winter, plum tea, and a long list of fruit ades. These exist because a group of four will include someone who does not drink coffee, and nobody wants that person to leave.

Bingsu appears in summer.

Shaved ice with sweet red bean or fruit, served in a bowl meant for two. It is a dessert big enough to be a reason to visit on its own.

Bakery is often the same business.

Many cafes run a full bakery counter, and some are bakeries that added coffee. The line between the two is blurrier here than in most countries.

03 Why the dessert case sits at the front

Coffee is cheap and cake is not.

A slice of cake often costs more than the drink beside it. When an americano is priced to compete with the chain down the street, the cake is what makes the visit worth serving.

Cakes are built to be photographed.

Soft cream, fruit on top, clean edges. That is not vanity; a photograph posted by a customer is the cheapest advertising a cafe can get, and in a market this crowded it is often the only one they can afford.

Korean cake is less sweet than its Western equivalent.

Cream is lighter, sugar is lower, and the sponge is softer. Visitors who expect a dense European cake are usually surprised, and often pleased.

04 What to order, depending on where you are

Order to the shop's strength.

The same order is a good idea in one place and a waste in another.

Where you are	Order this	Skip
Low-price chain	Iced americano	Single origin filter
Independent roastery	Filter coffee, or ask what is fresh	Flavoured latte
Bakery cafe	Whatever came out of the oven this hour	Nothing, the coffee is usually fine
Traditional tea house	Yuzu tea, jujube tea, misugaru	Espresso drinks

Ask what the shop roasts.

In a place that roasts its own, the honest question gets an honest answer and usually a better cup than the board suggests.

First Penguin Coffee Company We roast in Korea, to order, with separate blends for iced drinks, milk drinks and filter. Our coffees are listed under Beans in the top menu. Enquiries: 010-3444-1721

Next: how Korean specialty coffee grew, told by someone who was in it.