In our previous guide, [🔗 Part 21. Korean Street Food & Night Market Guide], we explored how to enjoy street food like a local.
If you’ve finished your meal, it’s time to truly experience the essence of South Korea, often called the “Republic of Cafes.” Korea is a charming place where an endless array of unique cafes unfolds in every alleyway you step into.
Here is the essential information you need to enjoy Korean cafes naturally like a local, without feeling confused or overwhelmed.
1. Korean Cafe Guide: From Franchises to Independent Cafes
- ☕ Large Franchises (Franchise Cafes): Brands like ‘Starbucks’, ‘A Twosome Place’, and ‘Ediya’. They offer spacious seating and clean restrooms, making them perfect places to comfortably rest during your trip.
- 🏃 Budget Franchises (Budget Franchise Cafes): You will easily spot brands like ‘Mega Coffee’ and ‘Compose Coffee’ on the streets. For these stores, being a budget franchise doesn’t mean the coffee quality is bad. However, they might focus mainly on take-out or have limited seating space.
- 🥐 Dessert & Bakery Cafes: This is the hottest trend right now. These are cafes that focus on baking delicious bread right in-house, rivaling professional bakeries. They sell a wide variety of high-quality pastries like salt bread and croiffles, making them an excellent choice for a light meal replacement.
- 📸 Theme Cafes: Places where you can capture special photos of a lifetime, such as cute animal cafes or Hanok cafes remodeled from traditional Korean houses. Highly recommended if you want a unique experience.
- 🏡 Independent Cafes: Step away from the large franchises, and you’ll find small, highly personalized local cafes waiting for you in every alley. Finding your own ‘hidden gem’ that serves house-roasted specialty coffee or unique handmade desserts is one of the greatest joys of traveling in Korea.
💡 Special Local Spot: Social Enterprise Cafes
While traveling in Korea, you might come across cafes like ‘I’m Cafe’, ‘Dream & Cafe’, or ‘Hisbeans’ in public institutions or local alleys. These are special workplaces where people with developmental disabilities and other socially vulnerable groups work as professional baristas, dreaming of independence.
The staff’s actions might be a bit clumsy, and your order might take a little longer, but please wait with a relaxed mind. It will remain a meaningful and special memory of your trip to Korea!
2. Cafe Ordering and Pickup System
- 📱 Kiosk Ordering: Most franchise stores heavily use ‘kiosks’ (unmanned ordering machines). If you see a kiosk when you enter, you can order through it. Most support English menus, and you can pay directly by inserting your credit card.
- 🛸 Direct Ordering and Vibrating Pagers: In smaller stores like independent cafes, you usually order directly from the staff at the counter. In this case, the staff will give you a vibrating pager. You can wait at your seat, and when the pager vibrates, go to the counter to pick up your drinks.
💡 Cafe Tip: Return Tray
Most cafes in Korea are self-service. Do not leave your cups on the table when you leave. You must return your tray directly to the ‘Return’ counter.
3. Why Locals Visit Cafes
- ☕ When Simply Craving Coffee and Dessert: A post-meal coffee or caffeine boost is an everyday essential for Koreans. People visit purely to enjoy delicious coffee and sweet desserts.
- 🤝 When Waiting for an Appointment: When there’s time left before an appointment or you need a comfortable place indoors to wait for someone, cafes are the very first place locals go.
- 📸 When Needing Aesthetic Photos: Theme cafes or Hanok cafes with beautiful interiors are excellent travel destinations themselves. People visit to take the best photos of their lives and heal in a wonderful space.
- 🚽 When Needing a Clean Restroom: When it’s hard to find a public restroom on the street, the easiest solution is to enter a nearby cafe. You can order a light drink and comfortably use the cafe’s clean restroom.
- 🔌 When Needing Wi-Fi or Power Outlets: When your smartphone battery is dead or you urgently need a fast Wi-Fi connection, Korean cafes become the ultimate oasis for travelers.
💡 Cafe Culture: ‘Cagong-jok’
You will frequently see people studying or working on laptops in Korean cafes. They are called ‘Cagong-jok’ (Cafe-studying tribe). It’s a culture that prefers cafes with good infrastructure, but this place is not a library. While excessively loud noises can be an issue, chatting freely with your companions is absolutely fine.
4. Korean Cafe Etiquette
- ☕ 1 Drink Per Person: The basic rule is to order one drink per person according to the number of people in your party when using cafe seating.
- 💻 Items on the Table Mean ‘Taken’: Koreans often leave bags or laptops on the table when they step away. This is a sign that the seat is already taken, so please use an empty table instead of one with belongings on it.
- 🚽 Locked External Restrooms: Just like restaurants, if the cafe restroom is located outside the store, it’s highly likely to be locked. Before heading to the restroom, make sure to check the password written on the cafe wall or your receipt.
5. Special Localizations: Global Franchises Found Only in Korea
Have you mastered all the rules of Korean cafes? Then it’s time to visit special locations where global franchises have transformed into theme parks, highlighting regional characteristics.
- 🏯 Hanok Starbucks (Gyeongju Daereungwon, etc.): In cities with a thousand years of history like Gyeongju, you can find Starbucks with a perfect traditional tile-roofed exterior. They even feature traditional Korean ‘floor seating’ tables where you take your shoes off, making them incredibly popular with travelers.
- 🔭 Cafes with a View of North Korea (Paju Unification Observatory): A unique spot you can only experience in a divided nation. At the large franchise cafe located in the Paju Unification Observatory, you can drink coffee while looking at actual North Korean territory through large windows.
- 🏺 Museum Signature Menus (National Museum of Korea): Franchise cafes located inside the National Museum of Korea offer the unique fun of tasting special ‘traditional Korean signature menus’ (like Black Sesame Latte or Ice Cream Monaka) that are sold exclusively there.
👉 Next UP: In our next post, [🔗 Part 23. Global Franchises in Korea], we will introduce the amazing transformations of familiar global franchises like McDonald’s and Baskin Robbins. Look forward to exploring special ‘Korea-exclusive’ localized menus you can only taste here!