Study: Koreans Drink More Coffee Than They Eat Kimchi

[suxaholic.livejournal.com]

Kimchi has traditionally been the most frequently consumed food item in Korea, but now it seems that coffee has taken the top spot, according to a recent study released on Friday. The study gave data for consumption trends in 2013, the latest available data for the country, and showed that the number of coffees brewed in the country more than doubled in the past decade, with Seoul leading the coffee craze.

People in Korea drank coffee 12.2 times per week on average in 2013, while eating kimchi, Korea's national dish, 11.9 times and Korean white rice 6.9 times a week, revealed the joint study by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation. This translates to drinking a cup of coffee twice a day, but eating rice only about once a day, according to theKorean herald. The study also showed that Koreans increasingly preferred multigrain rice over traditional white rice, consuming it 9.7 times a week, at the same frequency as sugar.

The country produced about 657,000 tons of coffee in 2013, a sharp increase from 255,000 in 2003, according to data from the study. Instant coffee accounted for 39.2 percent of all coffee produced in the country, with 257,000 tons produced that year, a slight drop from last year’s 273,000 tons, but still a big jump from 82,600 tons in 2003. Vietnam, Brazil and Colombia accounted for 64.7 percent of total bean imports.

Seoul, the nation’s capital city, is leading the way for coffee’s popularity in the country, with many buildings having coffee shops on the first floor. Coffee culture exploded in Korea after Starbucks entered the market in 1999, according to Korea Times. Other multinational brands such as California’s The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Italy’s Pascucci followed Starbuck’s lead, expanding their operations throughout the country starting in Seoul, as did local coffee brands such as the Lotte Group.

Young Korean girls who have been known to scrimp on food just to afford a cup of Starbucks coffee, which are relatively expensive in the country, have been called “doenjang girls,” or bean paste girls. That phenomenon was highlighted in Korean artist PSY’s viral song "Gangnam Style." Starbucks had the sixth-most expensive cup of coffee in the country, with the top spots going to Paul Bassett, The  Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Angel-in-us.

South Korea was rated to have the sixth-most expensive Starbucks among 20 OECD countries, according to Korean news site Dong-a Ilbo, where a “tall-sized” Americano drink costs 4,100 Korean won ($3.80) in Korea, but only $2.25 in the United States. “Starbucks coffee prices are set based on customer value or market conditions of each country to be competitive,” Starbucks told Dong-a Ilbo. “It is not appropriate to compare prices by country because countries have different operation costs.”

source IBT

Comments

[ironicmustache.livejournal.com]

that's not surprising. there's like 2 or 3 coffee shops on practically every block.

[ironicmustache.livejournal.com]

also WHAT angel-in-us is the 3rd most expensive coffee brand??! but it the absolute worst one. i'm shocked.

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

anyone who ever went to korea wouldn't be surprised by this, I was stunned by the amount of coffee shops I could find in one street and I come from a country that loves coffee.

[donutism.livejournal.com]

scrimp on food to afford starbucks.....what the.

I think i might go buy some coffee now.

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

i drink like 4 cups of coffee a day and would rather get coffee than eat out too tbh...

[dot-rose.livejournal.com]

I see the Coffee Word Domination is coming along smoothly....

If you really like normal coffee, then just make your own. (It's so much cheaper). Although I will admit that it doesn't taste as good as the ones in store (WHY? It's the SAME beans too!).

[hotaru-snow.livejournal.com]

I think it has to do with the coffee machine :( I have one at home but it just can't steam my milk till it's a nice creamy consistency like the one's outside...

This came to my mind

[cafetin99.livejournal.com]

tbh, I prefer tea. I love it.

Re: This came to my mind

[baekpedaling.livejournal.com]

Is that Leo in the first pic? /doesn't know Vixx or anyone really
lol BangHim looks adorable

[fancy-sheets.livejournal.com]

Today I learned I'm Korean by these standards lol. I like when I see people drinking black iced coffee because that's how I like it too.

Also you gotta drink water to keep your skin nice and not dried out from all the caffeine.

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

americano is the only coffee that doesnt make me sleepy, even though i dont know why.
on movie sets coffee maker is the third most important thing after camera and toilet, i always got yelled at for "wasting" milk meant for coffee on making sugary milk tea :p that makes me wake up in instant, coffee just drains my energy

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

Coffee make me sleepy too. Once I drank like two cups of coffee, thinking the caffeine will help me, before I went with my family on a travel. And I don't remember falling asleep faster than that day. I sat on the car and a couples minutes later I was full sleeping.

[fallendaydreams.livejournal.com]

I've always been interested in trying The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Not quite sure why there are 8 in Austin and 0 in Dallas ._.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

Because Austin gets all the cool places. That's where I first tried it when I was visiting family (don't have any in my neck of the woods either).

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

this is really true lol
I used to work in a Korean NGO and all the korean workers and volunteers drank like at least 5 cups of coffee during the 8 hour work.
I don't even have one cup of coffee OTL I dislike it and I don't believe in the whole thing that it keeps you awake longer, or maybe it just doesn't work on me.. I think it makes me sleepy even lol

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

Ugh I hate when people's breath smells like coffee.

[agoongprincess.livejournal.com]

ugh i hate coffee, it smells awful and lol at "oung Korean girls who have been known to scrimp on food just to afford a cup of Starbucks coffee, which are relatively expensive in the country, have been called “doenjang girls,” or bean paste girls."

that's legit my sister and friend last year. idk why anyone would do that, i love food so much and i hate spending money on anything that isn't food

[lovelycandygirl.livejournal.com]

I like really like Mocha coffees but I haven't drank one in a couple of weeks.

[hinadori.livejournal.com]

Starbucks' burnt coffee is groce though. I live for FIKA's mochas, they use real chocolate, none of that powder shit.

[bumie.livejournal.com]

I'm a tea person, Chai is my life and I don't understand the coffee love

[cinnabun11.livejournal.com]

i always notice the kpop peeps drinking iced americanos in all their variety shows and i can't imagine that tastes very good? i've never tried it though

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

calorie free! although some of them might actually like them.

[chomsky.livejournal.com]

This doesn't surprise me in the least and I truly don't know how all these places stayed open, haha. One thing that I noticed was that unlike for me, who drinks coffee as a means to wake up, it seemed like Koreans more drank coffee as part of a social ritual; it wasn't like something my students depended on before they rolled up to my university classes.

Also this might explain why my quest for drip coffee at 8am was largely a failure every day, unless I bought a 5000 won(!) cup at the Dunkin Donuts a half an hour away. ;_; The only people who offered it opened it at like 10am.

[shocko-o.livejournal.com]

i love a mocha but that's about it. i'd rather have a milk tea.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is seriously good - I tried it for the first time a few months ago...

Starbucks has become kinda gross to me tbh. About half the time I take the first sip and don't even want to continue drinking, which is why I've basically stopped ordering coffee from there.

It's so hard to find good, local coffee places, since I live in a very chain-centric area.

[tree-star123.livejournal.com]

sometimes when I order black coffee from Starbucks, it tastes really burnt lol so that may be why.

[921227.livejournal.com]

Rather coffee than cigarettes I guess

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

Why would anyone forgo foood to buy Starbucks coffee? Don't they love themselves?

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Lmao your icon ♡♡♡

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Coffee is a huge part of my culture too but not fancy Starbucks shit, we're peasants who make our own South Indian-style filter coffee. And I prefer tea anyway, coffee these days just makes me jittery and upsets my stomach
Tea>>>>>>>

Also, noooo @those kids scrimping on food to afford Starbucks. I get how that happens (feeling pressured to join in if your friends go to an expensive coffee shop).but I wish it didn't happen like that, love yourselves kids :(

[aneeleniffum.livejournal.com]

Starbucks and the likes remain as luxury items to me. I only buy them when I want to reward myself lol. The Koreans at my office buy them all the time like they cost nothing.

.....or maybe because to the Koreans, coffee in my country is cheap lol.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Huum... define coffee
because if it's like in Japan they don't really drink coffee, more like coffee flavored water

[embroideredkiss.livejournal.com]

one of my favourite things about korea is how you can walk into pretty much any coffee shop, chain or indie (angel in us excluded, they're fucking awful), and get a decent cup of coffee. in the UK most of the chains consistently burn the milk or the coffee, do they not train their staff at all???

Seoul has some amazing indie coffee shops, Coffee Lab, Ikovax, 5 Extracts, Belif. etc

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

don't talk to me about coffee lab (did you ever go to their Hongdae branch where all the baristas were hot as fuck) i'm gonna start crying because fuck the UK and it's shitty coffee