Café Ourselves

Sometimes when I sit down to write a blog post, I stall thinking that each entry has to somehow be epic. But really when you think about it, most of life is not epic. It is really the small things, even the mundane, that are the most profound.

Like coffee. Yep, your good ol’ cuppa joe. I had thought tea would have been the beverage of choice here in Korea – which it certainly is in a traditional context – but coffee culture here is like being in the Pacific Northwest. With some twists, that is.

Like the first: instant coffee. I have never had so much instant coffee, particularly when we were on the road with no kitchen and the French press was still packed. Our wake-up options were: 1) No coffee 2) $5 for an 8-oz American (drip’s not common here) or 3) Buck up and go with the instant.

Coffee selection at the local convenience store.

Considering that #1 was not viable and #2 not affordable as a daily routine for two, we went with #3, knowing it wouldn’t be forever. Most instant coffee comes in sticks, loaded with sugar and powdered milk. But luckily, while on our visa run in Japan, we found some relatively good stuff sans additives so we stocked up.

Despite the ubiquitous instant sticks, actual coffee shops abound and their names are alluring as their brews.

Just a handful of coffee shops in our neighborhood.

Many of the shops carry high quality roasts including single-origin, organic, fair trade, rain forest certified and/or all of the above. Winter weather notwithstanding, iced coffee seems to be the local favorite. Then come the lattes of Asian variety, including green tea, sweet potato, and red bean. Apparently those ones don’t actually include coffee, just milk and said plant.

Now that we’re in our Seoul pad and back to home-cooked meals, our instant days are over. We found a good, dark espresso roast (organic, too!) for a decent price at the local Lotte department store, and to our absolute delight, we received our first care package from Zak’s mom complete with two bags of Kona beans from their recent trip to Hawaii.

So, as cold weather encroaches – and we’re out the door at 6 a.m. every morning – we give daily gratitude for a simple morning gift: coffee.