8/2/2023 0 Comments Love at first sipIt was served in small glasses and downed in one shot.Ĭoffee was originally served in a “dabang,” which means tearoom (da = tea, bang = room). Because it was bitter, people drank it like they were drinking hard liquor. When coffee was initially introduced to Korea, people didn’t know how to drink it. It symbolized Western culture for them and thus became a status symbol. Many of Korea’s elite and wealthy-along with royals, politicians, businesspeople, artists, and intellectuals-also fell in love with coffee. For the first several years of its introduction in Korea, coffee was still an expensive drink. Reportedly, it was Korea’s first café, just for the king and his guests.Įven after the Japanese Occupation, when King Gojong was confined to the royal palace of Changdeokgung, coffee remained his favorite beverage. He even built a special building for drinking it, called Jeonggwang-heon, which still sits on the site of Deoksugung. Upon his return to Deoksugung, one of the smaller palaces, Gojong’s love of coffee was cemented. There are records of foreign guests being served coffee when visiting the Korean royal palace in the mid-1880s, before Japan’s attempted royal coup, that led Emperor Gojong to his Russian friends and his first taste of the dark brew. Although alcohol was the beverage of choice, coffee was served as well. Korean officials were invited aboard for a tour and refreshments. When Korea was still practicing its isolationist policies (that’s why it was called the “Hermit Kingdom” for so long), foreign warships occasionally visited the coastal towns. Though King Gojong is reported to have been the first ever Korean to taste coffee, this isn’t entirely true. It was there that King Gojong developed his taste for coffee. He and his son fled to the Russian diplomatic ministry, and they governed for about a year from the Russian embassy. In 1896, King Gojong fled Gyeongbokgung, after months of aggression from Japan and the assassination of Queen Min (Empress Myeongseong). I had tasted original sin and there was no going back for me.Īccording to historical lore, coffee in Korea doesn’t go as far back as Adam and Eve, but to King Gojong (1852–1919). That combination of bitter and sweet, milky and bold. Maybe it was the lipstick-stained porcelain edge of the cup that drew me in maybe it was the aroma beckoning me to try it, like the forbidden fruit hanging in Eden. Back then, all we had was instant coffee sold in glass jars that we mixed with powdered creamer and a bit of sugar. That was in the 1970s in Korea when I developed a taste for the magical bean. CECILIA HAE-JIN LEE traces the history of coffee in Korea.
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