time now for our life and info segment where we focus on information that
should be useful for your everyday lives now coffee of course is one of the most
loved drinks anywhere you go in the world but here in South Korea demand for
it has been soaring and many people say we'll gradually started as a habit has
become a culture of it's very own a very lucrative business as well today we're
going to look at the wide spectrum of the coffee market here in South Korea
particularly in terms of the wide range of prices you can find I'm very happy to
be joined in the studio by our Kim bo-gyung so mochi on let's talk coffee
then shall we yes good morning mark before we go to the details let me ask
you a question like do you like coffee yes of course I like coffee I drink
probably around 2 or 3 cups of coffee a day I've already had two this morning oh
ok that's good yeah oh well actually I also love coffee and for me it's more
like a routine just like you said after getting up from bed or after you know
having lunch and like you said for most most Koreans the love for coffee is
amazing and recent data actually showed that an average person living in Korea
drinks more than 500 cups of coffee a year and that's around one and a half
cup for every day and demand is continuing to rise - and the size of the
coffee market is still growing at a rapid pace if we look at the screen here
we can see that the local coffee market was nearly four times bigger in the
latest data compared to a decade ago and especially in South Korea the trend has
been even more evident in coffee shops with annual sales of major franchises
sitting in the world's top 3 yeah depending on what time of the day you go
it's almost impossible to find a seat in some of those big franchises here in
South Korea especially the comfortable ones that are the premium ones within
the window or whatever but gone really are the days when Koreans used to just
drink the instant mix beer that you pour into the paper cup and whatnot but now
you can get coffee and all different types from anywhere in the world
old hot and cold the varieties are endless so it seems like you really kind
of love coffee um how much do you usually spend and when you go to a
coffee shop well I generally make my own coffee but
when I go to the coffee shop I will spend roughly around three to four
dollars because I tend to only drink hot americano hot black coffee okay it seems
like you're not too fancy but because the coffee so did you know that actually
coffee prices and shops could range from 70 cents to up to nine dollars and
perhaps even more yeah well I refuse to pay anything more than than five dollars
I have been in coffee shops where they charge in excess of ten dollars a cup
and I pretty much do a u-turn and walk out the door because I refuse to pay
that much but what you're saying then we're seeing this huge range of prices
below one dollar at what one end and over ten dollars sometimes in another
end so that's a tenfold difference for what some people would argue is
essentially pretty similar coffee yes unlike you like what you said the coffee
market is actually booming in Korea and the in demand for coffees that are
expensive and you know affordable are both increasing rapidly as the market
size expands I think it's because the people's tastes also kind of mature yeah
and recent years specialty coffee coffee brands have been booming in Korea and
public demand for such premium coffee has been spiking last year premium
coffee market size reached some eight hundred sixty five million dollars
taking up to 20 percent of the total market share specialty coffees are
premium coffees which score 80 or more out of a hundred from the Specialty
Coffee Association of America and due to the intense demand one popular specialty
coffee brand has decided to launch its first store in South Korea and I popped
along and I had a chance to meet the CEO
but mainly deeply honored by the fact that so many people would come
and visit us on our first day we have guests you know for Koreans have been
visiting Blue Bottle in America and Japan for years so I know Blue Bottle is
special in Korea that's why we're here we feel a responsibility to be in Seoul
yes I'm so as you can see you know tons of people have been waiting in line and
some of them even for like four hours to just get the taste of the special coffee
and the price tag was a little bit higher than the average but most of the
people I talked to they said it was worth the wait let's take a listen I've
heard a lot of effort goes into making specialty drinks such as only selling
coffee that is 48 hours out of the roster I think it's worth the wait I've
always loved visiting specialty coffee brands all over the world while it's a
bit expensive it's worth the cost because of the unique taste and the
experience of being able to watch the brewing process well it's great to see
people enjoying their coffee I don't know about you mochi on part never stand
in line for four hours just for a cup of coffee it must be a fantastic I hope
that CEO brought you out a carpenter for you but let's not get into that right
now we can talk about that after the news but now we are seeing more of these
big franchises as well moving in to this premium specialty coffee market even
Starbucks I believe has this new sub brand it's called Starbucks reserve and
I've definitely been seeing more and more of these pop up on the streets of
Seoul so this really is a big emerging market within the already massive coffee
market here in South Korea yes actually I'm Starbucks Korea expanded its already
heavy presence in the country by its through its upscale Starbucks reserve
store that's their specialty coffee made by skilled baristas the brand has been
opening reserve stores in South Korea around three years ago and it first
started with five stores nationwide in 2016 but as of March this year the
number had multiplied to 47 and the company plans to open more even in the
future I'm sure they do because they are full most days but it is an extra choice
for those who perhaps have a little bit of extra money in their pockets those
who have become accustomed to exotic coffees from around the world or perhaps
just a guy or a girl who wants to go on a nice date with their new partner let's
turn our attention though because it is an all about highbrow coffee is it there
are lots of cheap affordable but also relatively nice tasting coffee options
out there as well yes mark um while people some people actually like you
said look for a distinct coffees with unique characteristics others tend to
look for more cost-effective and accessible coffees and since 2015 in
Korea's three major convenience stores actually started opening their own
branded coffees for takeout they've seen their sales surged since they were first
introduced with figures doubling due to the reasonable price between 80 cents to
two dollars yeah I've seen them around you can't miss them if you go into any
convenience store here in Korea and I believe they are very popular with
office workers during the lunch hour with effort because they don't have to
spend too much money and they can just take it out with them after they've had
their lunch I've yet to try it have you does it
taste similar to what you might find in the coffee shop well in fact I did quite
a lot of times and it was really good people might think that the quality and
taste of the coffee could be you know linked to the price but actually these
convenience stores are providing coffee beans from countries that are really
famous for coffee such as Costa Rica Colombia and even Brazil okay so that's
good so you can buy decent quality coffee for a reasonable price pretty
much everywhere you go in Korea but with demand for coffee growing in convenience
stores and premium brands as well where do we see this trend eventually going
because it doesn't seem like it's stopping anytime soon well actually for
this in this opinion I kind of talked to a professor um studying consumers trend
and she said that this trend was kind of easy to spot let's take a listen it's
natural for consumer demands to be segmented when a market expands it's
really a matter of how much value people give to coffee now that drinking coffee
is the norm consumers who consider it as a daily routine tend to look for the
best price but with the so-called personal taste trend spreading among
young people others seek out something unique and are willing to pay more for
it she also said that the polarized trend would likely continue for the next
few years because coffee for South Koreans is also a medium of conversation
and also a means of building relationships with people yes well I'm
sure you'll give me one of those $10 cups of coffee after the news yes you
seem not to have any on the desk for me now but it's a pleasure as always milk
yawn and we'd like to see you again in the studio before too long and thanks
for your report thank you for having