Iced, iced baby: Why cold americanos are a year-round staple

 

A pedestrian carries a cup of iced americano on a cold December day in Seoul in 2022 [NEWS1]

 
In the freezing winters of Seoul, when the temperature often approaches zero degrees Fahrenheit and people are wrapped in thick, long puffer jackets, pedestrians are often seen carrying takeout coffee. But you won't see steam rising from the cup.
 
It's filled with ice.
 
This trend coined the now well-known term eoljukah — the willingness to drink iced americanos even at the risk of freezing to death.
 

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Koreans' unwavering love of the drink is in sync with Starbucks Korea's most popular menu item, with the americano retaining the top spot since 2009 when the franchise began gathering relevant data. The popularity is attributed to multiple factors, but the widespread perception that the americano is not a leisure drink but a fast and efficient way to consume caffeine is cited as a core reason behind the love of it.
 
Koreans don't just love coffee, they are addicted to it: On average, Koreans drank over 250 americanos in 2024.
 
Korea imported a record-high 201,924 metric tons of coffee, including coffee waste, according to recent data from the Korea Customs Service. Considering that a bog-standard two-shot americano contains 15 grams of coffee, it means that the population of 51 million in Korea drank 260 americanos each last year.
 
The number recorded in 2024 is two times higher than the 106,118 tons imported just a decade ago, in 2012.
 
But it’s not like Koreans’ affection for coffee was ignited in just the last decade. Records show that the beans first hit the peninsula as early as 1861, and were enjoyed by King Gojong (1852-1919) of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) — to the extent that an assassination attempt using poisoned coffee was made in 1898. The concept of dabang, a venue whose name literally translates to "teahouse" but is known to have predominantly sold coffees, also began during the Japanese imperial rule and bloomed throughout the 1950s through the 1980s, acting as a home to poets, writers and anyone who wanted to chat with their buddies. The yellow Maxim instant coffee sticks have also been ubiquitous since the 1980s.
 
So why do Koreans nowadays love, and can’t live without, the cold cup of coffee?
 

aespa's Karina holds an iced americano during an Instagram livestream in January 2023. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The efficiency of an americano
 
The root of Koreans' unwavering love of americanos should begin with the premise that many don't perceive the beverage as a social drink but instead as an efficient way to consume caffeine.
 
Coffee is often considered a social drink — the act of sitting down for a cup of coffee gives people time to catch up with each other and sometimes meet new people as they drink their nice hot beverage. This has been the case in Europe with espressos and the United States with diner coffees and even americanos in franchise cafes.
 
But in Korea, the tendency to pursue efficiency and its well-known ppalli ppalli culture that prioritizes speed changed the perception of the drink as well.
 
“I think Koreans focus more on the functionality of a cup of coffee,” said Sociology Prof. Kim Yun-tae of Korea University Sejong Campus. “It’s more of a functional drink that people consume for the caffeine and less of a social drink, like elsewhere.”
 
The professor previously commented that americanos act as “caffeine injections” for Korean students and workers who often have no time to rest. Koreans work the longest out of the 38 nations in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development,  and there is not much time for employees to truly take a break for a cup of coffee.
 
Americanos are also one of the cheapest and the fastest drinks to make at a cafe — just a simple mix of espresso, water and ice. It usually takes around just a minute for a barista to whip up an americano, be it iced or hot, and it allows Koreans to quickly grab a cup to go during work hours or on their short lunch breaks.
 
Americanos are also efficient in the sense that, unlike many other drinks sold at cafes, a cup comes with just 15 calories, no sugar and no fat. Minus the caffeine intake, it's essentially guilt-free.
 
Prof. Lee Sang-kyu, who teaches Introduction to Coffee Studies at the Chungbuk Health & Science University, argued that while coffee is not a healthy drink, it would be a better choice for students, who often go for sugary energy drinks with artificial caffeine.
 

A pedestrian in Daegu holds an iced americano in November 2024. [NEWS1]

But why does it have to be iced, even in the ice-cold winter?
 
A whopping 70 percent of the total drinks sold in Starbucks Korea in 2024 were iced, according to the coffee chain, and it’s not like people are drinking fewer iced americanos in the winter, as over 60 percent of people were still, voluntarily, choosing to drink ice-cold beverages over warm ones even in November.
 
The fact of the matter is that when there’s no time to take a coffee break, there’s also no time to wait for the coffee to cool down.
 
“You can’t really chug a hot drink, nor is it really convenient to wait for the drink to cool down,” Prof. Kim said, adding that it's “safer” to run around with an iced drink.
 
In addition, the sense of a cold drink giving people a kick in the morning or waking them up when they are tired can also contribute to the preference.
 
“There are also a lot of hot and spicy dishes that Koreans routinely eat, and those don't pair well with hot coffee,” Prof. Lee said.

A cup of iced coffee is being made at an outside booth in Daejeon in June 2024. [YONHAP]

But why didn’t Koreans drink iced americanos 20 years ago?
 
Starbucks Korea’s sales of iced drinks surpassed those of hot drinks only in 2015 — beforehand, the coffee franchise had always sold more hot drinks.
 
Making an ice-cold coffee is not an easy task without the help of icemakers, which were not widely installed before the 2000s.
 
Coffee naturally must be brewed boiling hot — with the exception of cold brew — as the heat is used to extract the aroma and flavor of the beans. Such is the case with instant coffee, as the emulsifier in the coffee stick can only be effectively dissolved in hot water. Thus, making an ice-cold cup of coffee was more of a luxury that many Koreans didn’t have the time or the tools to make.
 
The past Korean tendency of boiling tap water and brewing barley tea back when bottled water was banned in Korea also contributed to the widespread acceptance of a hot cup of coffee.
 
But as fridges and water purifiers started to come equipped with icemakers, Koreans got more used to drinking iced drinks in general, shifting the overall preference of the general public from warm drinks to cold ones.
 

People with takeout iced americanos in Seoul in November 2021. [NEWS1]

Americano and beyond: More are turning to upmarket premium coffee, but Korean coffee culture still has a long way to go
 
Iced americanos, however, are also a drink that minimizes the flavor of the coffee. Because human taste becomes less sensitive as the temperature decreases, the same cup of coffee, brewed with the same coffee bean, will taste weaker when made into an iced americano over a hot one. This is also why many franchise cafes differentiate warm coffee blends and cold coffee blends — using stronger blends for iced americanos, tuned for duller taste buds.
 
Cafes can also save a few bucks by going with a stronger blend, as stronger blends often hide the natural flavor of the beans and focus more on the bitter taste, according to Prof. Lee. The bitter taste works fine for people looking to find a quick caffeine boost, but not for anyone who wants coffee as a complex and thoughtful drink.
 
While overshadowed by Starbucks and hundreds of budget coffee franchises, more and more consumers in Korea have been also turning to upmarket coffee franchises such as Intelligentsia and Acoffee, as well as smaller cafes offering specialty cups.


California-based specialty coffee franchise Blue Bottle Coffee has been leading the trend since it entered the Korean market in 2019. The brand, while priced higher than a typical franchise coffee, emphasizes that roasting is done in the country to offer fresher coffee. There are almost 20 Blue Bottle branches in Korea March.
 
“I just wish more Koreans would learn about the taste of coffee,” Prof. Lee said.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]