The Cafe in Jonggak - enjoy time travel in Seoul downtown area

The first coffee shop in Korea was a traditional teahouse. Maybe around 1940, it was a social place for particular class. At that time, coffee didn't became popular, so it was only available for rich or famous people. Before 1980, most house didn't have a coffee machine, which is a different story in these days. 

People could drink coffee as a special culture in coffee shop called Da-Bang. Then instant coffee appeared and 'wanna grab a coffee?' become greeting words like 'let's go for a drink.' This instant coffee, stick-shaped, began to famous in foreign country.

People these days usually drink at least one or two cups of coffee per day. During Da-bang coffee period, 'Morning Coffee' was the famous menu. It is like black coffee, or americano, but people served it with egg yolks in it. This originated from ssanghwa tea with egg yolks. 

foreign country brand like Starbucks, Coffee Bean, and national brand like Cafe Bene, Angel in Us, Tom & Toms are growing explosively, which makes Da-bang disappear. Because of new coffee trend, there is no Madame, a female manager of a teahouse, in coffee shop. Sometimes the word Madame is used negatively, but in the past, it was polite to buy coffee for her since she is a manager.

She was the one to talk to while waiting for company and it was her ability that determined coffee shop's sales. Even though some people had a negative view of  Madame in Da-bang, there was also romance in there. 

Nearby Jongnogucheong (Jongno-gu Office), there is 'The Cafe' on the first floor of the building, Doosan We've Pablrion. Jongno, which is a traditional area and the modernized building are mixed together. The exterior looks like Coffee Bean, but you can feel 1980s atmosphere when you get inside. there are 7 tables and 4 standing seats. Americano is 2000 won and Lemon Yogurt Smoothie is 3900 won. 

They also have latte, citron tea, and so on. It is really cheap compared to other franchise coffee shops. But since the space between the tables is rather close, you can hear other's conversation. 

Most coffee shops these days are full with young couples or salesman. They spend their time saying something sweet each other or having a meeting to plan strategy. However, in this cafe, you can hear "In bygone days, I was an assistance for famous politician, so..." 

They serve Guatemala coffee. This coffee is produced in various area and is Smoke Coffee. Croissant was warm but choco chips were too hard. Anyway, the greatest advantage of this cafe is that it is cheap. You can enjoy inexpensive coffee and meet diverse people in here.

Location : Susong-dong 58 (Sam-Bong-Ro 81), Jongno-gu, Seoul