My Love Affair

I'm having a torrid love affair.

I need a fix at least once a day.

It's ... not hot ... actually, it's cold. Because my love affair is with iced coffee.

Hello, lover. You look gorgeous. All cold and icy with those little playful bubbles. Yummy.

Korea's going through a drip coffee phase lately (I lay at least part of the blame on 커피프린스1호점 (The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince), a 2007 Korean drama that was hugely (HUGELY) popular and featured coffee) with artisanal, boutique-y coffeeshops sprouting up all over the place.

There are large chains, of course (Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Pascucci, Caffe Bene, etc.), but there are more and more places that specialize in drip coffee. These shops tend to be a little pricier and the coffee tends to take a little longer, but they're generally quieter than those mega-shops and have a nicer environment.

This is one of the local shops in my area, featuring coffee from single sources (Kenyan coffee is one of my favorites here). That lady back there makes all the coffee, including roasting the beans (before customers arrive, of course).

The shop is quite cute, too. Maybe they serve wine at night? I've only been during the day. It's cute regardless, and they have barista classes here. Apparently, it's called Ilsan Barista Academy (website's only in Korean, sorry).

Look at that. Those cookies are made on site as well, and are quite good. Yeah, it's just coffee and cookies, but the ambience and the soothing design really let me catch my breath when I'm having a bad day or give me a little respite when I need to get away from some of the little monsters at work.

All That Coffee
Shop: Crystal Building #106 (behind Homeplus) JangHang-Dong 756-3 Ilsan Dong-Gu Goyang-Si Gyeonggi-Do
Academy: McDonald's Building, Third Floor, JangHang-Dong 770-2 Ilsan Dong-Gu Goyang-Si Gyeonggi-Do

Telephone: 031.907.5748

올댓커피
정발산역 3호선
본점: 경기도 고양시 일산동구 장항동 756-3번지 크리스탈빌딩 106호 (홈플러스 뒷편).
아카데미: 경기도 고양시 일산동구 장항동 770-2번지 (맥도날드 3층).