Discovering Coffee Roasters In Korea

Coffee Libre is a self-reliant roaster. It started from selling 100 pounds of coffee beans each month and eventually spread its connections to over six countries and 14 different farms. It is owned by the first Korean Q-grader Philhoon Suh.

At a distance of three hours drive from Seoul and other big cities of Korea, is located Terarosa Coffee Roaster, in Gangneung which despite being far off can be seen packed with people. They are known as the name that paved the way for direct trade of specialty coffee beans.

The growing interest in coffee is pretty obvious in Busan, the second largest city of Korea, too. A small number of specialty coffee shops have gathered form an association that goes by the acronym BUS (also the recognition code for Busan Seaport). The joint force work towards offering discounts over large purchases, promotional schemes, and own shared green bean storage. Momos, Coffee Gongjang and Coffee Loves Him are some of the few BUS cafes.

Among chained coffee specialist shop, Caffebene started out in 2008 and now have expanded their business in and outside of Korea, spreading over many countries like US, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia. Caffebene is now collaborating with German roaster manufacturer, Neuhaus Neotec,  in order to explore new coffee roasting techniques. They are the first to try a new roasting method in South Korea, with RG100 roaster that uses the Rotational Flexible Batch [RFB] technique. Caffebene is also planning to offer free tours of the factory to the public, which will show them about the new roasting technique. The plan will serve on both platforms; educate people and separate Caffebene from the rest of the competition.

The tough competition between coffee outlets, chained or individual, still carries a good room for growth of specialty coffee in Korea.