BTS members drink it. It appears in K-dramas. Fans are so dedicated to having it year-round, they’ve coined a new South Korean proverb: “Even if I freeze to death, iced Americano!”
The humble coffee—shots of espresso served over ice, topped up with water—has become South Korea’s unofficial national drink, outselling its hot counterpart even during the depths of winter, Starbucks data shows.
Office worker Lee Ju-eun, clad in an ankle-length puffer jacket, shivered on the pavement in downtown Seoul as she clutched her iced coffee during a polar Vortex cold snap in January, when temperatures hit minus 17 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit). “I only drink this. Iced Americano is easier to drink and also tastier, so I enjoy drinking it even in winter,” she told AFP, gingerly holding the edge of her frozen plastic cup. “I’m cold but it’s okay. I can endure it,” she said.
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Accountant Lee Dae-hee told AFP he drank iced Americano exclusively because it was a faster and more efficient caffeine hit, essential in South Korea’s hard-driving “ppalli-ppalli”—hurry-hurry—work culture. “I quickly drink iced Americano to wake up and work,” Lee said as he tried to shield his large cup of coffee from the snow while rushing back to his office after lunch. “It doesn’t make me cold because I go straight to the office and I don’t spend much time outside,” he said.
“Ah-Ah”
South Koreans take their coffee seriously. The average South Korean drinks 353 cups per year, more than double the global average, according to a 2019 study by the Hyundai Research Institute.
Coffee culture has even spawned its own language. Iced Americano is known as “Ah-Ah” and its die-hard drinkers are known as “Eoljuka”, a contraction of a new proverb proclaiming they’d freeze to death for their drink.