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Coffee so cold it's hot: South Korea's love of iced Americano

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Cat Barton, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="This picture taken on Jan. 26, 2023 shows office worker Jeong Jae-won posing with an iced Americano during an interview with AFP on a street in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je, AFP" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/02/10/20230210-jeong-jae-won-street-in-seoul-afp.jpg"/><figcaption>This picture taken on Jan. 26, 2023 shows office worker Jeong Jae-won posing with an iced Americano during an interview with AFP on a street in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je, AFP</figcaption></figure></div>SEOUL — K-pop stars BTS drink it. It appears in K-dramas. Fans are so dedicated to consuming it year-round they&#x27;ve coined a new South Korean proverb: &quot;Even if I freeze to death, iced Americano!&quot;The humble coffee -- shots of espresso served over ice, topped up with water -- has become South Korea&#x27;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. &quot;I only drink this. Iced Americano is easier to drink and also tastier, so I enjoy drinking it even in winter,&quot; she told AFP, gingerly holding the edge of her frozen plastic cup.&quot;I&#x27;m cold but it&#x27;s okay. I can endure it,&quot; she said.Accountant Lee Dae-hee told AFP he drank iced Americanos exclusively because it was a faster and more efficient caffeine hit, essential in South Korea&#x27;s hard-driving &quot;ppalli-ppalli&quot; -- hurry-hurry -- work culture.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/02/16/13/s-korean-firms-start-shun-workaholic-culture">S. Korean firms start to shun &#x27;workaholic&#x27; culture</a></li></ul>&quot;I quickly drink iced Americano to wake up and work,&quot; Lee said as he tried to shield his large cup of coffee from the driving snow while rushing back to his office after lunch.&quot;It doesn&#x27;t make me cold because I go straight to the office and I don&#x27;t spend much time outside,&quot; he said.<div>&#x27;AH-AH&#x27; </div>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 &quot;Ah-Ah&quot; and its die-hard drinkers are known as &quot;Eoljuka&quot;, a contraction of a new proverb proclaiming they&#x27;d freeze to death for their drink.The trend has been noticed by corporate coffee giant Starbucks Korea, which ran an &quot;ice challenge&quot; promotion where &quot;Eoljuka&quot; got a free size upgrade when they ordered in late January&#x27;s sub-zero temperatures.Iced drinks accounted for 76 percent of total sales at Starbucks stores in South Korea in 2022, the company said. Even during January&#x27;s cold snap they sold more iced Americanos -- 54 percent -- than hot ones.&quot;People&#x27;s tendency of consuming goods, food and beverages regardless of the weather seem to have become a new trend,&quot; Park Han-jo from Starbucks Korea told AFP.Independent coffee shops said their data showed the same thing. Kim Bum-soo, who owns a cafe in downtown Seoul, said around half his coffee sales were iced Americanos, all year round.&quot;It does seem that Koreans prefer cold drinks,&quot; Kim told AFP, adding that foreign tourists, especially Chinese, tended to order warm tea even in summer.Consuming cold water and iced beverages is forbidden in traditional Chinese medicine. However, &quot;Koreans just drink whatever they want, regardless of whether it&#x27;s cold or hot outside,&quot; Kim said.<div>COLD NOODLES</div>One reason Seoul office workers love iced Americanos could be that their workspaces are too hot and stuffy, cafe owner Kim said.Self-confessed &quot;Eoljukah&quot; Jeong Jae-won, 30, agreed.&quot;It&#x27;s warm inside the office so I&#x27;m going to drink it there,&quot; she said.It&#x27;s not just office workers who love the beverage. K-Pop megastar Suga of BTS is frequently photographed with an iced Americano in hand, despite telling fans he was trying to cut back on caffeine.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/04/26/22/psy-collaborates-with-bts-suga-for-new-single">‘Gangnam Style’ singer Psy teams up with BTS’ Suga for new single</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/10/17/22/bts-members-to-fulfill-mandatory-military-service">K-pop supergroup BTS to fulfill mandatory military service starting with Jin</a></li></ul>Foreign K-pop fans have discussed at length in online forums NCT Dream&#x27;s Jaemin&#x27;s preferred version of &quot;Ah-Ah&quot;: eight shots of espresso served over ice.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/10/22/22/recap-k-pop-groups-shine-in-i-pop-u-2022">RECAP: NCT Dream, WayV, other K-pop acts shine in I-POP U 2022</a></li></ul>South Korea&#x27;s &quot;Ah-Ah&quot; addiction could be linked to its cuisine, said Jang Jun-woo, a food columnist who runs a tapas wine bar.Food such as the cold noodle dish naengmyun, which is served with ice cubes in the broth, is an integral part of local tradition but rarely seen elsewhere.&quot;Even in Japan people don&#x27;t actually put ice in their cold udon noodles,&quot; Jang told AFP.&quot;The degree of cold food culture is more extreme in Korea and that may explain the popularity and prevalence of iced coffee here.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/12/31/22/why-asking-how-old-are-you-isnt-rude-in-south-korea">Why asking &#x27;how old are you?&#x27; isn&#x27;t rude in South Korea</a></li></ul><div>For more news and features on K-pop, K-drama, and K-stars, visit the <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/kcontents" target="_blank">Hallyu Corner</a> microsite. </div><div> </div><div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

The humble coffee -- shots of espresso served over ice, topped up with water -- has become South Korea's unofficial national drink. 

Coffee so cold it's hot: South Korea's love of iced Americano

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Coffee so cold it's hot: South Korea's love of iced Americano

Cat Barton,

Agence France-Presse

Published February 10, 2023 11:44 AM PHT

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Updated February 10, 2023 01:44 PM PHT

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