STiR coffee and tea magazine

62 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2019 (April / May) Coffee was removed from vending in schools Overregulation or a sign of growth? The coffee market also faces hurdles as the gov- ernment grapples with regulation, protecting chil- dren from caffeine and controlling the country's swelling garbage problem. Vending machines are widespread across schools in South Korea, but coffee was removed from vending machines in all elementary, middle, and high schools in September 2018 as the Min- istry of Food and Drug Safety sought to cut stu- dents' caffeine intake. The move has reportedly frustrated some teachers, for whom the coffee products were originally intended. A ban on plastic cups also made life difficult for cafés beginning in 2018, when the govern- ment introduced a new measure preventing cafés from serving drinks in plastic, except for take-out customers. Before the measure, cafés would often provide plastic cups to every customer, even if they planned to stay inside the café. The move has aggravated some customers and employees, but small café owners may be faring better. Kim of CozyVilla said that smaller cafes "seem to be well guarded." Their customers are more understanding of the policy move, which was meant to help relieve South Korea's severe plastic problem. South Korea remains one of the biggest con- sumers of disposable products worldwide. Ac- cording to a 2016 government report, Korean people used some 420 plastic bags every year, while Germans used 70 and the average person in Finland used 4. Skilled hands A new wave of home brewing equipment is also stealing the market from South Korea's 49,000 plus cafés. A history of skilled artisanship has left Korea well prepared for the transition to home brewing, with small and medium sized companies crafting trendy new equipment for the Korean kitchen. CM Tech, a ceramics company specializing in ceramic heaters, developed a roasting segment for their business after sales for home roasters began to creep upwards. The company's coffee arm, Cer- offee, put 20 plus years of manufacturing experi- ence to work in making a ceramic coffee roaster, according to Yongsoo Jeon, the company's mar- keting representative. They showed off upgrades to the roaster at Seoul's 2018 Café Show in No- vember, alongside other South Korean manufac- turers that are proving quality coffee on the penin- sula is no longer the domain of cafés alone. Coffee shops have played their part in gentri- fying many of Seoul's forgotten neighborhoods, drawing in younger crowds eager to post trendy spaces and artful lattes to their Instagram. With- out them, Seoul's young professionals and thriving hipster crowd would want for lunch time hangout spots — but the growing swell of South Korea's café mammoth has begun to eat itself. With stiff competition in South Korea's satu- rated café market, and improving quality from RTD and home brewing products, cafés face a hard road ahead. Demand will remain high for coffee prod- ucts across the board, but as companies improve quality in their battle to keep customers, South Ko- rea's coffee drinkers may emerge the winners. Bingsu, a popular Korean dessert made of shaved ice often topped with fruit, chocolate, and other flavors is a favorite at coffee shops.

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