April 18, 2016
ASIA / PACIFIC
Coffee shops all the rage
in North Korean capital
By Eric Talmadge
The Associated Press
YONGYANG, North Korea —
Pyongyang may be one of the
few major cities left on earth
where you can’t find a Starbucks.
But it’s brimming over with coffee
shops.
The small, dimly lit cafés have been
around in the North Korean capital
for years, but the drink’s popularity
has surged in Pyongyang recently —
enough so, in fact, that it’s sparking a
competition among shop owners to
provide more of an upscale ambiance
and a variety of coffees that would
almost put the ubiquitous American
chain to shame.
“Over the past couple of years the
number of people who really know
good coffee has grown a lot, and they
look around the city to find the best
places,” said Ri Hyon A, a barista at a
popular café who underwent training
in China to learn the craft. “We have a
lot of regulars.”
Though Pyongyang is far more
affluent and well-supplied than the
rest of the country, the growth of
coffee shops and the openly
competitive effort to lure customers
and turn a profit reflects a larger
transformation that has long been
underway in North Korea.
While capitalism is still officially
frowned upon and the economy
remains centrally controlled and
largely
stagnant,
grassroots
entrepreneurialism is not only
growing but has become a necessity
for many North Koreans.
Until the famine years of the 1990s,
the government provided most
citizens with their basic necessities
and jobs. The economic crisis caused
by the famine taught North Koreans
to fend for themselves, however, and
forced a gradual opening to more
capitalist-style activities.
For sure, life in rural areas remains
much more hardscrabble — just
getting a balanced diet, or meat on a
P
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BARISTA BOOM. Barista Ri Hyon A speaks behind the counter of the Kumrung coffee shop
in Pyongyang, North Korea. Pyongyang may be one of the few major cities left on earth where you
can’t find a Starbucks, but it’s brimming over with coffee shops. The small, dimly lit cafés have been
around in the North Korean capital for years, but the drink’s popularity has surged in Pyongyang re-
cently. (AP Photo/Eric Talmadge)
regular basis, remains impossible for and sells everything from caramel
Macchiatos to strawberry smoothies.
many.
Ri said the shop has its beans flown
But the growing grassroots
economy has created something of a in once a month from China.
middle class in Pyongyang and some
“Cappuccino is popular with
other cities, where more people have Koreans,” she said. “Personally, my
enough expendable cash to treat favorite is our original hand-dripped
themselves to small luxuries like coffee.”
coffee, and businesses like street
Ri said that while she was training
stalls selling drinks or snacks and to be a barista in Beijing, she gave
more new restaurants aimed at Starbucks a go.
meeting the new market demand are
“I tried it, but I didn’t like the coffee
mushrooming.
very much,” she said. “I think it’s for
Ri’s coffee shop, one of hundreds people who don’t really understand
now open for business in Pyongyang, good coffee. But I was impressed by
greeted its first customers in January how many people go there.”
Tu Phan
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