In the second half of the 20th century, Korean coffee culture was centered around the dabang (tea house). However, in the 1990s, traditional dabangs began to decline,
and coffee shops and cafes began to open more frequently.

In 1987, South Korea's military regime ended, and the country became a democracy with a directly elected president. The 1988 Seoul Olympics symbolized South Korea's economic development.

The liberal atmosphere and economic development brought about by this democratization also brought changes to the Korean coffee industry.

After the Korean War, society gradually stabilized. Instant coffee, brought in by the U.S. military, became widespread, and so did coffee.
This marked the development of Korea's unique "dabang" culture.
In 1956, "Hakrim Chaya" opened in Dongseong-dong, where Seoul National University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was located.

Shortly after the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese opened a coffee shop (Kissaten) on Jonggok Pass in Myeongdong and began serving coffee.
In Seoul, a two-story salon run by Japanese people called Cheongmokdang appeared, and in 1914, the Joseon Hotel was built.
This served as the highest-class hotel and coffee shop during the Japanese colonial period.
By this time, Western culture had become widespread, and intellectuals who had studied in Japan and the West had established their own cultural sphere, creating ideal conditions for the birth of coffee shops.

Around 1900, while coffee shops were in their infancy in Japan, around 1902, French-German Antoinette Sontag opened the Korean Peninsula's first Western-style hotel, the Sontag Hotel, in Jeongdong, Seoul.
She entered Seoul in 1885 accompanying Karl Ivanovich Bebel, the first Russian ambassador to Korea.
She was said to be Bebel's sister-in-law and served as a liaison between the Russian Legation and the Imperial Court.

During the Meiji era, many coffee shops and restaurants roasted their own coffee beans in-house, a practice we now call "house roasting." This was because, compared to today, coffee drinking was not a common practice, coffee establishments were few, and there was little demand for coffee beans.

However, starting around 1911, the number of establishments serving coffee gradually increased, leading to a rise in demand for coffee bean roasting services.

How was coffee roasting carried out during the Belle Époque in Europe, which supported Japan's early coffee shop culture?

Before 1920, there were almost no "specialized coffee roasters" like we have today in Japan.

At the time, it was common for coffee shops to roast their own beans (in-house roasting) or for import food stores and tea merchants to roast them in-store.

People in Japan began drinking coffee after the late 1800s.

Until then, the custom of drinking tea was common, but not coffee.

Japanese coffee shop culture is a "lifestyle culture of enjoying tea and coffee" that developed uniquely in Japan, blending the spirit of the tea ceremony with Western cafe culture.

In 1888, "Kaho Tea House" opened in Ueno, Tokyo, marking Japan's first authentic coffee shop.

Blue Bottle Coffee's product lineup is divided into three categories: standard drinks, beans (blends and single beans), and food, sweets, seasonal and collaboration items.

Standard Coffee Drinks

Cafe locations offer a clearly organized menu organized by brewing method.

Espresso: Espresso, Americano, Macchiato, Gibraltar, Cappuccino, Latte, etc. (Names and quantities vary slightly depending on the location).

Hand-Drip: Blends, single-origin coffees, decaf coffees, and more, ground and brewed one cup at a time after the order is placed.

Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman's immediate interest in Japanese coffee shop culture was sparked by a 2008 tour of Tokyo coffee shops accompanied by a friend who worked at UCC in San Francisco.

He credits his visit to coffee shops such as "Chatei Hatou" in Shibuya, "Cafe de Rambre" in Ginza, and "Daibo Coffee Shop" in Omotesando, which he visited with his friend, who also worked at UCC in San Francisco, as a turning point for him.

The third wave movement gained momentum in the 1990s, but Blue Bottle Coffee, founded after 2000, is another pioneering third wave coffee shop committed to transparency in its origins, and has now become a global phenomenon.

Blue Bottle Coffee was founded in 2002 in Oakland, California, by freelance clarinetist James Freeman.

Freeman began his business by roasting small batches in a 186-square-foot (approximately 17 square meters) flower shed and delivering the beans to local customers by bicycle.