Although I haven`t posted much on the subject (as of yet) one of my hobbies is wandering streets of various cities and admiring/documenting the street art. While wandering the popular shopping districts in Busan a piece of art on an alley wall caught my attention. I turned and walked further down into the alley to see if perhaps there were other pieces hidden away.
I didn’t find any other pieces but I did stumble upon a nice little coffee shop. At first I suspected that it was a small book store. It had several shelves full of books and several nice chairs that one could relax in. I was checking out the interior of the shop from the outside when a group of older Korean ladies stepped out from the shop and pointed to me indicating I should go in. I explained with my best broken Korean that I was only doing a little bit of window shopping but that didn’t stop the older ajumas. One of them grabbed me by the arm and gave me a polite tug so that I would enter the coffee shop and pointed to a chair.
A picture from inside the shop:
The owner of the shop saw her the Korean ladies off by walking them to the main street. There I was alone in this little coffee shop not knowing what I was doing there. When the owner got back I got ready to leave but she insisted I sit down as she offered me a free coffee. I politely thanked her and explained that I didn’t drink coffee and she countered by offering me some lemonade. It was a typical warm and humid South Korean summer day and the thought of a refreshing glass of cold lemonade was appealing. Beside at this point I felt it would of been rude to refuse the warm hospitality. I accepted the offer and had a seat at the counter.
She prepared the lemon aid from scratch and it was perfectly made. Not too bitter and just sweet enough while being completely ice cold. Her English was about as good as my Korean so the conversation consisted of an exchange of basic questions and words. I pulled out my small Korean/English phrase book/dictionary and we slowly worked our way through introductions.
A short while later one of her friends dropped by the shop. She explained that he was an old acquaintance from her school days who was dropping by because he happened to be working in the neighborhood. His English was non existent but it didn’t stop him from asking questions with the owner and my small dictionary acting as a translator. We worked our way through the usual questions “Where are you from, how long are you traveling, etc”
He ordered a drink and a small cupcake which had been handmade the previous night. The cupcake looked delicious so I went ahead and ordered one for myself and the owners friend insisted on paying for it.
We talked about everything from Korean movies and culture to our jobs. The owner explaining that she had only been open for two months and that business was slowly picking up. When she told me she worked seven days a week from 10 to 10 my first instinct was to say “difficult?” but she insisted that she loved her job and it showed. When talking about her work she absolutely glowed. She had pictures of some European countries she had visited all around her little shop and in almost every picture there was a cup of coffee on the table or in her hand.
Another lemonade and some delicious pieces of cold, sweet garlic bread later I told her that I should be going. Before seeing me off she gave me a small package of coffee and refused to accept payment for the lemonade.
I had been walking through the many shopping districts and the ice cold lemonade along with the friendly conversation had been really refreshing. The whole experience brightened my day.
I stopped into the coffee shop once more before leaving Busan to have another refreshing glass of lemonade and to say goodbye. On my second and last visit there I got to try another famous Korean desert for the first time called Patbingsu. It consist of shaved ice, some fresh fruits (strawberries, blueberries etc) and some sweet beans. You’re probably thinking to yourself that it sounds horrible but it’s extremely delicious and refreshing. Unfortunately I didn’t grab any pictures of the desert but you can look it up using your favorite search engine.
If you’re ever in Busan and want a good cup of coffee and some warm hospitality this is the place for it. Stop in and tell Hee Jung the Canadian from Montreal said hello! I tried to find the exact address using google in English but wasn’t able to find it. I’ve gone ahead and marked it on google maps so that you can at least get an idea of where it’s located.
