Coffee in Korean ☕️ The Complete Guide to Getting Your Daily Dose of Caffeine

Must-Know Vocab and Phrases for Ordering Coffee in Korean || PLUS Quiz!

With more than 18,000 coffee shops in Seoul alone, it’s safe to say South Korea is deep in a coffee craze.

With everything from regular 7-Elevens and Starbucks to the slightly more quirky Raccoon and Meerkat cafes, the Korean coffee scene is truly unrivaled in its diversity. Luckily for you caffeine addicts, you can grab a coffee on almost every street.

Now, we wouldn’t want you missing out on all the fun of Korean coffee culture, so in this article we’re going to teach you exactly how to order your go-to drink in Korean, including the names of different types of coffee, cup sizes and modifications.

Let’s get going, we’ve got a latte to go through!

Coffee in Korean | Types of Coffee

Coffee in Korean | How to Order

Coffee in Korean | Customizing Your Coffee

Coffee in Korean | Example Dialogue

Coffee in Korean | Quiz

Coffee in Korean | FAQs

Coffee in Korean | Types of Coffee

Key word: Coffee Play 커피 Keopi

When it first arrived on Korean shores in the 19th century, coffee was a status symbol drink for Korea’s wealthy and powerful upper classes. Due to its bitter taste, it was initially drunk like alcohol – shotted in small glasses! 

Nowadays, despite having a tea culture that dates back over a thousand years, coffee is arguably the most popular and widespread drink in South Korea.

Instant coffee, which was more affordable and easy to make, entered households and the mainstream market in the 1970s.

Since then, brewed coffee began to rise in popularity and themed cafes began to open, finally culminating into the modern day vibrant coffee scene.

Just to give you an idea of the scale and pace at which coffee culture has exploded, the first Starbucks opened in South Korea in 1999, now with just under 300 branches, Seoul has more Starbucks locations than other city worldwide!

So, as coffee is now so deeply ingrained in daily Korean life, it’s definitely worth getting to grips with the lingo!

Let’s start with the basics: 

And for those of you who even need a caffeine hit to get you through a night out at the bars, here’s two drinks you might want to remember!

Espresso martini Play 에스프레소 마티니   Eseupeuso matini

Irish coffee Play 아이리시 커피 Airiswi keopi

Cheers! Play 건배! Geonbae!

Don’t worry, we know coffee isn’t for everyone. To help out you coffee haters being dragged to Starbucks by your friends, here’s a list of coffee-alternatives:

Coffee in Korean | How to Order

After you’ve entered your coffee shop of choice, the barista will ask you what you would like. Remember, as the staff are working, they’re probably going to use more formal Korean.

You’re most likely going to hear this:

Play 어서오세요. 주문하시겠어요?

Eoseooseyo. Jumun hasigesseoyo?

Welcome. Are you ready to order?

Now, to respond to this question, you can simply say ‘____주세요 juseyo’ which means ‘I would like a _____, please.’

For example:

Play 라떼 주세요

Latte juseyo

I would like a latte, please.

Play 에스프레소 주세요

Eseupeuleso juseyo

I would like an espresso, please.

Play 에스프레소 마티니 주세요

Eseupeuleso matini juseyo

I would like an espresso martini, please.

Korean hack: If you’re worried about making a full order in Korean, you can simply point at something on the menu and say 이거 주세요 (igeo juseyo), which means ‘this, please’.

Coffee in Korean | Customizing Your Coffee

Sizes

Some days you might need a large iced coffee to get you through the hot Seoul summer, some days you might just want a small espresso to give you a quick lunchtime boost.

Either way, your barista is going to ask which size you’d like and it helps to know the following question to help you avoid any awkward moments.

Play 어떤 사이즈로 드릴까요?

Eotteon saijeuro deurilkkayo?

Which size would you like?

Alternatively, they might ask you:

Play 큰 컵으로 드릴까요?, 작은 컵으로 드릴까요?

Keun keobeuro deurilkkayo?, jageun keobeuro deurilkkayo?

Big cup or small cup?

Here’s all the sizes in Korean PLUS Starbucks-specific sizes if that’s your go-to shop:

Then, just as we can use ‘____주세요 juseyo’ to order a type of coffee, we can use the same structure to choose our size. For example:

Play 큰 컵으로 주세요

Keun keopeuro juseyo

Large cup, please

Play 작은 컵으로  주세요

Jakuen keopeuro juseyo

Small cup, please.

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Iced or Hot

With the average January temperature in Seoul sitting at around -2°C, you don’t want to risk ordering an iced coffee in that weather!

So, let’s take a look at what the barista will ask you:

Play 차가운 음료로 드릴까요? 따뜻한 음료로 드릴까요?

Chagaun eumnyoro deurilkkayo? ttatteutan eumnyoro deurilkkayo?

Iced or hot?

To answer this question, you could say one of the following:

Hot Play 따뜻한   Ttatteutan 

Iced Play 차가운 Chagaun

Fancy a challenge? Try writing your coffee order in Korean down in the comments!

For here or to go?

Another important question you’re going to be asked when visiting a cafe is:

Play 매장에서 드시고 가시나요?, 포장(테이크아웃)해 드릴까요? 

Maejangeseo deusigo gasinayo?, pojang(teikeuaut)hae deurilkkayo?

For here or to go?

To answer this question, you can simply use one of the following:

For here For here Play 매장에서 먹다 Maejangeseo meokda

Take out Play 테이크 아웃(포장) Teikeu aut(pojang)

Add-ons and modifications

Long gone are the days when everyone would just order ‘coffee’ and sip at the same old americano.

Nowadays, lots of people prefer to modify their coffee to fit their personal taste, whether that be switching the type of milk or adding in a flavoured syrup.

No matter what your personal preference is, we should have you pretty well covered with the following vocabulary and phrases:

To ask for a flavoured drink, you simply need to add the flavour before the name of the coffee, for example:

Play 바닐라 라떼

Banilla latte

Vanilla latte

Play 카라멜 마끼야또

Karamel makkiyatto

Caramel macchiato

If you’d prefer to dodge the dairy and switch to an alternative type of milk, you could say:

Please change to soy milk

Play 두유로 바꿔주세요

Duyulo bakkwojuseyo

Please change to oat milk

Play 귀리우유(오트밀우유)로 바꿔주세요

Gwiriuyu(oteumiruyu)ro bakkwojuseyo

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Coffee in Korean | Example Dialogue

Okay so now you’re armed with lots of new vocab and plenty of helpful phrases, let’s take a look an example coffee shop dialogue.

Challenge yourself: Try reading the whole Korean dialogue before looking at the English translations below, this is a great way to test your comprehension skills!

Korean Dialogue

A: Play 어서오세요. 주문하시겠어요? Eoseooseyo. jumunhasigesseoyo?

B: Play 안녕하세요, 바닐라 라떼 주세요. Annyeonghaseyo, banilla ratte juseyo.

A: Play 어떤 사이즈로 드릴까요?   Eotteon saijeuro deurilkkayo?

B: Play 큰 컵으로 주세요. Keun keop euro juseyo.

A: Play 차가운 음료 드릴까요? 아니면 따뜻한 음료로 드릴까요? Chagaun eumnyo deurilkkayo? animyeon ttatteutan eumnyoro deurilkkayo?

B: Play 뜨거운 음료로 주세요. Tteugeoun eumnyoro juseyo

A: Play 매장에서 드시고 가시나요?포장해 드릴까요?  Maejangeseo deusigo gasinayo? Pojang hae deurilkkayo?

B: Play 테이크 아웃해 주세요. Teikeu aut hae juseyo.

A: Play 더 필요하신거 있으신가요? Deo piryohasingeo isseusingayo?

B: Play 아니요 그게 다에요. 감사합니다. Aniyo geuge daeyo. Gamsahamnida.

English Dialogue

A: Welcome. Would you like to order?

B: Hello, I’d like a vanilla latte please.

A: Which size would you like?

B: Large cup, please

A: Iced or hot?

B: Hot, please.

A: For here or to go?

B: take out please

A: Is there anything else you’d like?

B: No, that’s all thank you.

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Coffee in Korean | Quiz

Time is Up!

Time's up

And there you have it! We hope you found this article helpful and will be feeling wonderfully caffeinated throughout your stay in Korea.

Coffee in Korean | FAQs

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