#cafemuseum

Twenty years ago, Choi set out to not just create a coffee cafe chain but also a museum teaching the history of coffee that’s attached to it. She has a total of six cafes in Gangneung, including two coffee cafes and museums, two cafes along the beach and one in Mengshi, China. She’s now hoping to expand to Venice, Italy. Yi said the history of coffee in Korea harkens back to the Korean emperor Gojong when he sought refuge in a Russian embassy in Seoul in 1896 and was given a cup of coffee. When he returned to Gangneung, which was prominent for its tea culture then, he added a coffee salon in his palace.