Coffee to Go

One Dot, One Café

In 1999, a big American coffee chain opened its first store in Korea, in front of Ewha Womans University in Seoul. Coffee was brewed from freshly ground beans and carried out in paper cups. From here on, each dot on the map is one café.

Why?A dabang was a place to sit and talk. The new cafés were places to buy the coffee itself. Unfamiliar names like espresso and americano spread.

Learn moreThe café dots come from license records that shops file with their city or district office. A dot lights up on the day a shop registers as a "coffee shop." The numbers below are counted from the same records.

When

1999 → 2001