Why Korean love instant coffee?

Korea’s coffee market has risen incredibly sharply over the past decade.
In fact, Korea’s coffee consumption and number of coffee shops has more than doubled since 2005. The size of Korea’s coffee industry has grown more than 2.6 times in 5 years. And along with the increase of the size, the coffee franchise industry is getter bigger as well.

Large contributor to massive coffee consumption is instant coffee so called coffee mix in Korea, not brewed coffee.
South Korea is a unique market in which sales of instant coffee(1.3 trillion won) account for approximately 73% of the total sales in local market as of  2014  and sales of brewed coffee in the country is only 10.8%.

Instant coffee mix packets can be found in almost every Korean household and office building, and can be purchased in any grocery or convenience store.

“Our culture is unique because anywhere you go ― the gas station, work, convenience stores ― there’s always going to be a hot water dispenser and coffee mix,” said an official from Dongsuh Food. “In the U.S., coffee makers are everywhere but in Korea coffee mixes can be found everywhere. This has to do with how easily you can find the mix, and also how easy it is just to make one at work or anywhere. For average Koreans, brewed coffees are enjoyable items, but not part of life."

Koreans have a ppalli-ppalli (빨리빨리) culture (meaning “hurry, hurry”) which focuses on getting things done as quick as possible and this characteristics of Koreans suit well with instant coffee mix which has the advantage of being able to drink coffee if only pour hot water.

According to the coffee experts  and Korea coffee manufacturers such as Dongsuh Food, Koreans prefer the taste of bittersweet fragrant.  Beans that can best suit taste of these is the robusta which has bitterness stronger than Arabica, it is best coffee beans to make the instant coffee with added sugar and cream and the unit price of this bean is also inexpensive compared to arabica.

The domination of instant coffee in local coffee market creates a unique landscape: sipping a cup of espresso coffee at a nearby Starbucks coffee shop once or twice a week has become a culture for Koreans, while drinking a three-in-one instant coffee is part of their life.