Korean cafes; we have seen them in our K-dramas especially when the leading characters need a place to meet up. Most of the time they just carry on with their conversations with delicious-looking drinks just sitting there on top of the table. It is also a place where we have seen our favourite stars having their first date and breaking up.
Did you know that South Korea’s coffee consumption represents about 6% of the total of Asia Pacific’s coffee market?
It is estimated there are about 49,000 cafes across South Korea and more than 18,000 of which are estimated to be in Seoul.
Additionally, some of these Korean coffee chains are establishing outlets outside of their home country especially in Southeast Asia.
And now, we can even see Korean cafe trending on the internet.
From the country that brought us ‘mukbang’ and ‘gongbang’, there is a new internet trend emerging from South Korea called ‘Cafe Vlog’.
These vlogs are filmed by baristas who document their lives behind the counters of Korean cafes.
For coffee lovers, these cafe vlogs are addictive to watch as these baristas work their magic preparing each and every drink as if it is a work of art.
Some of these cafe vloggers are not just talented in pouring coffee. Some are bakers baking pastries and cakes hours before the cafes are open.
Besildes showcasing baristas pouring beautiful latte art, these videos also show the people who work passionately so that their customers will enjoy their cafe experiences.
If you have never heard of this, here are 5 Korean cafe vloggers you should check out on YouTube:
1.Coffictures
This YouTube channel has gathered more than 96,900 subscribers since November 2018.
The channel covers not only cafe vlogs but various recipes of pretty-looking Korean cafe drinks.
These recipes include strawberry milk tea, Italian hot chocolate and cream mocha latte.
One of the recipes featured in his vlogs is strawberry latte.
Do not be fooled by its name; this strawberry latte contains zero caffeine.
It is one of the most popular drinks found in any Korean cafe and featured in many cafe vlogs.
For his cafe, Coffictures prepares his by cutting fresh strawberries into small pieces. Then he covers them in brown sugar. He then leaves them for about an hour until the sugar melts.
The next step is stirring the strawberry and sugar together. He finally packs them into bottles by pouring the strawberry mix and milk according to a one to one ratio.
2.Zoe
This Korean cafe vlogger only started her YouTube channel in April 2019 but since then has already garnered more than half a million subscribers.
In a way, these Korean cafe vloggers use their YouTube channels to promote their cafes. Zoe, for instance is working for her mother’s cafe at Pyeongtaek city in Gyeonggi province.
The highlight of her videos is parfait, a rich cold dessert made with whipped cream, eggs and fruit toppings. Her most popular video has at least 4.7 million views.
Zoe also collaborates with other Korean cafe vloggers such as Cafeslave Jun and AYA Coffee.
3.Cafeslave Jun
Speaking of Cafeslave Jun, this Korean cafe vlogger is followed by more than 352,000 subscribers.
He works in cafe named Good Simple Cafe located at Yeoju city in Gyeonggi province.
There are at least four of his videos which have surpassed 1 million views.
Since channels of people filming themselves living alone is a trend, Jun shares what he does cooking for himself at home.
Besides pouring pretty drinks as a barista, this vlogger also bakes and decorates the pretty baked goods served in the cafe.
In one of the videos, he shows how he prepares tarts, tiramisu, chocolate cakes and brownies.
You might not able to smell these desserts but looking at the effort going into them is enough to make you crave sweet food.
4.Aya Coffee
With more than 77,400 subscribers on its YouTube channel, AYA Coffee is a cafe located at Songpa district, Seoul.
According to their Q&A video, this Korean cafe specialises in latte art made from milk and coffee. So brace yourself for lots of amazing latte art in their videos.
The owner Lee Jong-hyeok explained he did not plan to open a cafe at first but was only planning to start a training centre.
In the end, he opened both a cafe and a training centre.
Their most famous video is a vlog of him making the signature caramel sauce used in the cafe.
Check Aya Coffee’s video of how to make the trendy dalgona coffee at home:
5.Sagun Caffeine
Just like Cafeslave Jun, the vlogger behind Sagun Caffeine is also making desserts on tops of making caffeinated drinks.
Filming from Omelas Coffee in Incheon city, the channel has more than 54,500 subscribers.
The dessert that always pop ups in in Sagun Caffeine is dacquoise. It is a dessert cake made with layers of almond and hazelnut meringue and whipped cream or buttery biscuit base.
You can watch him making different flavours of dacquoise such as strawberry and caramel in his videos.
Looking at the way he works, one could tell he is very hands-on in his cafe. From making desserts from scratch, he is also constantly checking the quality of the coffee.
The advantages of making cafe vlogs
If you are a cafe owner/barista, producing your own cafe vlogs is a great way to earn extra income.
Depending on where you are located and the category of your channel, the earning from YouTube videos varies.
Most of these Korean cafe vloggers have Google Adsense advertisements embedded in their videos.
Of course other requirements is that the channel or content must adhere to YouTube guidelines.
As of February 2019, the requirements for YouTube monetisation are to have at least 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months.
Once you are able to make money of your YouTube channel, make sure that your videos are not victims to plagiarism.
Encourage your subscribers to watch and share your videos just like how these Korean cafe vloggers did. Even if the videos are embedded to other websites, only YouTube and video owners will earn revenue from ads on embedded videos; the site owner where the video (for instance KajoMag in this article) will not earn a share.
Sagun Caffeine once made a video disclosing how much he earned in for his cafe vlog.
Apart from that, starting a cafe vlog channel is a great way to market your cafe.
Many of the Korean cafe vloggers on YouTube mentioned in the videos whenever their subscribers came to visit their cafes.
The reach has gone so far that even non-Koreans have commented they would visit the vloggers’ cafes if they are in town.
As for viewers who are not baristas or cafe owners? These vlogs would give you another level of appreciation to what goes into your drink or a slice of your dessert.
