Dongsuh Foods' Maxim signature Mocha Gold coffee mix / Courtesy of Dongsuh Foods By Kwak Yeon-soo In the latest Disney+ hit series, "Moving," instant coffee has a recurring role, underlying character development and historical context. Episode 8 features a moment from 1994, focusing on Lee Mi-hyun (Han Hyo-joo), a character with superhuman senses. She works for a male-dominated intelligence agency and a scene portrays her making a cup of instant coffee for her boss, Deputy Director Min. While Min’s assistant, Miss Kim, had consistently struggled with this seemingly simple task, Lee instantly succeeds in mixing coffee to fit Min's taste as her astute sense of hearing finds her boss's penchant for sweet coffee. Later, Lee shares with Kim the perfect coffee-to-sugar ratio for Min — three tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of coffee powder and two tablespoons of creamer. This detail might appear trivial, but it encapsulates a broader cultural transition. Before the late '90s, the Korean ritual of preparing a cup of coffee involved reaching into three separate jars of coffee powder, creamer and sugar. However, the introduction of the three-in-one coffee mix — the ingredients conveniently pre-mixed in stick pouch — soon took over this tradition with unmatched convenience. In drama “My Mister,” Lee Ji-an (Lee Ji-eun, better known as IU) makes a cup of instant coffee with two coffee sticks after a hard day. Courtesy of tvN Korean dramas have a history of featuring these instant coffee mixes, subtly chronicling their evolution and significance in Korean society. "My Mister" (2018) shows singer-actress Lee Ji-eun, better known as IU, having a cup of instant coffee, made using two whole coffee sticks, after a hard day. In the 2021 drama, "Vincenzo," Song Joong-ki — who plays the eponymous consigliere raised in Italy — falls in love with coffee mix after trying it for the first time in Korea. In Netflix's "Narco-Saints" (2022), Kang In-gu (Ha Jung-woo) is seen bribing a Suriname law enforcement chief with packets of Korean instant coffee. The inclusion of instant coffee in K-dramas and films mirrors its growing popularity and export as Korean contents reach a wider global audience via streaming services. Korean coffee mix exports rose 4.7 percent to $336.19 million in 2022, according to the Korea Agricultural Trade Information. Actors Song Joong-ki, right, and Jeon Yeo-been drink instant coffee in a scene from "Vincenzo." Courtesy of tvN History of instant coffee Coffee mix has been a comfort drink for Koreans since 1976, when Dongsuh Foods, the nation’s largest instant coffee maker, started selling individually packaged instant coffee mix. In 1987, the company introduced instant coffee stick packets in response to consumer concerns over excessive sugar intake. “The first instant coffee came in the form of a pouch, but we later developed the stick where we stack the sugar, creamer and coffee powder,” said Choi Kyung-tae, a representative of Dongsuh Foods. “This enables one to control the amount of sugar added from the end of each stick.” Recalling the spike in demand for coffee mix back in the day, Choi said, “Coffee mix was originally marketed toward those who engaged in outdoor activities, such as hiking, climbing and fishing, but in the late 1990s, they began to be heavily consumed in offices after hot water dispensers found their way into workplaces and people started making their own coffee.” Particularly, the 1997 Asian financial crisis led to massive layoffs and staff who performed simple tasks — such as making coffee — were the first to be let go. Those left behind had to work long hours and grew to rely on coffee mix for the occasional energy boost. Maxim’s coffee mix being packaged at a Dongsuh Foods factory / Courtesy of Dongsuh Food To this day, despite the rise of freshly-brewed coffee and cafe culture, instant coffee mix remains a mainstay in the average Korean office pantry. Sarah Lee, a 34-year-old admin­istrative manager in Seoul, revealed that she always keeps instant coffee in her office kitchen. “Part of my job is to select snacks and drinks for the office pantry. We have a capsule coffee machine for Americano lovers, but we always store instant coffee for those who need a quick sugar rush,” Lee said, adding that she prefers drinking black coffee in the morning and instant coffee mix in the afternoon. To compete with fresh brews from cafes, which began to replace instant coffee from the early 2000s — thanks to the influx of global coffee chains such as Starbucks — Dongsuh Foods launched Maxim Kanu, a new instant brewed coffee brand, in 2011. “Maxim coffee mix, including Original, Mocha Gold and White Gold, are still heavily consumed in offices and public spaces whereas Kanu is more aimed at homes,” Choi said. Kimlyparc's original Korean latte mix / Courtesy of Kimlyparc Korean coffee mix spreads beyond borders Although Dongsuh Foods accounted for 87.9 percent of Korea’s instant coffee market as of 2022, it does not export any of its Maxim coffee mix products. “We are a joint venture with U.S. snack food giant Mondelez International and our business contract allows Dongsuh Foods to only sell Maxim-branded products in Korea, to prevent its products from competing with Mondelez International’s coffee products,” Choi explained. However, its presence is still felt globally. Maxim coffee mixes sold on global e-commerce websites and at Korean supermarkets abroad are from individual resellers who buy them from Korea and sell them online or overseas. Ediya Coffee, the largest coffee chain in Korea with more than 3,800 branches across the nation, rolled out its own instant brewed coffee brand, Beanist, in 2012 and also made inroads into the U.S. market in 2021. It now exports instant coffee mix to 19 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Mongolia and Australia. Ediya's instant coffee mix now constitutes a significant portion of overseas sales, propelled by hallyu, or the Korean wave, showcased in global media. “About 70 percent of Ediya’s U.S. sales come from instant coffee mix. Total sales from January to July 2023 were up 223 percent from a year earlier,” a company representative said. “Instant coffee mix is well received abroad due to its flavor and convenience ... We think frequent exposure of coffee mix products on K-dramas and films has naturally led to increased interest in Korean instant coffee.” Kimlyparc instant coffee brand co-founders Song Chae-yeon, left, and Kim Young-joo / Courtesy of Kimlyparc Universal appeal But it’s not just big coffee shop chains that found business opportunities in instant coffee outside Korea. In May, two young female entrepreneurs in the U.S. launched KimlyParc, an instant coffee brand named after the three most common Korean surnames — Kim, Lee and Park. KimlyParc’s co-founders, Song Chae-yeon and Kim Young-joo, said their mission is to share the rich taste and culture of Korea with coffee lovers all around the world. To this end, they reinvented the 90s-style Korean instant coffee. “We were both born in 1990, and when we were seven or eight, the Asian financial crisis hit Korea. Even though we were very young, we sensed the threat of our country being in big trouble," Song, who moved to the U.S. in 2019, said. “I was very little but I could tell that coffee mix was common in places where people gathered and united during those challenging times. KimlyParc is like a message of encouragement for our generation who also face complex socio-economic challenges like economic downturns, inflation and climate change ... For some people, buying a cup of coffee could be a luxury.” How is their brand different from ones sold by big conglomerates? “We use high-quality ingredients, because people are very health conscious today ... We use vegan creamer, organic unrefined cane sugar and Himalayan pink salt to enrich the flavor. And we emphasize our Korean identity," Kim said. “If you check out our Instagram account, we often post about '90s Korean pop stars, music and coffee shops in Seoul. It’s something we do deliberately to give our brand an identity,” she added. Kim emphasized that the current global spotlight on Korean culture presents the perfect opportunity to share Korean coffee with the world, viewing the beverage not simply as a consumable product, but as an emblem of the nation's culture. “I strongly believe that ‘the most Korean is the most universal,’” she said, paraphrasing a line by Parasite director Bong Joon-ho during his Academy Award acceptance speech in 2020. “Now that we are witnessing a Korean wave with our own eyes, we want to contribute to it,” she added.
