Hockey, figure skating and speed skating aren’t the only competitions underway this month in Gangneung, South Korea.
The town near Pyeongchang that’s hosting winter games ice sports has long been famous for its annual coffee festival.
This year’s festival kicked off Friday and it features tastings, jazz performances and baristas going head to head with their skills.
While tea is a millennium-old tradition in Korea, the country is now coffee-obsessed. It consumes far more per capita than other east Asian countries, like China and Japan.
Gangneung café manage Hyun Min Cho says everybody has different tastes. Some like it sweet, others bitter, sour or savoury. Visitors can find it all on the city’s famous coffee avenue.
But Yi Jong Duck, director of arts and culture for Gangneung, says it wasn’t always this way.
He says that in the 1990s, young couples would take long walks to the beach for vending machine coffee. It was an excuse to go on an all day date. The shops sprouted from there.
In other words, this city’s love affair with coffee has rather romantic roots.
With a report from CTV’s Kevin Gallagher in South Korea
