Dabang coffee (다방 커피)

The dabang, the Korean tearoom, took shape in the cities of the peninsula in the decades of Japanese rule and became a fixture of Seoul after the war of 1950 to 1953. Coffee was served there to a clientele that met, bargained and idled over a single cup, and the tearoom remained a public parlour of Korean towns well into the later twentieth century. The sweet, milky cup made from instant coffee, powdered creamer and sugar is the drink that the dabang is remembered by. It belongs to the modern strand of the beverage tradition, beside the older teas and grain infusions, and it is carried today by the older tearooms, by the vending machine and by the paper packets sold across the country.

Dabang coffee is a cup of soluble coffee granules, non-dairy or milk powder creamer and white sugar, dissolved together in hot water to a pale, sweet, opaque brown. The standard measure is one spoon of each, and the three are often supplied ready-mixed in a single paper stick. The tearoom version was traditionally served in a small ceramic cup with a spoon, and sometimes finished with a floating egg yolk in an older style of the house. It is a different drink from the filtered or espresso coffee of the modern Korean cafe, and it is judged by its sweetness, its smoothness and its heat.

Dabang coffee is drunk on its own, after a meal, or with a plain biscuit, rice cracker or fruit in the tearoom. It follows a salty, chilli-heavy and fermented meal well because its sugar and milk fat soften the lingering heat and salt on the palate. The cup is small and sweet by design, so it closes a meal or passes an hour without competing with food.