Coffee on the Beach

[Anchor Lead]

Savoring a cup of coffee on a beach during spring sounds lovely, doesn’t it? The ocean breeze can make your coffee more flavorful and gratifying. In today's close up, we take you to a beach in Gangwon-do Province.

[Pkg]

Along the clean and blue ocean is a street of coffee shops. This is Anmok Beach in Gangneung.

[Soundbite] Kim Nam-hee(Guide) : "The culture of coffee in Gangnueng dates back 2000. Coffee shops, coffee plants and a coffee museum appeared, after the first generation of coffee brewers settled down."

Spanning a kilometer in length, Anmok Beach is home to the first coffee street of Gangneung. Let's have a cup of coffee at this exotic-looking coffee house.

[Soundbite] "One hand-dripped coffee, please."

Ten different types of coffee beans are avalaible here. Brewing a cup of coffee begins with the customers' selection of a coffee variety they'd like to have. Once the customer makes a choice, it's time to grind the chosen coffee bean. Then the coffee is put into a dripper and hot water is poured in. The coffee powder swells in contact with hot water, proving that the beans are fresh.

[Soundbite] Kim Jae-wan(Coffee Shop Owner) : "When I first drank hand-dripped coffee. I was shocked at the good taste of the coffee. So I began to learn how to brew coffee and opened a coffee shop to share good coffee with other people."

Hand-dripped is more aromatic than espresso.

[Soundbite] Eom Joo-hyun(Customer) : "I tried it for the first time. It is flavorful and convenient to drink. It is good."

The coffee street was first formed on Anmok Beach due to coffee vending machines.

[Soundbite] Kim Nam-hee(Guide) : "The coffee street first began in the 1980s with five or six coffee vending machines installed on the beach. The current coffee street was formed later, as it was favored by young people as a good site for dating and became famous."

It is not an exaggeration to say that the city of Gangneung is a huge coffee shop alley.

[Soundbite] "Iced americano, please."

Coffee is poured into an ice-filled can. A lid is placed over the can, which is then pressed in a machine. Now, you can have canned coffee.

[Soundbite] Park Seong-yong(Coffee Shop Owner) : "Coffee in an ordinary cup can be spilled or its flavor becomes faint. The flavor and taste of coffee can be preserved in a can. So I began to make canned coffee."

The sound of opening the can is cheerful. This is a can of freshly brewed, hand-made coffee.

[Soundbite] Park Jae-hyang(Customer) : "It is colder and easy to drink. It is convenient."

Let's have a walk through the woods on the outskirts of the urban area. This is a coffee museum. It features roughly 20,000 coffee-related historical relics and info on the drink's history.

[Soundbite] Shim Ji-eun(Museum Staffer) : "This is a museum that features everything about coffee from its history to the entire process of making a cup of coffee."

This is a coffee farm. The fruits are called coffee cherries.

[Soundbite] "You are now looking at coffee cherries."

About 30,000 trees are growing on this farm, against the expectations that the plants can only be cultivated in tropical countries.

[Soundbite] Jeong Geum-ok(Wonju, Gangwon-do Prov. Resident) : "This is my first time to see them directly. It is amazing."

The coffee streets in Gangneung are filled with the smells of coffee and the ocean, creating a romantic atmosphere.