Why Iced Americanos Became Korea's Default Winter Coffee

Step onto a Seoul street in January and you will see the same scene everywhere: people bundled in puffer jackets, holding a cup packed with ice and black coffee. The iced Americano has become Korea's default coffee order in every season, including the coldest months of the year.

Koreans have a name for the people who insist on it: eoljukah (얼죽아), short for "eoreo jugeodo aiseu amerikano" — "even if I freeze to death, iced Americano." The phrase describes both the habit and the people proud of it.

Iced Americanos dominate sales data all year

The habit shows up in hard numbers, not just anecdote. Starbucks Korea's own sales data shows iced drinks made up 77% of everything sold in 2023, up from 74% the year before. Even during a January cold snap that year, more than half of all drinks sold were still iced.

In summer, the iced share climbs to 87–89% of sales. Korea also had more than 106,452 coffee shops in 2023 — outnumbering convenience stores and fried chicken restaurants combined — and one budget chain, Mega MGC Coffee, sold 170 million iced Americanos that year alone.

Independent cafes report the same pattern. Kim Bum-soo, who runs a cafe in downtown Seoul, told AFP that around half his coffee sales are iced Americanos, all year round — a contrast, he noted, with foreign tourists who still tend to order theirs hot.

An order that doubles as an identity

For readers outside Korea, the obvious question is: why not just switch to hot coffee once it gets cold? In Korea, the order is not really about temperature preference. It signals which side of a running joke you're on.

Eoljukah drinkers are jokingly contrasted with 뜨아 (tteu-a) types, who prefer their Americano hot. Korean social media treats the split the way other cultures argue about pineapple on pizza — a half-serious rivalry that turns an ordinary coffee order into a small badge of belonging.

Why do people choose iced over hot coffee?

Office worker Kim, in her 30s, told The Korea Herald she drinks iced Americano "even in winter," explaining: "I like the taste of cold coffee. If it's hot, you have to sip it slowly, but with cold drinks, you can gulp them down immediately."

Accountant Lee Dae-hee gave a similar reason to AFP: iced coffee is a faster, more efficient caffeine hit, which matters in a work culture built around speed.

Cold food has deeper roots than coffee

Iced coffee also taps into an older pattern in Korean food culture: eating cold dishes even in winter. Naengmyeon, a buckwheat noodle dish served in icy broth, was traditionally a winter food, not a summer one — an 1849 text describes it as a November dish, from an era when buckwheat was harvested and ice was only available in the colder months.

"The degree of cold food culture is more extreme in Korea," one Seoul coffee shop owner told AFP, adding that this may help explain why iced coffee took hold so firmly. The same owner noted that foreign tourists, especially visitors from China, still tend to order warm tea even in summer — a sign of how distinctly Korean the cold-drink preference is.

Cheap coffee chains built a business on the habit

The identity did not stay confined to social media. Korea's low-cost coffee chains built their growth strategy around it. Mega Coffee, founded in 2015, and Compose Coffee, founded in 2014, sell a basic Americano for as little as 1,500 won (about $1.10) — a fraction of Starbucks Korea's price.

That price makes drinking iced coffee daily, year-round, financially painless for students and office workers. Mega Coffee's parent company reported sales of 495.9 billion won in 2024, up 34.6% year-on-year, with a 21.7% profit margin — more than three times Starbucks Korea's 6.2%.

A celebrity marketing arms race

Once the habit had scale, the budget chains competed to own it. Compose Coffee signed BTS member V as its brand ambassador. Mega Coffee countered with footballer Son Heung-min and girl group ITZY.

The spending escalated fast: Compose Coffee franchisees were asked to cover 40% of a 7.35 billion won contract renewal for V, sparking backlash from store owners over who should pay for star power.

Even Starbucks Korea, a premium chain, leaned into eoljukah pride rather than compete against it. It ran an "ice challenge" that offered a free size upgrade to customers ordering iced drinks during sub-zero cold snaps.

How idol sightings keep the trend visible

Marketing aside, celebrity visibility reinforces the habit on its own. BTS member Suga has been photographed with iced Americanos despite telling fans he was cutting back on caffeine, and NCT Dream's Jaemin has described ordering eight shots of espresso over ice.

Cup sleeves printed with V's face became sought-after collectibles even while he was completing his mandatory military service — the roughly 18-to-21-month duty required of Korean men — a sign of how far the association between idols and iced coffee reaches.

Korea drinks more than double the world's coffee average

Coffee researchers and cafe executives point to more mundane drivers behind the habit:

• Iced coffee can be drunk in one go, matching Korea's fast-paced "pali-pali" (hurry-hurry) work culture
• Offices and homes are often heated strongly enough that hot coffee feels uncomfortable indoors
• Budget chains made daily iced Americanos cheap enough to be routine, not a treat

A 2019 study by the Hyundai Research Institute found Koreans drink an average of 353 cups of coffee a year, more than double the global average. Coffee bean imports reached a record $1.24 billion in value in 2024, according to Korea Customs Service data.

The habit predates the slang by years

Modern Korean cafe culture is younger than it looks. Starbucks opened its first Korean store near Ewha Womans University in July 1999, through a joint venture with retail group Shinsegae. From that single store, the chain has grown to more than 2,000 locations, making South Korea its third-largest market by store count after the United States and China.

The habit predates the slang. Starbucks Korea data shows iced drinks first overtook hot drinks in 2015, crossing 51% of sales that year and never falling back below it.

The term eoljukah itself is newer. It spread as internet slang around 2019, moving from online forums into everyday speech and eventually onto T-shirts and memes.

It stayed a domestic phenomenon until February 2023, when AFP filed a wire story on the trend that ran in outlets from Hong Kong to Manila, introducing the phrase to international readers for the first time.

Will cheap iced Americanos stay cheap?

The identity is now colliding with economics. Rising global coffee bean prices and a weaker won pushed Mega Coffee to raise its signature Americano from 1,500 to 1,700 won in April 2025 — a small increase, but a test of whether the "cheap enough to drink daily" logic holds as costs rise.

The celebrity-endorsement contest between budget chains shows no sign of slowing, and franchisees are increasingly pushing back on paying for it. Whether that spending keeps scaling, or whether chains pull back, will shape which brand comes to define eoljukah culture next.

How Iced Americano Culture Took Over

Frequently asked

What does eoljukah mean?

Eoljukah (얼죽아) is Korean slang for someone who drinks iced Americano even in freezing weather, short for 'even if I freeze to death, iced Americano.'

Why do Koreans drink iced coffee even in winter?

It doubles as an identity tied to a social-media rivalry with hot-coffee drinkers, plus practical reasons like Korea's fast-paced work culture, strongly heated indoor spaces, and cheap 1,500-won iced Americanos from budget chains.

How much does an Americano cost in Korea?

Budget chains like Compose Coffee and Mega Coffee sell a basic Americano for as little as 1,500 won (about $1.10), far below Starbucks Korea's prices.