{"id":3102,"date":"2015-07-30T09:45:44","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T16:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/?p=3102"},"modified":"2015-07-30T09:45:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T16:45:44","slug":"diary-blue-bottle-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/?p=3102","title":{"rendered":"Diary: Blue Bottle Coffee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC01754\"<\/p>\n

For a couple years now, I’ve met my Korean speaking partner Mi-young once\u00a0a week at a coffee shop. During\u00a0the first few months we always met at the Tom N Toms just up the street from me, but you can only hear their corporate-issue music loop<\/a>\u00a0so many times before it becomes a problem. Besides, life’s too short, and the city too big, to indulge in that kind of brand loyalty (especially loyalty to a brand that weak). Since breaking away from our original venue, we’ve met at a different Los Angeles coffee shop almost every week, using that mandate as an excuse to set foot in neighborhoods we might not normally have a reason to visit.<\/p>\n

Some neighborhoods change noticeably\u00a0between one time we visit them and the next. Unlike Mi-young’s\u00a0hometown of Seoul, Los Angeles doesn’t tear down and rebuild its structures so fast that you get lost in a neighborhoods you haven’t seen\u00a0a month or two. But things do pop up here at\u00a0what American standards counts as a dizzying pace. This goes most\u00a0for third wave coffee shops, those harbingers of gentrification\u00a0and perfect spots to study languages. (I once tried to explain to Mi-young what “third wave” means in Korean and it kind of worked, although I doubt I’d be able to explain it to anyone in English.)<\/p>\n

I started meeting with Mi-young well before ever having visited Korea, so she helped to prepare me for her homeland not just linguistically, but culturally. Quite a few of our early conversations touched on one Korean culture in particular: coffee culture. She\u00a0described the sheer quantity\u00a0of coffee shops in Seoul as “beyond imagination,” and my first experience of the city suggested she might’ve even downplayed it.<\/p>\n

\"DSC01742\"<\/p>\n

My first morning there, I walked down the street in search of coffee and passed up the first four places I came upon, because all would have required me to enter a plastic surgery clinic to get to them. (Apgujeong, am I right?)\u00a0International chains, national chains, and most of all independents: you can hardly go a block without seeing one or all represented. And unlike American cities, Korean cities don’t labor under the delusion that you can have chains or<\/em> independents, that the former “push out” the latter. They all just get in on the action at once.<\/p>\n

So robust a coffee culture has Korea developed in so short a time that is has also produced its own impressive body of modern literature. Honoring the old language-learning principle to study subject matter that\u00a0interests you, I’ve used some of it for my own reading practice. These past few weeks, I’ve been plowing, dictionary in hand, through\u00a0\uc624\ub298\uc758 \ucee4\ud53c (Today’s Coffee<\/em>), a comic series that tells the story of a young sugar-hating “coffee otaku” barista and his challenge to turn his struggling\u00a0coffee shop around by winning a world barista championship. (Given the Korean tendency to infuse even the lightest fluff with educational material, its chapters come separated by sections straightforwardly explaining coffee’s\u00a0history, nutritive qualities, and preparation techniques. I’m learning a lot.)<\/p>\n

I also picked up \uce74\ud398 \uc11c\uc6b8 (Caf\u00e9<\/em>\u00a0Seoul<\/em>, not to be confused with Caf\u00e9 Noir<\/a><\/em>), a well-designed guidebook to thirty of the city’s most distinctive coffee shops, at a used bookstore here in Koreatown. Though it came out in 2009, making it preposterously old by Korean standards, I haven’t read it out of a need for\u00a0up-to-date information on Seoul’s caf\u00e9s; I’ve read it out of pure fascination that coffee-shop writing has become a genre of its own in Korea, and one with enough interest behind it to support pretty lush publications. It also locks right in to my own worldview, or at least the part of my worldview that knows no more effective way to explore a city than through its coffee.<\/p>\n

So when Mi-young and I met up one week at the Blue Bottle Coffee in Los Angeles’ Arts District, I decided, as Korean writing practice, to do some coffee-shop writing of my own. At the moment, you can see Blue Bottle’s trademark\u00a0blue bottles popping up on empty storefronts all over down, signaling the large-scale San Franciscan invasion on the way, but the Arts District branch led the charge. Blue Bottle got into town by buying the Los Angeles-based Handsome Coffee Roasters, which started up in 2011<\/a> with a philosophy somewhat like the\u00a0\uc624\ub298\uc758 \ucee4\ud53c dude’s: no sugar, no soy, no baked goods, no wi-fi (which I guess I admire in the abstract but can’t stand in reality) \u2014 just coffee, espresso, and “espresso plus milk.”<\/p>\n

\"DSC01747\"<\/p>\n

Naturally, this sent the\u00a0adult babies on Yelp into paroxysms. I got even more good times\u00a0out of reading their “reviews” than I did out of actually going to Handsome; I remember the particularly\u00a0entertaining phrase “I want coffee the way I want it” popping up more than a few times. When the\u00a0Arts District Handsome changed into Blue Bottle, its form stayed basically the same, though the menu expanded: now you can get sugar, cookies, a suitably fabulous milk, and so on.<\/p>\n

Blue Bottle still has pretty much everything I went to its predecessor\u00a0for, although sometimes I miss the old Handsome asceticism. And really, I didn’t go to Handsome that often, not because I wanted coffee the way I wanted it (they served it exactly the way I wanted it), but because of their inconvenient distance from a Metro station. Hopping as the place seems now, that makes me wonder about its long-term viability, and even more so the viability of the Stumptown Coffee Roasters that appeared more recently even deeper in the Arts District. Something tells me Blue Bottle (which has already succeeded in Tokyo) will be smarter about that when they open in Seoul.<\/p>\n

And so my Korean-language writeup of Blue Bottle follows. If you meet up with a language partner, whatever language you may study, I highly recommend bringing them pieces of writing and asking them to correct it. If they’re anything like Mi-young, they’ll get a kick out of doing it, and no other method will more clearly indicate to you the parts of the language you haven’t mastered. You can get away with criminal amounts of solecism in conversation; in writing, your every mistake blinks like a warning light, especially in the aspects of the language that most frustrate\u00a0non-native speakers (particles, am I right?).<\/p>\n

Hmm, \uce74\ud398 \ub85c\uc2a4\uc564\uc824\ub808\uc2a4 \u2014 I feel like there’s a market for that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\ucd5c\uadfc\uc5d0, \ub85c\uc2a4\uc564\uc824\ub808\uc2a4 \uacf3\uacf3\uc5d0 \ud30c\ub780 \ubcd1\ub4e4\uc774 \uc0dd\uacbc\ub2e4. \uc5d0\ucf54 \ud30c\ud06c, \ubca0\ubc8c\ub9ac\uac00, \ubca0\ub2c8\uc2a4\uc640 \ube0c\ub798\ub4dc\ubca0\ub9ac \ube4c\ub529\uc758 \ube48 \uac00\uac8c\uc758 \ucc3d\ubb38 \uc704\uc5d0\uc11c \ubcfc \uc218 \uc788\uac8c \ub410\ub2e4. \ub3c4\ub300\uccb4 \ubb34\uc2a8 \ub73b\uc77c\uae4c? \uadf8\uac83\uc740 \uce68\ub7b5\uc774\ub2e4. \uc0cc\ud504\ub780\uc2dc\uc2a4\ucf54\uc5d0\uc11c \uc628 \ube14\ub8e8 \ubc84\ud2c0 \ucee4\ud53c\uac00 \ub3c4\ucc29\ud588\ub2e4\uace0 \ud55c\ub2e4.<\/p>\n

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\uc5b4\ub290\ub0a0, \ube14\ub8e8 \ubc84\ud2c0\uc740 \ud578\ub4dc\uc12c\ub97c \uc1a1\ub450\ub9ac\uc9f8 \uc0ac\ubc84\ub838\ub2e4. \uadf8\ub798\uc11c \ud578\ub4dc\uc12c\uc758 \uccab \ub85c\uc2a4\uc564\uc824\ub808\uc2a4 \uc9c0\uc810\uc774 \ube14\ub8e8 \ubc84\ud2c0\uc758 \uccab \ub85c\uc2a4\uc564\uc824\ub808\uc2a4 \uc9c0\uc810\uc774 \ub418\uc5c8\ub2e4. \uba54\ub274\ub294 \uc2e0\uc18d\ud558\uac8c \ub9ce\uc544\uc84c\ub2e4. \uc9c0\uae08\uc740 \uba87 \uac00\uc9c0\uc758 \ucee4\ud53c, \uc5d0\uc2a4\ud504\ub808\uc18c\uc640 \ucc28\uac00 \uc788\uace0 \uacfc\uc790\ub098 \ucf00\uc775\ub3c4 \uba39\uc744 \uc218 \uc788\ub2e4. (\ud2b9\ubcc4\ud55c \uc6b0\uc720\ub3c4 \uc27d\uac8c \uc8fc\ubb38\ud560 \uc218 \uc788\ub2e4.)<\/p>\n

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\ubb3c\ub860 \ub2e4\ub978 \ubbf8\uad6d \ub3c4\uc2dc\ub4e4\ucc98\ub7fc \ub178\uc219\uc790\ub3c4 \ubcf4\uc778\ub2e4. \uadf8\ub807\uac8c \uc544\ud2b8 \ub514\uc2a4\ud2b8\ub9ad\uc740\u00a0\uc544\uc9c1 \ubc1c\uc804\ud558\uace0 \uc788\ub294 \ub3d9\ub124\uc774\uae30 \ub54c\ubb38\uc5d0 \ud578\ub4dc\uc12c\ub098 \ube14\ub8e8 \ubc84\ud2c0\u00a0\uce74\ud398\uac19\uc740 \uc0c1\uc5c5\uc758 \uae30\ud68c\uac00 \ucd09\ub9dd\ub418\ub294 \uc9c0\uc5ed\uc774\ub2e4. \ud3ec\ud2c0\ub79c\ub4dc\uc5d0\uc11c \uc628 \uc2a4\ud140\ud504\ud0c0\uc6b4\u00a0\ucee4\ud53c\u00a0\ub85c\uc2a4\ud130\ub3c4 \uac78\uc5b4\uc11c 15\ubd84 \uac70\ub9ac\uc5d0 \uc788\ub2e4. \uadf8\ub7f0\ub370 \ub450 \uacf3 \ub2e4 \ub2e8\uc810\uc740, \uc9c0\ud558\ucca0\uc5ed\uc5d0\uc11c \uc880 \uba40\ub2e4\ub294 \uac83\uc774\ub2e4. \uadf8\ub7fc\uc5d0\ub3c4 \ubd88\uad6c\ud558\uace0 (\uadf8\ub4e4\uc740 \uadf8\ub798\ub3c4) \uacb0\uad6d \uc131\uacf5\ud560 \uc218 \uc788\uc744\uae4c?<\/p>\n

\uc804\ubc18\uc801\uc73c\ub85c\u00a0\ube14\ub8e8 \ubc84\ud2c0\uc740 \uc131\uacf5\ud55c \ud68c\uc0ac\uc774\ub2e4. \ub274\uc695\uacfc \ub3c4\ucfc4\uae4c\uc9c0 \ucee4\ud53c\ub97c \uc0ac\ub791\ud558\ub294 \uc0ac\ub78c\ub4e4 \uc0ac\uc774\uc5d0\uc11c \uc774\ubbf8 \uc720\uba85\ud558\ub2e4. (\uadf8\ub798\ub3c4 \ub0b4\uac00 \uc544\ub294 \ucee4\ud53c\uad11 \uba87\uba85\uc740 \ub9db\uc774 \uc5c6\ub2e4\uace0 \uc8fc\uc7a5\ud55c\ub2e4.) \ub098\ub3c4 \uc88b\uc544\ud558\ub294\ub370, \uac00\ub054\uc529\uc740 \ud578\ub4dc\uc12c\uc758 \uc5c4\uaca9\ud568\uc774 \uadf8\ub9ac\uc6b4 \uac83\ub3c4 \uc0ac\uc2e4\uc774\ub2e4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a couple years now, I’ve met my Korean speaking partner Mi-young once\u00a0a week at a coffee shop. During\u00a0the first few months we always met at the Tom N Toms just up the street from me, but you can only hear their corporate-issue music loop\u00a0so many times before it becomes a problem. Besides, life’s too […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,5,72,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coffee","category-korea","category-language","category-los-angeles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3102"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3114,"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions\/3114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}