Passion in coffee
Coffee seems to have become more important than rice in South Korea. Evidence shows that the price is similar or even more than that of a normal mealwe most commonly eat at a restaurant. It is not surprising though coffee today is not just made but with a barista’s passion, technique and craftsmanship. In addition, roasting seems to has reached to a level of art as how a barista roasts the coffee beans decides the taste of uniqueness.
Kim Young-bum, CEO of Liebe, is a master barista who is obsessed with nothing but coffee. He is the one who invented ‘Koreacano’ as opposed to ‘Americano’ by roasting the coffee beans in low temperatures for a long time and then to extract; even after a day, the flavor does not change and the taste clean and deep. Those who tried said Koreacano suits perfectly the appetite of Koreans as Americano does to Americans. The low temperature roasted coffee of Liebe lasts the flavor even after a day and the taste remained the same even after 2 to 3 days. In order to best taste the essence of this low temperature roasted coffee, you are highly recommended to try Geisha Americano at Liebe.
Liebe uses COE or premium coffee beans. COE(ACE, Alliance for Cup of Excellence) is a coffee organization consisted of 11 countries centered around Latin America. It hold a coffee competition every year and the judges test more than 5 times for the finals; those who scored more than 87 are entitled to participate in auction. In other words, Liebe uses high quality coffee beans to make coffee.
▲ Kim Young-bum, CEO of Liebe |
Liebe dripper
Kim’s brainchild ‘Liebe dripper’extracts coffee even a barista pour over the water at once and the extract takes about a minute. The longer the extract time the richer the coffee. “Hand drip used to be an exclusive property of baristas. So I made Liebe dripper for everybody to do hand drip easy and nice. So everybody can do it regardless their age as long as they have strength to pick up a drip port or pour down the water” says Kim.
Liebe dripper is innovative in terms of everybody-use-friendly as well as clean and deep or a variety of tastes depending on the way the person pours water in. No experience is needed to use Liebe dripper but just the love of coffee either home or commercial.
지윤석 기자 jsong_ps13@naver.com