One of the first cafes I went to in Korea is pictures to the right: Princeton Square. With a name like that I'm sure you'd all expect something fancy, pricey, and filled with snobs. Well, you'd be correct. It calls itself a 'library cafe', meaning that there are walls with lots of books on them. But, unlike a library, you can't actually check the books out, nor are they in any particular order or following any dewy decimal system. Rather, they are just a bunch of random Korean books on shelves for you to look at while you drink your expensive coffee beverage. It was here, guys and dolls, that I discovered coffee boys. I talk a lot about these infamous coffee boys in Korea, but it was back in 2007 when I was sitting inside this cafe, studying with my friend, that I realized something very life changing: Cafes in Korea try to only hire good looking boys. This offsets the high cost of the coffee, and oftentimes the low quality of their product, because at the end of the day, you really only go into a cafe like this for one of two reasons: the atmosphere or the workers (or both). Hell, I don't even know how good the coffee at Princeton Square is, I only go for the eye candy. Anyone who tells you differently is lying, plain and simple. Because, guys and dolls, if you want good coffee you go to your regular joints that have good coffee (Starbucks, Caribou, etc.), you don't go to some unknown cafe. Unless they roast their own beans, which most do not, it's just coffee they buy wholesale, probably from COSCO. It's all about the boys, plain and simple.
Unfortunately, these coffee boys know they're pretty and aren't incredibly nice/have good service. Also, the rare independent cafe that DOES roast its own beans and engage in other fancy coffee practices is gold when you find it!
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