A Comparative Study of Coffee Culture between Italy and South Korea: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory research compares two particular features of coffee culture, namely the reason why a particular coffee shop is frequented and the reason for going to the chosen coffee shop in Italy and South Korea. A survey was carried out targeted at current undergraduate university students in both countries with data being collected in the late spring and early summer of 2017. The main impetus for this research was to investigate the aforementioned areas given the fact that Italy has such a long standing coffee culture that dates back centuries and is still an industry dominated by independent coffee houses while the Korean coffee industry started developing in the early 1980s and taking off after the 1988 Olympic Games. The Korean coffee industry, in contrast, is driven by the franchise coffee shops such as Starbucks, Café Benne, and The Coffee Bean among others. While both countries have well developed coffee cultures, they developed along very different lines. Data collected from respondents are tabulated and presented followed by an analysis and interpretation of the data. Finally, some suggestions on how to conduct further research in order to better understanding the underpinnings and contributing factors in understanding consumer choice and coffee culture in both Italian and Korea are suggested.