Single-serving drip coffee bags

Though tea may be a more traditional Asian drink, coffee popularity is on the rise in Korea. Single-serving sachets of instant coffee are ubiquitous in teachers' offices and lounges across the country, and many restaurants place instant coffee machines by the door for customers to get their fix on their way out. Coffee shops are becoming BIG business - in my neighborhood alone there are about a dozen.

Single-serving drip coffee bags, produced by the ever-inventive Japanese since the 1990's, are a relatively new product in Korea. They must have received a big marketing boost lately. A couple of months ago they were being offered as gifts with the purchase of bags of coffee. Now they're being sold in packages in Family Mart, empty or in pre-filled with a measured amount of coffee grounds. They're a great option for camping aficionados who don't want to pack a french press or deal with grounds in the bottom of their "cowboy coffee" cup.

Though I'm not a fan of the excessive amount of wasteful packaging that goes into most Korean products, this semi-reusable all-paper filter beats the metallic plastic instant-coffee sachets that they could replace.