A cup of coffee, a simple dish made with love, and two friends gather together for charity work, this is what Coffee Friends is all about. Continuing the project that the two friends; Yoo Youn Seok and Son Ho Jun have started in the beginning of 2018, a charity act by selling coffee in a truck. It was a monthly project, and Na Young Seuk PD offered them “how about in December, you do it with us in Jeju.” *cheering background.
They were hesitating in the first place because they had planned to take a month off in December *bwaa, but thank goodness they agreed and worked even harder. Youn Seok learned how to cook and practiced every day until he got used to with all the works required. Ho Jun also learned how to bake. He got his barista license for a year already. The two had divided the part in the project; Youn Seok would be in charged in kitchen making delicious brunch menu and Ho jun would be in charged in coffee making and also bread making. The two then visited the place where the project will take place. Instead of a truck, they will open a brunch cafe in Jeju, surrounded by a tangerine orchard in Jeju island!!
They absolutely couldn’t run it by just the two of them. Choi Ji Woo was recruited (forever victim of Na PD show haha) became the hall manager, and Yang Se Jong, the cute mangnae* was taking a role to make sure everything went smoothly for the two bosses. The project did not have a big media press or anything so they needed to invite the customers by themselves. Na PD always let the show be natural, and so Youn Seuk innitiated to give out polaroid pictures to people on the street that they were doing this charity cafe. First day went a little bit clumsy, but they managed it trough out the day and earned 500,000 plus won for their first income.
All the works done by these celebrities, from washing the dishes, making bread, grinding the coffee beans, and tangerines picking. They realized that kitchen and hall needed more hands so they invited one more person to help. Jo Jae Yun was invited! This was when things get warmer. He then got the first grandeur welcome ceremony. All original casts would hum the Star Wars theme song (the troops song) while giving the washing apron and the rubber gloves *aha. Se Jong was promoted become a kitchen assistant. Jo Jae Hyun took turn to wash the dishes in the glorious room where nobody could see him. He did the job nicely though, made everyone felt at ease and the kitchen flow went smoother than the first day. However, he could not stay with them more than two days; thus, the other part timer recruitments began. From Yunho – Uknow (TVXQ), Sehun from EXO, Baro from B1A4 (formerly worked with NA Pd on Youth Over Flowers in laos), Kang Daniel (wanna one), even a legend chef named Baek Jong Won, and the handsome Nam Joo Hyuk (3 meals a day) came to help … all were the human dish washer. It was so hilarious to see all the part timers got the ceremonious welcome greet including Chef Baek *lol. The casts were the one created this momentum tradition. All ended up washing the dishes (again, including CHEF BAEK! hahaha). It was so funny.
The Cafe went from two brunch menu to dinner menu. From over 500,000 won to about 3,000,000 won donation. It was true that the cafe would be a hit because of these handsome actors and angelic Choi Ji Woo attract the fans, but it also touched the heart of customers trough the hard works for all the casts. Son Ho jun needed to grind the coffee beans for the hand dripped coffee (which was super popular), Yang Se Jong needed to run around to help whoever needed help, Choi Ji Woo needed to fold the napkins for the cutlerie every night before opening, Yoo Youn Seuk was once breaking down because felt too overwhelmed with the piled up orders, and all the partimers had to suffer in the isolated pantry. It was all worth it for them, for the customers, and for us the viewers as I did feel touched as well.
SPOV
As always, Na PD’s idea of reality show is truly a reality. He got eyes (or heart) for a kind-hearted people. All of his casts were able to make us viewers enjoyed with the simple-concept show. Just by showing their daily routines in opening a cafe, we could sit down and watch every episode (just like what I did with Three Meals a day) . Coffee Friends had a similar concept with Youn’s kitchen (where celebrities; hand picked by Na PD, opened a restaurant in a foreign country), but what’s special about this because we were able to feel how hard they worked. They almost never talked to each other during the open hours. One episode could be full of how chaotic the kitchen was, how they created a new menu, and how exhausted they got at the end of the day. On the other side, we would see a lot of hugging, food feeding, and a hand with coffee or refreshment when one of them were tired. That’s what make this show is perfect fit in a winter time (they shot this in the end of 2018 towards 2019).
There was no proper script for the show, everyone was so busy as it was a real reality show. Every cast was being themselves. I was especially drawn to Yang Se Jong. He really showed his genuine heart to help the other casts. He talked to himself, repeated what he had to do, and went from a clumsy mangnae to a point where everybody relied on him. He took charge for briefing the new part time, picked the tangerines from the tree, prepped the food, grinded coffee, took orders, cooked the stew, and organized the orders. In my personal opinion, he was the star of the show *twinklingeyes
Another strength of Na PD show is his beautiful shots, great editings, funny captions, and good music. However, this is the show where Na PD actually did not direct the show. He switched place to be a creative director; instead, Park Hae Young directed the show. No wonder we got to see a very sexy shot of food and drinks. It was like a show from Asian food channel (even better). Park Hae Young had been working with Chef Baek for two of his shows; thus, she had a better experience in food show.
Nevertheless, what I love the most about this show was how willing the casts involved in the project. They took time to develop a new menu and how genuine they were in showing their raw emotion. This show was one of a few shows that made me teary. There’s one moment when I got really teary was when a girl and a mother came for the girl’s birthday party. It happened when Sehun was the part timer, and the girl was actually a fan of him. He brought out the cake and sang “happy birthday” with all the people in the cafe, and the mother gave out the cake to everybody. The girl said genuinely “this is the best day of my life,” it was such a simple gesture. There was definitely no script for the customers. All reactions were real and natural. Their first reaction when they first saw the beautiful neat dishes presented to them, the first sip of their coffee freshly made by Ho Jun, and when they donated. There was no fixed price on the menu just a note for them to donate as much as they wanted. There was one lady who put KRW 100,000 because she was moved and enjoyed the meal.
Finally, the last day! The most emotional one, the greatest team work day, the most loaded customers, the highest donation they got. I saw the last chant in the morning when they began the day, I almost chocked up. They indeed developed a better chemistry each time they worked together. By a silent eye contact they could understand what they were supposed to do, they were able to be aware of each other with less talk. How each one of them took innitiative in helping each other. I particularly love seeing Youn Seuk and Se Jong worked in the kitchen finishing each other work.
I could say that they were not perfect for running the cafe, but in their clumsiness, they did their best. Remembering that they were indeed celebrities and not professionals in the kitchen. I could see all the satisfaction in the customers and how popular the cafe became. They reached 12 million dollar donation in total. When they figured the total out, they said “thank you” to all the donators.
In the end, it is a show about affection and warmth. Thank you for being our “Coffee Friends” and I am not lying that I am craving for Iced Americano and French Toast after watching the whole episodes. 🙂
CVB
