The Kpop Coffee Experience

The other day my New Jersey partner in k-crime, Regina, sent me a high alert Instagram. I believe it said something like CHECK THIS OUT. MUST DO THIS ASAP. ROADTRIP??? If you check out the post, you can probably see just why she was so excited about this place…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHBHdkUhBmb/?taken-at=998021965

Yep. As you can see this was pretty much a slam-dunk, no brain required, hellz yeah, how fast can we get there, why can’t we go right now sort of decision. Plus, I’m a girl who does enjoy a nice car ride. Public transportation can get…icky.

Deep in the heart of Palisades Park there is a coffee shop called, Kudo Society. After the GDragon post, I did what Regina demanded of me and followed their Instagram and was immediately inundated with mouthwatering concoctions like Sweet Potato Patbingsu, Kimchi Pulled Pork Rice Bowls, and Kudossant (a handmade croissant waffle). For a girl in the midst of a lifestyle change, this is food porn at it’s finest and most painful.

Thanks to the handy GPS, we found the place pretty easily, realizing its close proximity to the Super H-Mart and our favorite Korean restaurant. The place was bright and welcoming with seating outside and in. Since NJ is DISGUSTING in the summertime, we immediately went for the inside.

Which is where we hit a road block. There is a giant menu where everything looks amazing but didn’t actually see anything mentioning the illusive Kpop Coffee. As I have a fairly low self-embarrassment rate, I was a bit afraid to ask — but egged on by a no shame having Regina and my own unquenchable desire for a Junsu (yes, I came in with an idol in mind) coffee made me step up and ask… “Uhhh…I saw this thing on Instagram….can I have GDragon on a coffee?” Clears throat awkwardly.

The cheerful girl behind the counter said, of course I can have a GDragon coffee, nicely enough that it assured me I wasn’t being the most ridiculous person in the world for wanting one, and told me that through their app, they could put on any picture I wanted! Let’s just get this out of the way now: SQUEEEEE!

Here comes the hard part though. Choosing just what picture to choose. I was a fool! I may have come with a plan in my head, but it was a half-assed plan at best. I knew my idol, but had I bothered to figure out a picture? No. And thanks to last weekend’s Kcon, my dataplan was zilch. Luckily, Regina set me up with her phone and we went to work scrolling and choosing just what picture we thought would capture Junsu best in coffee. Here were our options:

So, here’s how it works. 1) find a place which will do this for you. I, of course, recommend Kudo Society.

2) Download the Coffee Ripple app.  Yes, this is Regina’s wallpaper.

3) Choose create ripple. (I recommend being more prepared than I was…)

4) Choose picture. Fiddle with Contrast.

5) Fit picture into circle

5) Pretend not be be really concerned about your life choices and how old you are when you press send.

6) Giggle to yourselves until the owner comes over and tells you you may want to choose another picture or change the resolution for it to show up properly. Then, while you’re going through the app again, trying to decide on another picture, makes the original coffee for you, just so you can see what he’s talking about.

 

LOOK AT THAT! That’s Junsu’s mug on a mother flippin’ mug of coffee.

7) Back to the Junsu drawing board.

8) Check out the cool machine as they set up to make your coffee.

9) Watch as the Coffee is being made!

The Kpop Coffee Experience at @kudosociety ! Anyone care to sip upon Junsu? #killercoffee #kpop #junsu #squee #coffee

A video posted by Stephanie (@kchatjjigae) on Jul 2, 2016 at 1:33pm PDT

Check out the finished work of coffee art! Well, hello there, Junsu! Nice to see you around these parts…

Come on, how freaking cool is that?? I’m not going to lie, this was probably the highlight of my weekend. Sorry Regina, you’re cool and all, but this is Junsu…ON MY COFFEE. Of course, this brought about another unexpected problem. How do you drink Junsu’s face?? My coffee was quite cold before I could bear to take my first sip. But I managed.

On top of all that awesome, the owner of Kudo came midst giggle for a chat and delivered us a serving of the Kudossant! For the love of GDragon, it was so yummy.

This place is #1 with a bullet to come back to when Fangirl Musings comes to visit us this month before heading to Kcon. Kpop coffee and a norabong next door? How can you say no??