After returning from the Busan Coffee Show in Korea, Green Stone Coffee founder and instructor Hui-Ling “Kelly” Wang brought back a selection of coffees from contemporary Busan and Korean coffee roasters to share with coffee enthusiasts in Taiwan.
The special tasting events were hosted at Mr. Dou-Dou Coffee, a newly opened café in Muzha, Taipei, founded by Green Stone alumnus Blues Chen.
Rather than simply tasting different coffees, the events were designed as an opportunity to explore Korean coffee culture, contemporary roasting styles, coffee blending, and café business concepts through an interactive tasting experience.
During her visit to Busan, Kelly explored local cafés, roasters, and the coffee exhibition, observing how Korean specialty coffee businesses approach roasting, blend development, branding, and café concepts.
These observations became part of the tasting program, allowing participants in Taipei to experience selected coffees while also learning about the business and creative thinking behind Korea’s contemporary coffee scene.
The session focused on three main themes:
Busan Café & Coffee Business Models
Observations and insights from Busan’s contemporary specialty coffee market.
The Art of Coffee Blending
Understanding how different coffees can be combined to create distinctive flavor structures and brand identities.
Interactive Blend & Single-Origin Tasting
Comparing selected blends and single-origin coffees from Korean roasters through guided pour-over tasting.
The tasting lineup included coffees collected from several Korean specialty coffee roasters.
Momos Coffee｜2024 Seasonal Blend
A contemporary blend from one of Korea’s well-known specialty coffee brands. Participants explored how a leading Korean coffee company approaches blend design and flavor expression.
SPELL｜Signature Blend
Discovered at the Roastery Village during the Busan coffee exhibition, SPELL offered another perspective on the creativity of Busan’s independent roasting scene.
DNU Coffee｜Fruit Tone Blend
A blend from a Korean roaster known for coffee education and roasting, providing participants with an opportunity to explore a fruit-forward approach to blend development.
Strut Coffee｜Single-Origin Selection
A selected single-origin coffee from a well-known independent roaster in Busan’s Jeonpo coffee district.
Additional surprise coffees were also introduced during the sessions, creating an interactive blind-tasting element for participants.
The event also represented another form of collaboration within the Green Stone Coffee Academy alumni community.
The coffees were prepared and served as pour-over by the team at Mr. Dou-Dou Coffee, led by Green Stone alumnus Blues Chen, while Kelly guided the tasting and discussion.
By bringing together international coffee observations, professional tasting, alumni entrepreneurship, and public coffee education, the event created a learning experience that extended beyond the traditional classroom.
The two tasting sessions were successfully held on May 31 and June 2 in Taipei.
Participants responded positively to the interactive format and particularly enjoyed discovering new ways of thinking about coffee blends, flavor design, and contemporary Korean specialty coffee culture.
For Green Stone Coffee Academy, international coffee exhibitions are not only opportunities to discover new products and trends. They also provide inspiration that can be brought back into our coffee education, tasting events, professional training, and alumni community in Taiwan.
