Coffee Prince Ep 12

[Michele Firmasyah]

Thedrama portrays the story of an unlikely romance between a tomboyish woman, who dresses like a man in order to get work, and a young food empire mogul. It contains homoerotic elements, as the man does not initially know of the tomboy's true sex.[3] Hailed as a hit for its high ratings, the drama received positive reviews from critics and won multiple awards.

Choi Han-gyeol (Gong Yoo) is the grandson of chairwoman Bang (Kim Young-ok) of Dong-in Foods, a company that has a thriving coffee business. He has never had a job and does not care for responsibility. Han-gyeol is hung up on his first love, Han Yoo-joo (Chae Jung-an), who only sees him as a friend. Go Eun-chan (Yoon Eun-hye) is a 24-year-old tomboy who is often mistaken for a guy. Her father died when she was 16 years old and since then she has taken over as the breadwinner in her family. When Han-gyeol and Eun-chan meet, he, not knowing that she is a girl, decides to hire her to pretend to be his gay lover so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother.

After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han-gyeol takes over a rundown old coffee shop, later renamed "Coffee Prince," to prove that he's capable, both to his grandmother and to Yoo-joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good-looking male employees. Eun-chan, desperate for money, continues to hide her gender to get a job at Coffee Prince.

It aired in the Philippines on GMA Network from January 1 to March 19, 2008 and received high ratings during its run.[11] The series was re-aired with English subtitles on Animax Asia in 2010 and on GMA News TV from September 19 to October 14, 2016 at 11:00pm.

If you've watched the Korean love drama series The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, I'm sure you'd like to visit the coffee shop in that was used as their filming location. That's right, there's a real Coffee Prince Cafe in Seoul!

I'm a big fan of the K-drama TV series too so on a recent trip to South Korea, I made it a point to visit the Coffee Prince Coffee Shop. If you'd like to learn more about the cafe as well as hear about my Coffee Prince Seoul experience, please read on.

The show became very popular not only in Korea but also all over Asia that when the series ended, the coffee shop's owner decided to retain the illustrations on the walls and windows, keep the new layout and use "The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince" as the shop name.

When my husband and I visited the shop in Hongdae, we were happy to find the painting of sunflowers by Han Yoo-Joo on the wall, Go Eun-Chan's doodles on the glass windows, and almost every prop that you can find in the drama. Coffee Prince photos, t-shirts, and other fan merchandise are on display for sale by the bar.

I wish we could have seen the actual cast members working there but instead we were served by a couple of young male and female baristas, possibly students at the nearby University. They were friendly and game enough to pose for pics but of course, nothing beats seeing Eun Chan, Han Kyul and the rest of the TV series characters working behind the bar. There are framed autographs by the cast members hanging on the walls - I guess that's as close as we can get to actually seeing them in person.

My husband ordered Hot Cocoa and I got a Green Tea Latte. They tasted alright, there's nothing spectacular about them, but as expected they were a bit on the steep side. We paid KRW 7,000 (equivalent to around US$ 6) for the latte and KRW 6,500 (equivalent to around US$ 5.65) for the small cup of cocoa but then we figured we don't get to set foot on Seoul a.k.a. K-drama land on a regular basis anyway.

I expected to see Korean tourists there since Coffee Prince has a large fan base in its home country but I was surprised to see American and Japanese tourists taking photos under the signage with their trademark peace ("V") signs. That was when I realized that Coffee Prince and Korean love dramas in general have really made it into the world market. Awesome.

Ah, I see you like K-Dramas. My girl is obsessed with that country, with everything from its food, to its music to the people, and of course the dramas. She actually got me watching this show called 'Innocent Defendant' starring Ji Sung and Um Ki-joon. It was awesome!

He deliberately brings up the name Yu Ju to provoke Eun Chan, and she gets the message, leaving right away. Han Sung walks her home as she tells him despondently how Han Gyul wants her to quit work. Starting to cry, Eun Chan explains:

Uncomfortable, she takes over. Min Yub rushes in, elated that Eun Sae has texted him to meet for dinner, and grabs her in a huge hug. Unable to stand watching that, Han Gyul immediately breaks them apart.

Later, Han Gyul overhears Eun Chan talking cheefully to Han Sung over the phone as she does the dishes. Ha Rim brings in an improperly washed cup (a customer complained), and Han Gyul vents his jealousy by scolding her. She apologizes, and offers to do the after-hours cleaning.

i love han gyul because he's willing to step on his pride to be with the guy (yeah i forget sometimes too, haha) he likes. i mean, most "men" that think they have to be Manly Men would never accept the fact that they like a dude. homosexuality is just not on their Manly List of Manly Things To Do. and for that, han gyul is love.

Thanks for the quick summary, javabeans!

The way Min Yub carried Ha Rim into Mr. Hong's house like a school bag, was funny as hell! Hahah....

And of course.... the kiss is just so perfect. I think, by far the softest kiss on screen ever.

Han Gyul finally gives in! Hooray!

Argh, but as you said, this episode is similar to QSS episode 9...

Too sweet and too wonderful a scene.... this could only mean something is imminent in the near future.... *huaaa*

We saw the preview already..... Han Gyul's going to find out that Eun Chan is a girl, in the next two episodes, right? Urgh.... he's going to get reaaallll angry... =X

WOW

that was an amazing episode, and recap

Thank you Dramabeans!

I find it refreshing that, it looks like, CP is trying to go a bit deeper than most other kdramas, and I'm really appreciating that the writers are not being limited by certain beliefs.

Poor Han Gyul, he is and is going to be in alot of pain because of Eun Chan, this drama is turning out to be a very original drama, and the actors deserve quite a bit of the credit. They've taken the story and made it into a visually and emotionally tangible work. I love how they are dealing with this idea of homosexuality, that finally he admits to himself that he loves Eun Chan, no matter who she/he is. For the person inside, for the character, strength, and honesty of Eun Chan. I cannot wait for next week, only two more weeks of this awesome drama!!!

whaaa.....i thought this would be the episode where eun chan's identity as a girl would be revealed but i guess not.....hahahaha...have to wait till next week then.....good episode....now, the hard part is trying to get it together so i will last until next week for 2 more episodes....thank you javabeans for the translations.

thanks for your summary!! now everyone finally knows eun chan's real gender. only han gyul is left to find out - wonder if he'll be happy that he's not a homo or will he be furious that eun chan was lying to him the whole time?

Thank you very much. This episode was both heart-wrenching and enchanting by turns. Right now though, I don't expect HK is going to take this big reveal very well. In a way, I think Coffee Prince is mostly about his journey and let's not forget he's still got family deception? to deal with as well.

Thank you so much for summarizing this for us!! I also LOVE Coffee Prince. Too bad the episodes (raw ones) don't come out as fast as ur summaries...and I'm not even Korean but I look forward to this every week! Especially with ur thoughtful inputs! Reading this makes me want to watch the episodes even more. I hope these butterfly feelings can last til the end of the series!

I like this new plot development because it officially shows that HG likes Eun Chan for Eun Chan, for her personality regardless of her gender and that's wonderful. Ah, this week's episodes make waiting for next week's even harder...

You know, I actually wasn't even going to follow this drama because I was indifferent to the cast. What made me decide otherwise is simply curiosity as I wanted to see YEH's gender transformation and also, the title drew me in because coffee is cool, javabeans is cool and so, by association, coffee prince must be cool as well, right? lol..

You know... of all the "competing women" I've seen in dramas, I like YuJu the best. There's no malice... no condescension. Although, at first, I didn't like her. She's... intuitive, insightful, thoughtful... a good head on her shoulders. I'm sorry to hear that she's planning on going to the States--maybe she'll change her mind and end up w/ HanSung in the end?

He is bound to figure EC is a girl sooner or later but it's really a hard bet on his reaction. There is a think line differentiating between feeling elevated and perhaps lied to at the same time. HG will probably be more relaxed [mentally] if he knows that she is a girl; however, there will be in him an unforgiving feeling that she lied to him and made him struggle. By then, he will probably face his pride of being lied to. I think they wont be happy together for a while until he can let go of his pride and forgive her. I guess she should spend sometimes feeling remorseful of what she lied, although it can be understandable due to family circumstance and fear of rejection.

I know exactly what you mean in reminding you of QSS. I could almost see Tae Joo's inner conflicts when I saw Han Gyul struggle, but I feel TJ's personality was more volatile, almost violent (because his character was meant to be like that), I appreciate the tenderness and humaneness in HG's struggle in Ep 9 and 10. I also appreciate that he shared with Ha Rim, which made me realize how important this is to HIM, thats his own personal struggle, because I think the number one issue would have been the taboo: how will everyone else think of me? but the PD takes this to a very different level, and really makes it (in this episode) of how Han Gyul needs to sort it out within himself and for himself. Reminds me of Brokeback Mountain in that sense.

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