The monk baristas
By Alessandro Carosi
I had wanted to go to South Korea for a long time, for several reasons: to see an old friend again, to understand the world of Korean coffee, which plays an important role in the lives of Koreans, and to learn about Buddhism.
I like to volunteer when I travel because I find it one of the best ways to understand the local society and culture I am going to immerse myself in, as I love the world of coffee, I always try to combine the two. Recently, I volunteered on a plantation in northern Thailand and three years ago at a coffee roastery in Bangkok.
Before leaving for Seoul, where I wanted to spend a couple of months, I started sending emails and messages on Instagram to every café and roastery in the city in the hope of finding someone willing to give me a place to stay or food in exchange for free labour, I wanted to get into the South Korean coffee industry, but despite my efforts and hundreds of messages, I couldn’t find anything. The trip to Asia would go ahead anyway, and if I couldn’t do it by work
... Show more...The monk baristas
By Alessandro Carosi
I had wanted to go to South Korea for a long time, for several reasons: to see an old friend again, to understand the world of Korean coffee, which plays an important role in the lives of Koreans, and to learn about Buddhism.
I like to volunteer when I travel because I find it one of the best ways to understand the local society and culture I am going to immerse myself in, as I love the world of coffee, I always try to combine the two. Recently, I volunteered on a plantation in northern Thailand and three years ago at a coffee roastery in Bangkok.
Before leaving for Seoul, where I wanted to spend a couple of months, I started sending emails and messages on Instagram to every café and roastery in the city in the hope of finding someone willing to give me a place to stay or food in exchange for free labour, I wanted to get into the South Korean coffee industry, but despite my efforts and hundreds of messages, I couldn’t find anything. The trip to Asia would go ahead anyway, and if I couldn’t do it by working in a coffee shop, I would look for something else. …. anextraordinaryandordinarylife…
