Walk the Walk, Sip the Coffee: My Time at Gwangju’s Annual Coffee Walk

By Johanna Lezada

This year’s Coffee Walk (커피 산책) in Dongmyeong-dong was an event that truly exceeded my expectations. As someone who couldn’t go a day without a good cup of coffee, I just knew I had to go to this event and experience all that the coffee bean had to offer here in downtown Gwangju.

The annual Dongmyeong Coffee Walk is a resident–business, win-win festival that has been held every November since 2021, where residents and visitors of the famed Café Street can taste not only the different kinds of coffee but also the different flavors of desserts, as well as the local culture, raw talent, and coffee shop ambience as they stroll along.

With every year offering a variety of experiences, here is my initial take on this year’s festival: I thought it was an unexpectedly tiny event.

Upon walking up to the entrance of the Coffee Walk, there were booths lined up in the middle of Café Street with each coffee shop serving not just tasty coffee but also delectable desserts, with interior decorations, jewelry, organic snacks, and even strawberry jam made straight from the farms of Damyang! Each coffee shop so flaunted what made their establishment unique that I struggled to choose which one to check out first! I couldn’t help but admire the passion and effort that went into every booth to promote their business – it only further validated my desire to be a barista as a part-time job.

Suddenly, we reached the end of the booths. My brother and I looked straight ahead, left and right, but it seemed as though the Coffee Walk had truly ended there. With no more booths left to check out, I decided to turn around and go back and forth across the booths, seeing what else I could purchase until I got back to the entrance – and lo and behold…

There were even more booths lined up along the street to the right of our entrance, and as if the scent of coffee beckoned me, I followed this long line of booths – all of which were serving a variety of snacks and meals, and even providing game prizes for customers to win – to its end, eager for more until I stumbled upon what I now recognized as the main entrance to the Coffee Walk Festival.

My mouth gaped. The fool I was to not have seen this sooner! There before me was the central hub of the festival, filling with crowds of eager customers, a plethora of coffee booths to choose from – and just who was playing that wonderful song in the background? The walk wasn’t just a walk; it was an entire coffee convention!

The line for the ticket booth was half the length of the venue! With my limited time, I couldn’t wait to see the entire event and ran into the center of the festival to see just what I had missed. In each booth, you could see the many baristas at work, showcasing their brewing talents as well as types of coffee that even I had never heard of before. There was a “white espresso” and a “waffie cone latte,” which was quite literally latte served in a chocolate waffie cone! It was the absolute buzz of the afternoon, with more people flocking to this booth than to any other. There was even an MBTI coffee booth, where you had to take the Myers- Briggs personality test first to see which coffee best suited you!

And to top it all off, talented singers filled the festival ambience with vibrant vibes from the festival’s center stage, as if you were chilling in a massive, roofless coffee shop.

What I personally loved the most at this festival was not just enjoying the variety of products from the coffee booths but seeing firsthand the passion these baristas and staff had for their brews. They made making good coffee look so easy, and we all know that only a person highly experienced in the field can pull off such a feat.

I believe there is a story behind every cup of coffee served, and I couldn’t help but watch in admiration as the baristas filtered the coffee from the ground beans. Perhaps to them, it was just another part of the process, but to me, it was awe- inspiring to see in person the people behind the brews we enjoy every day. I know being a barista is no easy role to fill, which is why I always say “thank you” to the staff before receiving my coffee, and after emptying my cup.

I may have walked in to this festival thirsty for caffeine, but I walked out feeling more fulfilled than caffeinated. You may think that defeats the purpose of a coffee walk, but I believe this event was not solely intended for shop owners to promote their businesses or spur on the addiction of us coffee lovers. It was also an opportunity for us to get to know the people who do their best to make sure that we can enjoy a nice cup of coffee before and after a long, hard day.

Here’s to hoping for the Coffee Walk to come back next year with more fun coffee flavors, more small businesses to be spotlighted, and more unique, aromatic experiences that brew in your head for days on end!

Cover Photo: The first entrance to the Coffee Walk. (Johanna Lezada)