Bacha Coffee in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam | Photo credit: Bacha Coffee

Bacha Coffee has opened its first outlet in South Korea in the upmarket Cheongdam-dong ward of Gangnam, Seoul – an area renowned for its high end real estate and luxury retailers. 
 

The Morocco-inspired boutique coffee brand granted exclusive franchise and distribution rights in South Korea to Seoul-based shopping centre giant Lotte Department Store in January 2024.
 

The 4,000sq ft two-storey outlet features a café with seating for 52 customers and a retail boutique selling more than 200 varieties of packaged coffee.

Bacha Coffee’s super premium beverage menu includes a rare Paraiso Gold coffee from Brazil, which is served in a 350ml gold coffee pot and costs  ₩480,000 ($351) per serving. A 100g packaged whole bean tin retails for $920 on the Bacha Coffee website. 

Other coffee beverages at the Seoul site are priced at around ₩16,000 ($11.70) for sit-in or ₩11,000 ($8) for take-away – approximately double that of nearby high-end outlets, Blue Bottle Coffee and Starbucks Reserve. 

Founded in Marrakesh in 1910, the original Bacha Coffee café was located in Dar el Bacha palace and renowned for its prominent clientele, which included US President Franklin Roosevelt, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and legendary entertainer, Charlie Chaplain.   

The establishment ceased operations after the Second World War and fell into disrepair before being revived by Singaporean lifestyle group V3 Gourmet in 2019. V3 Gourmet now operates 24 Bacha Coffee stores across 11 markets in East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa and Europe. 

Although the Cheongdam-dong outlet marks Bacha Coffee’s bricks-and-mortar debut in South Korea, the heritage brand has sold its packaged retail coffee via a Lotte Duty Free concession store in Jeju, South Korea, since October 2023.  

Lotte Department Store plans to open two further Bacha Coffee outlets at its Myeongdong and Jamsil outlets within the next six months.