Coffee Prince

Ah the Gender Benders...the feels...and it all began with Coffee Prince.

Released in 2007, Coffee Prince paved the way for many gender bending dramas to come, such as To the Beautiful You, You're Beautiful, and Nail Shop Paris. When I first saw this drama, it was my Viki summer phase. I didn't put my phone down for at least 3 days. Then, of course, knowing my luck, it appeared on Netflix about 2 weeks later.

Coffee Prince, otherwise known as The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince is a romantic awakening comedy with a very...interesting plot.

Summary: 

Choi Han Kyul is the grandson of the Chairwoman of a huge food company, who refuses to be tied down by one thing unless that one thing is his older cousin's (ex?) long-term girlfriend. Tomboy Go Eun Chan is the breadwinner of her poor family and because of her boyish attitude, people are constantly mistaking her for a man. She somehow balances family, work, and a sort-of social life with the guy (who is actually, little to her knowledge, the cousin of the Choi Han Kyul) that she may or may not have a crush on. Soon after an awkward encounter between the two of them, they meet again in an unexpected way, which ends with Eun Chan in debt to Han Kyul.

See, since Han Kyul has problems with being held down, you'd see why he wouldn't take fondly to his grandmother sending him on dates to find a rich wife that can help with his family business. He's willing to pay to get out of this. Eun Chan's family needs money and Han Kyul wants freedom. This is why he offers Go Eun Chan (whom he believes is a man) the position of his pretend gay lover—an offer she knows she can't refuse. How could this possibly take a wrong turn? 

After his lie, Han Kyul's grandmother has one request for him. He is to take on the responsibility of running his very own coffee shop and I now he just wants all of the talented flower boys (including Go Eun Chan) he can find to lure in as many customers as possible! But when the two start to develop feelings for each other, that's when it get's complicated.

How will Eun Chan continue working at Coffee Prince without the discovery of her secret? Between Eun Chan and Han Kyul, who will fall for the other first? Will Han Kyul ever find out Eun Chan's secret? Will the other flower boys find out her secret first? So many questions...

INFO:

Title- Coffee Prince / 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (커피 프린스 1호점)

Director- Lee Yoon Jung

Writers- Lee Jung-A, Jung Hyun Joo

Network- MBC

Language- Korean

Episodes- 17

The Cast-

Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun Chan

Gong Yoo as Choi Han Kyul

Lee Sun Kyun as Choi Han Sung

Chae Jung Ah as Han Yoo Joo

Kim Dong Wook as Jin Ha Lim

Kim Jae Wook as No Seon Ki

Lee Eon as Hwang Min Yeom

Reasons to Watch:

• Plot

Having one of the most interestingly complicated plot lines in gender bending drama history, Coffe Prince has stolen the hearts of many kdrama fans. It centers around Go Eun Chan and Choi Han Kyul, a tomboy who wants to provide for her poor family after her father passed away and a rich reluctant businessman who wants nothing more than to be free but is constantly ordered around by his family. When he oversteps, his grandmother leaves him in charge of a coffee shop owned by their company. Go Eun Chan hides her female identity in order to keep her job at Han Kyul's café for male employees only. The only ones who know are the previous owner, now coworker and Han Kyul's older cousin, Choi Han Sung (whose own story is learned later). Han Kyul's grandmother, for the most part, accepts his "homosexuality," but is adamant about his marriage to a fellow wealthy family or one in at least well-off enough standing to help the family business. This plot is something worth following because you'd probably be very lost if you weren't paying attention to the sub-stories within the actual story.

• Romance

Ah, the classic gender-bender romance. With Han Kyul still believing, for some reason, that Go Eun Chan is a man, he begins to question his sexuality. His older cousin, on the other hand, Choi Han Sung, knows for a fact that Eun Chan is a girl and is seen in many situations as the owner of the dog that Eun Chan visits on an everyday basis. The on-and-off friendship between Eun Chan and Han Kyul slowly escalates into something much more while the two are growing closer working at the Coffee Prince café together. Soon they become like best friends, until Han Kyul develops feelings for the unknown girl. If he finds out that Eun Chan was lying to him this entire time, how will he take it??

• Bromance

First of all, the man in charge, Han Kyul is a free-spirited young man with little to no care when it comes to the continuation of his family business.

*Left to Right/Front to Back: No Seon Ki,
Go Eun Chan, Hwang Min Yeob,
Jin Ha Lim*

Hwang Min Yeob is a large, dim-witted guy who is desperately in love with Go Eun Chan's younger sister. There's No Seon Ki, AKA Waffle Sun Ki, who owns the waffle cart outside of the university before he is recruited by Han Kyul to sell his waffles at Coffee Prince. He's somewhat cold and speaks Japanese fluently. Hot, right? (You may recognize him if you've seen Mary Stayed Out All Night, as he was a main actor in that drama). Then there's Jin Ha Lim, who's character isn't developed as well as the other characters in the show, but all I can say is that he...seems fun? But in all honesty, these guys are so sweet and sour toward each other, it's heartwarming. If anything, watch it for the bromance. K?

Overall, this was a great drama and I definitely recommend watching it if you haven't already. (Cries because of the feels...)

RATING:

4 STARS

That's all for today.

Hope to see you soon!

Love,

The Dramanator