Sticky notes filled with doodles and names cover one wall, while another stands layered in photos of K-pop stars.
On the TV, music videos from K-pop groups like BTS and Blackpink play, a handful of the most popular music collectives in the world. There’s even life-size cutouts of Korean mega-stars like Jungkook and Jisoo.
At KBop Korean Fusion Cafe, K-pop is the name of the game. That’s not all, though. The cafe also serves up a wide-range of Korean dishes, from trendy street foods to fusion recipes and beloved desserts.
In fact, the cafe is one of the only places in Colorado Springs where you can get Bingsu, a popular Korean dessert made from milk-based shaved ice with an assortment of sweet toppings.
“It’s very creamy, light. Not too heavy,” said cafe owner Chong Jeffries. “I sometimes give a little piece for (customers) to try and they love it, and they keep coming back for that.”
With flavors from matcha to Oreo to the more traditional red bean, the decadent dessert can be loaded with toppings of fruit and candy. This can include fruits like honeydew, bananas and pineapple, as well as nuts and powders, and Korean sweets.
The cafe also sells a variety of Korean street food and dishes, including their popular kimchi burrito, kimchi fries, Korean-style BBQ and bibimbap, a dish made of rice with different savory toppings.
Trends in Korea move fast, Jeffries said, and she’s always looking for more recipes to bring into her shop. After a recent trip to Korea, she came back with some ideas.
“I’m trying to update as fast as I can to keep up with all the new trends, because the youngsters love new stuff, from TikTok and stuff,” she said. “So I think that’s why we became really popular pretty quick.”
The cafe opened in 2018, when Jeffries started to become interested in K-pop. She found that there was a pretty significant number of K-pop fans here in the Springs, so, Korean herself, she pursued the fun cafe concept.
“Around the time I was into K-pop stuff, so then I became part of the BTS fan club. When you become part of the BTS fan club, you can kind of see globally how many fans are around the world. There are so many BTS fans, even in this small town,” she said. “Whenever they come, they become friends, because they are into K-pop, they all love K-pop.”
The K-pop atmosphere developed organically, Jeffries said, with fans coming in and leaving their own mark on the cafe. The sticky notes wall is covered in personal notes and doodles from customers, giving a personable feel.
“I just put a few photos up there, and people keep bringing their photos of favorite singers,” she said. “The little notes are something memorable … Some people, they come after three, four years, they kind of look at those notepads again, and say ‘Oh yeah, three years ago I was here.’
Jeffries tries to tailor the cafe to teenagers and young adults.
“Those kids don’t have any place to go in town here … so I’m trying to focus on that age group, for them to sit down and enjoy music after school and eat dessert,” she said.
