Getting to know Kim Myung Sik - Founder of BLACKUP COFFEE
What's the story behind BLACKUP COFFEE and how did it all start?
BLACKUP COFFEE began in 2006 in Busan, on South Korea's coast, as a small roastery called Coffee Factory in the Nampo-dong district.
We have always believed that a great cup of coffee comes not only from good beans, but from the happiness, hospitality and expertise of the people brewing it. Over the past 20 years, that belief has taken us from a single local roastery to nine locations, including Yangsan, Ulsan and Geoje, and we are now beginning to reach people beyond Korea.2.
Can you share more about your approach to sourcing and roasting coffee?
Our approach balances two things: exploring the essence of each coffee, and experimenting with new ones. We select specialty green coffee that clearly expresses the terroir of its origin, sourced through direct trade or trusted partners. Recently, we have also been exploring coffees from unique processing methods such as yeast fermentation.
When roasting, we aim to bring out each coffee's character while keeping a sweetness and balance that anyone can enjoy. We closely control environmental variables and analyse our roast profiles, so the quality stays consistent whenever, and at whichever location, our customers visit.
What motivated BLACKUP COFFEE to explore the capsule coffee format?
We wanted to make specialty coffee an everyday experience, so that customers could enjoy the coffee our baristas make in our cafés at home, in the office or anywhere else.
Capturing the full flavour of our blends and single origins in a capsule, with its limited capacity and extraction, was a real challenge. We spent a long time refining our extraction yields and roast levels to get there. Ultimately, we want a great cup of coffee to be a natural part of daily life, not a special occasion.
We all have our morning routines, and coffee is often a crucial part of them. What is your morning ritual like?
My morning starts with choosing between our two signature blends, depending on my mood and schedule.
On a regular day, I make a clean Americano with Nero. Its balance and comforting sweetness wake me up gently.
On mornings when I need something softer and more filling, I pull a shot of Mono and pair it with warm milk. Its heavy body and milk chocolate flavour work especially well in a latte or flat white.
Taking my time with that first cup, brewed to suit how I feel that day, is my most important daily ritual. It sets the tone for the rest of my day.
What are you most excited about right now, and for the future of BLACKUP COFFEE?
Right now, we are most excited about growing beyond Busan while staying grounded in where we started. It is rewarding to see a brand that began with a passion for specialty coffee now reaching people around the world.
Looking ahead, we want to bring BLACKUP COFFEE to more people through processing experiments, direct-trade sourcing and accessible formats like our capsules. Our goal is to share our coffee culture with the world and show that great coffee isn't limited by geography. For us, it is less about scaling a business and more about building genuine connections with coffee lovers everywhere.
