The Coffee-Shop Classrooms: How South Korea’s Students Turn Cafés into Survival Spaces

On a weekday morning in Seoul’s affluent Daechi district, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee fills the air as sunlight filters through a café’s wide windows. At one corner table, a university student unpacks two laptops, a stack of textbooks, and even a six-port power strip. By mid-afternoon, he’s still there – sipping slowly on the same iced Americano, headphones in, lost in preparation for an exam that could define his future.

Scenes like this are so common they have earned their own nickname in South Korea: Cagongjok. It loosely translates to “café study tribe” and describes students and job seekers who set up camp in coffee shops for hours, even entire days. For them, cafés have become more than social hubs – they are makeshift libraries, offices, and sanctuaries in a society where academic achievement and professional success remain paramount.

A Clash of Needs

But as the phenomenon grows, so does the tension. Café owners, who face some of the highest rents in the world, say customers who linger without ordering more than a single drink strain their businesses. Regular patrons complain about struggling to find seats for casual meetings or quick breaks.

“Running a café is hard enough with the costs we face,” says Hyun Sung-joo, who owns a café in Daechi. “When someone takes up a seat all day, it affects other customers and, ultimately, our survival.”

Even Starbucks Korea, the country’s biggest coffee chain, has had to step in. Earlier this month, it announced new guidelines to discourage extreme behaviours such as customers bringing desktop monitors, printers, or leaving belongings to reserve tables for hours. While the company stopped short of evicting customers, it said the rules aim to “create a more comfortable environment” for everyone.

More Than Just Coffee

For South Korea’s young people, however, Cagongjok culture is not simply about hogging seats. It is about survival in a system where exam results, university admissions, and job interviews can alter life trajectories. With limited affordable study spaces and libraries often overcrowded, cafés provide something priceless: a reliable, accessible place with Wi-Fi, outlets, and a steady stream of caffeine.

“I can’t concentrate at home,” says Park Ji-eun, a 23-year-old preparing for civil service exams. “The library near me closes early and is always full. At cafés, I can study late and the background noise keeps me awake.”

For Park and many others, the price of one coffee is a small sacrifice for the environment they need to push through grueling study schedules.

Cultural Reflection

Sociologists say the trend reflects deeper issues within South Korea’s social fabric. Professor Choi Ra-young of Ansan University calls Cagongjok “a mirror of our high-pressure society.”

“These young people may be seen as a nuisance by businesses, but they are also victims of a culture that demands relentless preparation and achievement,” she says. “Their presence in cafés is a symptom of broader systemic pressures.”

Seeking Balance

Independent cafés across the country are experimenting with ways to cope. Some introduce time limits or minimum order requirements. Others embrace the trend, marketing themselves as “study-friendly” spaces with extended hours and designated charging zones.

Still, not everyone is sympathetic. In Jeonju, one café went so far as to ban studying altogether after groups monopolised tables for up to eight hours. The backlash was swift, with some students accusing the café of being hostile to young people.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s coffee industry continues to boom. The number of cafés has surged to nearly 100,000 nationwide – a 48 percent jump in just five years. But more shops also mean fiercer competition, and businesses cannot afford to alienate paying customers, no matter how slowly they sip their lattes.

An Unlikely Future

For now, the tug-of-war between café owners and the Cagongjok shows no sign of easing. With academic pressure unlikely to lessen and office spaces expensive to rent, cafés will remain the default refuge for countless students and job seekers.

As one café owner put it with a sigh, “It’s not just about coffee anymore. For many, we are their library, their office, their escape. Maybe that’s just the reality we need to adapt to.”

And so, in South Korea’s coffee shops, the battle between beans and books quietly brews on.