Warning: lots of pictures.

With the numerous scenes devoted to coffee, I’m beginning to wonder whether this kdrama was sponsored by one of the ubiquitous coffee bars in Seoul like Caffe Bene, Angel-in-Us or A Twosome Place.

For future reference, I’ve kept tabs of the scenes where coffee was involved. I doubt the writer and director would expend this much energy on coffee if it wasn’t relevant to the husband hunt. In a way, the focus on coffee reminded me of the way the baduk world was recreated in Reply 1988 because the husband turned out to be a renowned baduk player.

1. The Prof loved coffee.

From the onset, YiHyun complained to his colleague HamSook about his inability to sleep despite her prescribed medication. He needed coffee to keep awake.

YH: But give me some coffee, okay? Yesterday and today, I’ve only slept for 45 minutes, total. I am so sleepy, I could die. Please brew some coffee. (pointing at the coffeemaker)

HS: Caffeine is an enemy for patients like you.
YH: We should keep our enemies close, right? Hurry….

She tosses a capsule to him.

HS: Catch!
YH: Gosh. I’m so shocked. (looking at the capsule.) But this is just melatonin.
HS: Just keep close to that. You’ll stay at home for Chuseok, right?
YS: Of course.
HS: Sleep all you want during the holidays and you can continue the dream you were just having.

Note: if we were to suppose that the opening scene was his fantasy, then he’d been dreaming of the Fairy and the Woodcutter.

His dream: the Fairy’s clothes were stolen while she was bathing with her fellow fairies at the wading pool. Only her peony was left.

She spotted the woodcutter.

Meanwhile, a deer ran away.

The woodcutter covered her with his clothes. They walked on a flowery path together.

Remember what I said about walking on a floral path in 100 Days My Prince? It’s a metaphor for a blissful life together.

They had two children. She wrapped a scarf around her neck and she discovered a tree ornament. Notice the floral design and the butterfly?

Then, his last image was of a smiling Fairy.

And he too smiled while he dreamt.

Caveat: This whole opening scene however does NOT mean that the Professor is the Woodcutter. He can very well be the deer. lol.

2. The Fairy Café 

It was discovered because YH suddenly woke up with a desire for coffee.

And they immediately spotted a sign for a coffee shop.

Despite that he ORDERED the detour, he blamed his Assistant, Geum, for bringing them there.

3. The Fairy worked as a barista.

JH eyed her badge and her hair ornament suspiciously.

The peony must have been the only thing she had left after her clothes and shoes were stolen.

It’s interesting to know why she chose this occupation while waiting for her missing husband.

4. The Coffee Menu was strikingly unique.

The titles were poetic although the description of the blend was conventional. **The translation of the description is provided by the Dramamilk’s recapping site. Thanks, Dramamilk!

Branding:

Deer’s Tears
-caramel almond taste, nutty

Sparrow’s Breakfast
-deep body taste, heavy roasted sesame aroma

You Can’t Do That, Princess
-floral notes with a lively taste and smell, bright taste

Moonlight Elegance
-special smell and sweet

Dark Water
-dark taste

5. Geum’s choice

He suggested ordering the Dark Water because it would be the “least embarrassing choice.” YH ordered the two cups.

The Fairy’s nosy friends were shocked by their bold choice. They said, “Youth knows no fear.” But the Fairy merely laughed at their choice, saying, “What a long time it’s been since anybody ordered Dark Water,” which made YH suspicious of the coffee.

He changed their order, randomly picking the first one, “Just give us the first one. What was the first one?”

It was Deer’s Tears.

6. YH’s fastidiousness

While waiting for their coffee, YH obsessed over the menu. He found it cringe-worthy.

YH: Looking at the menu was so embarrassing that my cheeks heated up so much. But “You can’t do that, Princess?” What can’t she do? What does that mean?

To me, the script will follow the order of the coffee on the menu. They’ll first have the “Deer’s Tears” in Episode 1, followed by the “Sparrow’s Breakfast” in Episode 2 and then, “You can’t do that, Princess” in Episode 3. It’ll be interesting to note the effects of the different coffee blend on YH and to guess the significance of the names.

For instance, “Deer’s Tears” could refer to YH’s lamentations or excessive complaints. Like a deer, he was bleating non-stop about his lack of sleep, Geum’s inferiority, the uncleanliness of his surroundings, and even the menu. lol.

7. The bug in the coffee

Any normal person would have rejected a “tainted” beverage and food. But finding a fly in his coffee was cataclysmic to a germaphobe like YH, who individually wrapped his underpants.

I’m not sure whether the Fairy was jesting when she pointed out that the coffee with insects was the best-tasting brew. But if she was being serious here, then wasn’t she favoring YH over Geum? She deliberately chose YH to get the “best” coffee.

I was also quite surprised that YJ didn’t suspect the Fairy of drugging their coffee. When he confronted her later that night at the moon lantern festival, he only asked for an explanation. He didn’t accuse her of giving them a hallucinogenic to make them dream of the incident in the forest.

YH: Hold on. You know us, right?
F: Excuse me?
YH: What did you do with us earlier? We fainted after we got hit.

She has a flashback of her knocking them both out. She turns her back on them.

F: You mistook me for someone else.
YH: You don’t remember? The neck slice that you did?
F: I really don’t know what you’re saying.
YH: Hey, Kim Geum. Show her your neck!
G: I’m sorry we disturbed you earlier while you were taking a bath.
YH: What’s he doing, acting all nice? (meaning, he was the injured party. Why is he the one apologizing?) You were a grandma for sure! You know, the “Deer’s tears” or whatever? You brought us that coffee?
F: For you, what you can see with your own eyes is all there is. How shameful.
YH: What is this? Is it some sort of threat to some disappearing logic? Maybe Professor Park sent her?

On a sidenote: Who was this Professor Park? YH mentioned his name earlier as they approached the totem poles on the Fairy Café. Was he related to the Mountain God Park?

Unlike YH, Geum was more receptive to the possibility of a supernatural magic occurring to them in the forest. And unlike YH, Geum was more sensitive to the embarrassment of a lady being discovered bathing at the pool.

8. Chuseok or the morning after the Lantern Festival

YH slept through the night for the first time (probably because they finished the Irish Single Malt Whiskey) and Geum suggested that they go for morning coffee. I thought Geum wanted to return to the Fairy Café to spot the young lady again, not because he wanted coffee that much.

The Old Grandmother put the Professor to work by grinding the beans while Geum petted the cat.

She heard him tinkle in the bathroom and this was her first indication that YH could be her missing husband.

As I said in my first post, it’s absolutely comical that she recognized him by the sound of his urination. But now that I re-watched this episode, I’m beginning to see…err… hear a connection: decanting.

Water pouring from the kettle sounds like urinating. pwahahaha

9. Back in the university

Finding YH in Seoul should have been like finding a needle in a haystack but their coffee connection had them meeting at the coffee stand at YH’s university. He bought his morning brew from his usual barista. To his dismay, the Fairy managed to drop a leaf in his coffee holder.

He recounted to Hamsook his weird encounter of the Old Grandmother-who-turned-into-a-Young-Lady.

YH: Now that I think about it, after I drank that “Sparrow’s whatever” coffee, I slept well.
HS: What are you saying?
YH: After drinking that coffee, I didn’t have nightmares about ghosts strangling me and I didn’t hallucinate about plants talking to me either like when I was lacking sleep before.

I thought this was interesting that he thought plants talked to him when the Fairy and Geum were the ones who conversed with plants. But was that the reason he was surprised to see plants inside the Fairy’s bathroom? Because he’s seen those plants in his dreams.

YH: I felt refreshed when I woke up in the morning. In fact, I even had good dreams.
HS: Goodness!
YH: So that woman… just who is she?

That night YH dreamt of being in mid-air in a circle of fairies. Unbeknownst to him, the Fairy and Jeomsoon were staying overnight at the invitation of Geum.

Important to note: While the Fairy and YH had coffee in common, the Fairy and Geum both shared an interest in plants. He had been talking to his plants about a butterfly.

Geum: I told you to forget about what the butterfly said, right? What’s wrong with you anyway? You just look dashing to me. You’re not tall but you’re well-proportioned. These days that’s considered important, too. You’ll definitely meet a butterfly that’s fond of you soon.

Since the Fairy is associated with a butterfly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this conversation with his plant about finding a butterfly was his way of projecting his “undeclared” feelings for the Fairy. lol.

Interestingly enough when they were drinking coffee at the Fairy Cafe on Chuseok, a butterfly came out of nowhere and flitted by them.

10. The art of brewing coffee

According to the fairy, “No matter how cheap the coffee, one should treasure its great essence. The harmony in the timing of water mixing with the coffee beans is important. Grinding the wind into the energy of the hot water and pouring into the finely ground coffee with power. Wake up! Oh, the energy of hot water. Vitalize oh caffeine!”

I had to laugh though. Go ahead and listen to this segment.

The sound of decanting = the sound of pissing.

On a more serious note, though, I like what the Fairy said that even with cheap coffee beans, the essence of coffee is there. It reminded me of the earlier flashback when the Woodcutter offered to carry the Fairy and the Fairy said, “My husband really is the best.” He replied, “No. You, Miss Fairy, are the best for having married such a lowly woodcutter like myself.” Despite him being “lowly” and undeserving, Miss Fairy loved him.

11. Nightmares

The following day, the Fairy moved out of YH’s villa to a new place near the coffeeshop. Not being able to drink the special brew from the Fairy, YH’s night terrors returned. He dreamt of ghostly faces surrounding his bed and of a boy locked in a room.

12. The new barista at Babeans

The following day, YH was shocked to see the Old Grandmother hired as the new barista at Babeans. Geum was pleased; he started calling her Miss Fairy.

Geum ordered the coffee for them, “Sparrow’s Breakfast.” YH found his coffee tainted again with a leaf. He didn’t know that the Fairy did this to prevent him from gulping down his drink and choking on it, like he used to do 699 years ago.

However, Geum asked for a willow leaf on his coffee, too. I sighed when he did that. If he weren’t the end-game husband, then this attention-seeking behavior of his would grow tiresome pretty quickly. Already, he was an annoying third wheel here.

The Old Grandmother chased after YH to request a meeting with him at the hour of the dog. (lol. I explained about the Joseon time-keeping in a post on 100 Days My Prince.) As he turned to look back her, he saw a vision of her as a fairy…just like in his dream.

While Geum drank his coffee and had no adverse reaction to it, YH immediately conked out after taking a drink. Lab tests showed that there were no unknown ingredients added to his coffee. He consulted HamSook for a possible explanation to his caffeine-induced narcolepsy. She then visited the Babeans Coffee to check on the Old Grandmother and ordered the same brew as the YH and Geum, “Sparrow’s Breakfast.”

For me, “Sparrow’s breakfast” could refer to competition or rivalry.  The early bird catches the worm. In this case, the sparrow (i.e., the suitor) that works harder or arrives earlier, gets to eat breakfast (i.e., the beloved).

Geum arrived at the coffee kiosk before the appointed time because he wanted to be there before YH arrived. However, he was intruding in a private meeting which the Fairy set up with YH. When YH arrived on time, he was annoyed to see Geum there so he told him to depart. The Fairy also told him to return to his work.

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These are my notes on coffee. lol. That’s one similarity that I have with YH. I obsess.