The Wet Noodle
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Maybe you have a Netflix subscription and binge-watch as many shows as you can. And maybe you’ve come across the new addiction of Korean dramas. And maybe you’ve noticed a certain candy that’s appeared in several of those shows. And maybe you’re wondering what it is.
The confection is a hard coffee candy by a brand called Kopiko. It’s dark brown, like chocolate, and is about half the size of your thumb. It appears in plastic, blister packs, like Orbit chewing gum, and easily fits into purses and bags.
The candy has been eaten by characters in several popular k-dramas such as Vincenzo, Mine, and Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.
In Vincenzo, the candy is consumed like the rest of the food and drink, casually and without much fanfare. Viewers might not have even noticed it right away. But in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Kopiko is pranced about as an abrupt and shameless product placement.
The actors hold the packages out in front of the camera so Kopiko’s logo is easily visible. And they talk it up as being the best thing ever and how it helps wake you up and feel energized.
It was funny to see such a blatant form of in-show advertizing because it was done so unnaturally, disrupting the normal flow of the show’s narrative.
Pressing a Kopiko candy from the blister pack in the k-drama, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
What is Kopiko candy?
Kopiko is the World’s #1 selling coffee candy and is available in over 80 countries. It’s a product of Indonesia, produced and marketed by the Mayora Group.
The candy is sold as individually wrapped candies and comes in a few different sizes: blister packs of 8, bags of 30, and big jars of 200. It also comes in two flavors; regular coffee and cappuccino.
Gong Min-jeung eating Kopiko in the k-drama, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
The ingredients are: Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Palm Oil, Coffee Extract, Butter (Milk), Emulsifier Soy Lecithin, Caramel Color, Salt, and Natural Coffee Extract.
Because it contains coffee extract and natural coffee flavor, Kopiko does indeed taste like coffee, but creamier than black coffee because of the sugar and butter. It’s definitely a sweet treat.
Pocket coffee, anytime, anywhere.
Kopiko
Kopiko is a convenient way to throw a little caffeine into a backpack or computer bag and take it with you. You never know when you’ll need a quick pick-me-up.
How much caffeine does Kopiko candy have?
Kopiko is made from real coffee beans. So there’s going to be some caffeine. But how much?
The web archive of the Kopiko UK website listed the caffeine level of 4-5 Kopiko treats being the equivalent of a cup of espresso.
The product listing on My Sasun African Market lists the caffeine content at 4.4mg per candy.
And caffeine websites, like caffeine informer and Coffee Affection, estimate the caffeine to be around 20-25mg per candy.
Kim Seon-ho being offered Kopiko coffee candy in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
What’s Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha about?
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is about a dentist, Yoon Hye-Jin (Shin Min-A), who decides to leave the big, bustling city of Seoul to open a clinic in the small, seaside village of Gongjin.
There, Hye-Jin meets Hong Du-Sik (Kim Sun-Ho), a sort of jack-of-all-trades who is technically unemployed but fills in wherever help is needed, charging minimum wage for his array of services.
It’s almost like a fish out of water story as Hye-Jin must learn to live in a close-knit community and participate in the resident’s lives in more friendly and personal ways than she’s ever known before.
And because this is a drama series, it’s inevitable that the two male and female leads grow fond of one another and develop a romantic interest, and blah, blah, blah.
The show is highly rated, which seems odd at first because the story itself isn’t all that interesting. It’s very slow moving and it feels like much of the drama has to be artificially created.
But what makes viewers connect with the show so easily is this idea of leaving behind the stress and anxiety of city life for the slower paced living found in quieter, seaside communities.
We want less noise, less people, and less rat race. We want to get away from it all. We see Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha as a sort of sneak peak at our future self, and perhaps that’s why so many people are drawn to it.
Kopiko Coffee Candy
Try the world's #1 selling coffee candy and enjoy it anytime, anywhere!
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Kopiko is not the first company to sponsor k-dramas and insert themselves into the show to sell more product. As you discover more k-dramas, the more you will notice these things.
The fast food chain, Subway, for example, has even jumped onboard with marketing to k-drama audiences. Check out the show Record of Youth. One of the main characters, Sa Hye-Jun (Park Bo-Gum), is shown working at Subway and even takes a girl on a date there!
