The Korean Way to Make Iced Coffee Taste 10x Better

When I was a young, scrappy student physical therapist, one of my clinical instructors drank about six cups of coffee a day, and I soon became a coffee lover as well. All these years later, I’ve transitioned from physical therapy to food journalism and cookbook writing, and how other cultures drink their coffee now intrigues me.

While traveling across Japan, I noticed people loved lattes with soy milk and cherry blossom flavor—some people even mixed barley grass or matcha into their lattes. In China, the youth have briefly embraced adding green onions and century eggs to their coffee. Then, there’s South Korea, where dalgona coffee and convenience store coffees hacked with fruity-flavored milk, like banana milk, have been going viral for some time now across social media. So, as a bonafide coffee lover (and a lover of all cool things South Korean), I had to give Korean convenience store banana milk coffee a try at home. Here’s how it went.

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What Is Korean Banana Milk Coffee?

While I can’t tell you who invented this drink, I can tell you all about the viral Korean convenience store banana milk latte. According to what I’ve seen on social media, you go into any convenience store like 7-Eleven in South Korea, grab a plastic cup filled with ice, a packet of premade coffee and a bottle or carton of Korean banana milk. How you craft the drink is up to you. You can add the coffee first to the ice, or the banana milk first and then the coffee. Give it a good stir, pop in your straw and enjoy a tasty, sweet drink.

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How to Make Korean Banana Milk Coffee

Although the 7-Elevens in America are not as cool as the ones you find across East Asia, you can easily make this viral drink at home. Start by grabbing some Korean banana milk, which, despite the name, typically doesn’t contain real bananas, so you’re technically getting banana-flavored milk. Binggrae sells them in packs of six small cartons. If you can’t find the Korean version, Sangaria Maroyaka Banana Milk (the Japanese alternative that I grabbed) works just as well. Almond Breeze also makes banana milk, if you need another store-bought option. If you want to go the DIY route, you can blend a ripe banana with milk and sugar for a homemade version. Just make sure it’s super smooth.

Next, you’ll need coffee and a cup of ice. Bottled cold brew or iced coffee work perfectly (I used it straight from the bottle!), or you can opt for a shot of espresso. I prefer to add the banana milk first and then top the drink with coffee, so I can enjoy the cascading aesthetics as the coffee and cream mingle. My husband is the espresso and latte king at home, and he recommends adding the coffee first so you can add some milk, give it a taste, then add more if needed.

How much coffee and banana milk you add is really up to you and how you like your coffee. Add more coffee if you like a stronger coffee flavor, and more banana milk if you like your lattes sweeter. Just note that the banana milk is quite sweet, and the banana flavor is fruity and pronounced, so craft your latte accordingly. A good place to start is to three parts coffee to one part banana milk. If you’re using espresso, add one to two shots and then as much banana milk as you like.

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What I Thought of Korean Banana Milk Coffee

While I’m not the biggest fan of this drink (it’s just a tad too sweet for my taste buds), it is super easy to make in a pinch, so I do recommend you give it a shot (pun intended). You can also customize the flavor to suit your palate. For example, if you’re not a fan of bananas, use strawberry milk instead of banana milk. Bingrae even makes a melon-flavored milk, which might be worth considering. Mocha lovers can use chocolate milk. Perhaps you’ll feel like I do, like the star of a K-drama or a patron of a South Korean cafe, when you enjoy this drink.

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