The Best Korean Drama Coffee Prince

The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (or Coffee Prince) is a South Korean drama that began airing on July 2, 2007 in South Korea. It aired every Monday and Tuesday. It stars popular actress Yoon Eun Hye from Goong or Princess Hours, Gong Yoo from One Fine Day, Lee Sun Gyun from White Tower and Chae Jung Ahn. The drama is a love story between a tomboyish woman pretending to be a man and a young food empire mogul. It contains "pseudo-homosexual" elements as the man does not initially know of the tomboyish woman's true sex.

Due to the show's popularity, MBC had announced extension of the show by one episode. MBC also aired a special on August 28 2007. Gong Yoo watched the special with 1000 fans from all over Asia.

1 Main cast
2 Supporting Cast
3 Synopsis
4 Book Information
5 Awards and nominations
6 Production Credits
7 Episode Ratings
8 International Broadcasting
1 Philippines
2 Singapore
3 Indonesia
4 Taiwan
5 Malaysia
6 Israel
7 Thailand
8 Hong Kong
9 Zimbabwe






Main cast

Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun Chan
Gong Yoo as Choi Han Kyul
Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Han Seong
Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Joo






Supporting Cast
Coffee Shop Members

Kim Chang Wan as Mr. Hong
Kim Dong Wook as Jin Ha Rim
Kim Jae Wook as Noh Sun Ki
Lee Eon as Hwang Min Yeop
Han Kyul's Family

Kim Young Oak as Han Kyul's Grandmother
Kim Ja Ok as Han Kyul's Mother
Choi Il Hwa as Han Kyul's Father
Eun Chan's Family

Park Won Sook as Eun Chan's Mother
Han Ye In as Go Eun Sae (Eun Chan's Sister)
Lee Han Wie as Meat Shop Owner (Friend of Eun Chan)






Synopsis

Choi Han Kyul, played by Gong Yoo, is the cocky son of a very rich family who runs a damaged food corporation. He doesn't believe in love and certainly doesn't want to get married despite his family's requests. On the other hand, Go Eun Chan, played by Yoon Eun Hye, is a 24-year old tomboyish female who gets mistaken as a guy quite often. She takes up every job possible — waitress, food deliverer, etc — and has the responsibility of taking care of her mother and younger sister. Eun Chan accidentally meets Han Kyul twice, once on a delivery and once during a robbery. During the robbery, Eun Chan's delivery motorcycle ends up being damaged. Han Kyul, not knowing that Eun Chan is actually a girl, decides to hire Eun Chan as a false "lover" so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. Meanwhile, Han Kyul's cousin, Choi Han Seong, is an established music producer and his ex-girlfriend Han Yoo Joo, who Han Kyul secretly loved for nine years, is a famous artist who studied in New York. The two were lovers for about 8 years but their relationship ended when Yoo Joo broke up with Han Seong. Two years after they separated their paths cross again when Yoo Joo returns to Seoul.

After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han Kyul takes over a run-down severely damaged old coffee shop, later renamed Coffee Prince, to prove his ability, both to his grandmother and Yoo Joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good looking male employees. In a struggle with money, Eun Chan, whom Han Kyul has already mistaken as a boy, hides her gender identity to get a job at Coffee Prince. Soon feelings start to spark between Eun Chan and Han Kyul. Because he's unaware that Eun Chan is a girl, Han Kyul starts to question his sexuality.








Book Information

With the death of her father, Eun Chan has to support her family, consisting of a foolish, spendthrift mother and younger sister. Due to her short hair, baggy clothing and general boyish behavior, she often gets mistaken for a boy and her sister often uses her as her 'boyfriend' to get rid of boys who follow her around. Eun Chan is also proficient at Taekwondo, and is strong for a girl.

Han Kyul is the heir of a large company. He's rich, carefree and doesn't take life seriously enough. He first meets Eun Chan when one of her sister's boyfriends attempts to steal a handbag belonging to Yoo Joo (a woman that Han Kyul secretly likes). Eun Chan, not knowing who the boy is, catches him but lets him go when she realizes who it is. This gives Han Kyul the impression that the two have been planning the incident together, and when she comes the day after to collect money to fix her scooter, he insults her by telling her that he thinks she's just a thief. All this time, he thinks that Eun Chan is male.

After being forced by his grandmother to take on a coffee shop (that is to become Coffee Prince) and improve its sales, Han Kyul goes for a 'prince' concept and tries to hire good-looking boys as servers to attract female customers. Eun Chan is employed, and as she works at Coffee Prince, she falls in love with Han Kyul. Han Kyul too feels affection for Eun Chan. Not knowing that Eun Chan is actually a girl, this leads him to confusion about his sexuality and he tries to distance himself from her.

Although the drama version is very similar, there is nothing in the book about Eun Chan being employed as a 'false lover' to get Han Kyul out of blind dates or Eun Chan going abroad to become a barista.








Awards and nominations
Won


2007 MBC Acting Awards: Top Excellence in Acting (Yoon Eun Hye)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Excellence in Acting (Gong Yoo)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best PD Award (Kim Chang Wan)
Nominated

2007 MBC Acting Awards: Excellence in Acting (Chae Jung Ahn)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Excellence in Acting (Lee Sun Gyun)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best New Actor (Lee Eon)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best Drama
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best Couple Award (Yoon Eun Hye and Gong Yoo)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Best Couple Award (Chae Jung Ahn and Lee Sun Gyun)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Popularity Award (Gong Yoo)
2007 MBC Acting Awards: Popularity Award (Yoon Eun Hye)
At the 20th Korean Producers’ Award held on 28 February 2008 at the SBS Open Hall, Coffee Prince won the best TV drama award.

At the 44th Baeksang Arts Awards held on April 24 2008 in Seoul, handing out top honors to the films and television programs of the previous year, Yoon Eun Hye and Producer Lee Yoon Jung won the following awards :

BEST ACTRESS: Yoon Eun Hye (Coffee Prince)

BEST NEW PRODUCER: Lee Yoon Jung (Coffee Prince)