A pleasant surprise
I went into this drama expecting nothing. I didn't even read the synopsis and I landed on a gold mine!!Does this mean there are other good and moving dramas I have slept on and ignored?? I weep at that thought.
A drama that made me long for such a pure and young romance. Made me long to be in love, and be loved. That feeling of a first love, of sleepless nights, of long night conversations, of shy looks at each other, of the uncertainty on whether he loved me or not, of selfless love acts. In conclusion, I was smiling continuously with googly eyes glued to the screen, and my hands were either touching my face and awing(making all sorts of awwwwww expressions)or my heart because! BECAUSE!!!!, it was too much and sometimes too little.
This drama is and will always be my special sugar jar to open when I need something sweet in my life. I foresee a future of rewatchs! My special place in drama land.
It was raw and the acting was as realistic as it could get. I really believed it when they said the fl could pass as a boy. Her makeup, her fashion and what she would do, was trully believable (not like the usual elephant in the room, where we all know she does not look like a boy but we just have to close our eyes and believe).
I did not know kdramas were produced like this. Maybe this was common in dramas back then. Where you believe wholeheartedly in what you are seeing, it does not look scripted , the actions, the reactions, the set up. It looked like the real world and I ate it all up.
I loved the relations between all the characters and I found myself stary eyed at Kim Jae Wook's character. I loved that each character had their own story and goals they aspired to and not just an add on onto the main characters' lives. Each character had their lives to move about and their own stories and their own actions outside the main characters' love story.
I am grateful to that random user I saw praising Coffee Prince in the feeds and in turn prompted me to check it out. This drama will forever be my never-never land.
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a new favorite
i really don't know what to say/do after finishing this.this is just one of those dramas that will change my life and that i will remember forever.
this gender bender trope is one of my absolute favorites so i had no doubts i would love this, and i was right.
while there are a few things i wish happened differently, you still can't deny that the cast was just absolutely perfect and made every hard to get through moment worth it.
i have so many things to say about this drama, but since i don't have enough energy to write it all out, i will simply leave a vent of my emotions after watching
i think i truly won't get over this, i finished watching one hour ago and i already want to rewatch everything. also, i cried so much in the last few episodes, because of the story, because i didn't want it to end, because Eun Chan and Han Gyeol love each other so much...
one thing i really loved, was that Han Gyeol always stayed loyal, never did anything toxic like sometimes we see in dramas, even when they had arguments, his love for her always shined through in the end. i love their love <3
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This review may contain spoilers
Some infuriating relationships but overall a sweet "older" drama
This was my second "older" kdrama after "Boys Over Flowers", and I have to say this aged rather well in comparison. The acting from all of the actors was convincing and touching, the story progressive for its time and the execution was good too.What I liked:
- As I said, the acting was good. It felt natural, everyone had great chemistry with each other and the interactions were very fun. Yoon Eun Hye did a really good job playing a girl pretending to be a boy and Gong Yoo was very fun as Han Gyul too, even though his character could be a little mean sometimes.
- While I don't have a standout song from the OST, I find the music perfectly fitting for the series. It was feel-good vibes and very chill, perfect to be played in the background!
- The romance was nice too. We got some nice kiss scenes, the intimacy felt natural and the main couple looked very very pretty together. It was nice seeing Han Gyul accept his own feelings after struggling for such a long time, he fully embraced them and was ready to just openly love Eun Chan. Even after he found out and they made up, both of them were so perfectly in tune with their feelings, which I really loved seeing.
- Eun Chan's relationship with her little sister. While Eun Sae is a more of a girly girl, I loved how she didn't make fun of her older sister for being the opposite. I liked how both girls could openly talk about boys, love and their feelings. This showed that Eun Chan may "look" like a boy, but at heart, she's just as girly as her sister and capable of having a crush and daydreaming. I also liked that Eun Sae hat Eun Chan's back and never threatened to expose the big secret. I don't know why... I did not expect the sisters to be rivals, but it was nonetheless nice to see their sisterly bond.
What I didn't like:
- Yoo Joo. This woman was so confusing. I feel like she treated her relationship with Han Sung like an experiment, especially in the last couple of episodes. What do you mean you want to "try out" marriage and then just get divorced if it doesn't work out? She said that while pregnant...?? It seems that she had a miscarriage in the end and that the couple wasn't able to have kids, but it is nonetheless to messed up in my opinion. To make your kid a child of divorce just because.... Also, her not seeing the problem with staying up all night with a bunch of dudes, DRINKING after JUST getting married and finding out you're PREGNANT? Oh, but Han Sung was the bad guy for trying to hold her accountable that she was not taking care of herself properly?? I also did not like the way she literally threw away a 9-year relationship (after cheating for one year during it) because her feelings are so fleeting or whatever... only to break up with that guy two years later and crawl back to Han Sung. AND HE LET HER?! THEN she was mad that his world did not revolve around her anymore because he had this temporary crush on Eun Chan. I don't know if I missed that part, but when Han Sung kissed Eun Chan, she said that he "cheated" on her. Girl, did you ever bother putting a label on your relationship, or communicating your needs to the man? She was jealous while still having contact to her ex-boyfriend whom she left Han Sung for. The audacity I swear to God. Telling Han Sung that he has a victim complex when hers is even bigger?! I also did not like how Han Gyul said that she kept their relationship purely friendly but... that is not true in the slightest. She never drew the line with him. "Hey, I'm you cousin's girlfriend, please stop coming over and flirting with me. It's not okay", THAT is what she should have said. Instead, she was basically enabling his crush on her, calling it friendship or whatever. I think she really liked having the attention, but girl, don't get mad when your "man" (Han Sung) is doing the same then.
- Han Gyul flirting with his cousin's girlfriend and having an active crush for almost a decade? Get some distance, man. Him kissing Eun Chan against her consent in episode 11 was unsettling to watch, and I hate how the writer made him apologize for the wrong reason. "Sorry for what I said. I said something to hurt you on purpose"... he should have apologized for forcing himself on her, she was literally fighting him off :(
- Grandma was a bit of a misogynist. I don't know who the "harlot" was she kept referring to in the early episodes, but that was just mean lmao. She was also always mean and yelling like damn, calm down. I also don't know how many times everyone had to repeat that Eun Chan might be poor, but also independent only for grandma to say "I worked hard my whole life to be where I am, just like you"... girly, did you need to be told Eun Chan is dirt poor 10x before getting it??
- Sun Gi was a glorified stalker lmao... Kim Jae Work looked beautiful though!
- The conflictS between Eun Chan and Han Gyul in the last 3 episodes were dragged out a little, I would have loved to see them more like a couple instead of them running in circles and always fighting.
- Eun Sae and the mom: Eun Sae was a big brat to Min Yeop, who was just a doormat :( Just like Ha Rim said: she isn't playing hard to get. She was mean and bullying the poor guy just because had a big phat crush on her. The mom not having ANY working experience is wild because she basically let her 16-y-o daughter carry the burden of earning money with crappy jobs and then has the audacity (granted, that was only in like the first episode) to spend that money on shoes she doesn't need lmao. Eun Chan had to give up so much of her youth and in all those years the woman never seemed to have tried to get some job, idk... didn't sit right with me. She was a sweet mother and woman but this particular thing was a little annoying.
Overall, this may be an older drama, but I think it holds up well today. The romance is cute, the characters have flaws but they feel real and the chemistry between everyone felt very real and natural. I had a good time watching the drama :)
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This review may contain spoilers
Watch it for some amazing acting !
This drama made me cry , laugh and get annoyed along with the characters .TBH , watching it in 2022 , it felt like nothing special from the story perspective, as we have multiple such K-dramas available , with similar storylines , where the FL pretends to be the guy and stuff , but the execution was so damn beautiful , I bet in 2007 it would have blown people's mind ! I loved how they focused on the 2 main love stories , one being the matured and other the immature one ! the relationship building between both the couple's is beautiful .
I would have given it a 10 , if only the female characters were written a little better. All of them sucked and yet got whatever they wanted , without much pain ! I loved all the prince in the coffee prince , though !!
This is not just an issue with this drama , I can see this in most K-dramas , that the writers do not put much effort in building reasonable female characters ! They are all unreasonable and annoying poor girls who would first go for the money and then they won't respect their creditor and then suddenly develop this huge pride ! We want more strong female leads characters , like those in hotel del luna , its okay not to be okay for instance.
Here too the FL is immature , unreasonable , annoying and practically mooches off the ML ! She deceives him and then forces her feelings on to him , makes him accept his feelings only to turn down his marriage proposal , holding her stupid pride , when he becomes desperate ! on top of that people near her are not even holding her responsible or giving her proper suggestions !
Most will think that the ML was the toxic one , but I can totally understand him ! He agonised over being a homo , and practically overcame the fear of family and friends to accept his feeling (This was a beautiful moment for me , how he accepted his love even when he knew that he wasn't a gay), only to find his trust shaken off ! Moreover right after they get back together , the FL hardly spends any time with him or discuss anything with him ! She suddenly developed the feeling of being independent (she was asking 1 million won just to be standing with him earlier), so much so she can't marry him ! I mean people study even after marriage !! What ws the big deal ?? she gave him all the reasons of not leaving her family when he asked her to move to New York , but easily took his grand ma's favour to move to Italy !!!!! Though they have shown to discuss these moments fairly , but she gives in all the time , means that she wants it , doesn't it ? Then again why hold the stupid pride , respect people for their help and be available for them , that's what life is about , no one can survive all alone in this world ! Similarly with yoo-joo and Eun-sae , they get the guys so easily , even after being so ridiculously selfish and giving them the hard time ! I wish the k writers focus more on female character development in rom-coms as well !
Thats the only negative I had ! If I leave it be , I can just rewatch it for gong-yoo and Jung-an . I mean they are just so beautiful , it doesn't feels like one is watching a 15 years old series , they are so perfect in their attire ! And Kim jae-wook , he is so pretty here ! Loved the ending it was satisfactory for all the prince !
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Other shows, such as "To the Beautiful You" and "You're Beautiful," have a similar plot line, but in both instances, the gender of the girl trying to pretend to be a guy is revealed to the male lead fairly early on, so the struggle you see is more about whether they like the girl...period. There are side characters in those shows that struggle with feelings for who they think is a "guy", but not the main leads. The opposite is true here. I get easily bothered by plot twists that seem to do nothing, but just extend the show length because whatever the issue is can be dealt with with a simple conversation...but they don't have that conversation for several episodes. And that is what this felt like in "Coffee Prince".
The acting is good and the music is good. I have nothing to dispute on those accounts. It's just that plot piece that really truly turned me off in the show. So, if similar types of things bother you, I wouldn't recommend this series, but if you don't mind it, then you will probably really enjoy it.
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Suspend disbelief and enjoy the story play out
Coffee Prince is one of the mistaken gender identity dramas - in this case, Go Eun Chan, the head of a household because her father passed away, is working 3-4 jobs to support her mother and sister. She meets the rich grandson of a coffee empire and things transpire from there.There are 2 problems which prevent me from rating this higher. First, I'm not sure if others noticed it but either there's a lot of orange tone stuff in the sets, or they over-used the orange light filter in a lot of scenes so it looks like everything has a brownish Orange hue to it. This was rather distracting in some parts. Second, this drama requires suspension of disbelief because there's no way any one in their right mind would mistake Go Eun Chan as a male in real life, as I'd expect 98% of people would automatically guess she's a female. That makes some parts of her acting a little implausible.
However once the viewer gets past these flaws, the rest of the series is a joy to watch. The cast works well together, there's no real bad acting and as the story plays out it almost has a "fluffy" and innocent type feel even though there are several raunchy type scenes. There's genuine chemistry between the 2 leads, plus it's impossible not to love Gong Yoo. In one scene he even admitted he's a clothes horse, and he's right. Everything looks so good on him all I want to do is buy those outfits for my man even though there's no chance they will fit him or look half as good.
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Arguably the best gender bender out there
This is my all time favourite show. It's the most realistic gender bender out there, and Eun Chan is mainly just being herself. It's so refreshing to see an androgynous character done well and not in overly silly way. If you're tired of seeing girly girls in boys clothing, Coffee Prince is the gender bender for you. On top of that it's hilarious, has a neat little story line, well developed characters and amazing cast chemistry. It'll make you cry, it will make you laugh and it will make you all warm and fuzzy inside. Enough said.Was this review helpful to you?
My first 'old school' kdrama
Coffee Prince (CP) is really my first kdrama that it's before 2013. I will start by saying that I was a little hesitant to watch it, because I had read reviews and watched clips of other old school kdramas like boys over flowers and the heirs and these two seem quite cringey to me and that's why I wasn't sure if I will be able to finish CP. I'm a fan of Gong Yoo and I have already watched Goblin and Silent Sea and I wanted to watch another serries with him so CP was on my list for some time.Soooo I finished it and will gladly say I wasn't dissappointed, I actually binge watched it for the biggest part which is something I didn't expect since most of the times I take my time with romcoms. It doesn't have big cliffhangers but the story flows so smooth that I wanted more with each episode.
Now let's start with the real review. First I want to mention that it felt like a time machine, I felt a certain nostalgia from the early 2000s even tho I was only 10 years old in 2007, I have vivid memories of how the world was. The cellphones, the clothes the lack of internet and generally not overusing technology, was something that kept our days more carefree and simple. So CP is a simple kdrama the actors don't wear much make-up, the clothes are simple and there are feelings of warmth and intimacy. The acting of the whole cast is AMAZING especially the female lead, Yoon Eun Hye, did an excellent job. I aplaud her. Her acting was natural and stayed true to the character while there was development. Gong Yoo was also great, I can now say that this role (in serries) is my favourite for now, above Goblin for sure. The chemistry of the main leads was also great, I was smilling like an idiot to the romantic scenes. I have to mention I fell in love with young Kim Dong Wook, such a heartthrod. The only character that annoyed me a little was 'Yoo Joo', she seemed a bit immature. Before I started it I didn't see Jae Wook was also part of it so that was a pleasant surpirse, R.I.P. to Lee Eon everyone was such a memorable character.
Lastly I'm quite a tomboy myself and I often wear men clothes, so seeing 'Eun Chan' being herself so freely and not giving a fck about what people think of her, she gave me confidence to continue being myself as well. I also loved how 'open-minded' it is for such an old kdrama, even in more modern ones you don't see much talks about sexuality or gendres. I will probably rewatch it some time in the future.
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Nice enough romance drama
Although I wasn’t keen on the pacing and the 2nd couple with their on-off again drama, this kdrama was still watchable enough on Netflix! I was glad that they were able to get a FL who is at least a tomboy and acts likeable for a change! ML was good enough as well. The pair of them are so cute together with their “bromance” like relationship, if only it was about them than the 2nd couple. Otherwise I would have added another few stars on this drama.Anyways if peeps wanna see a different type of romance than the typical old fashioned ones, it’s good to give this a watch on Netflix!
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This review may contain spoilers
A Classic Gender-Bender Romance with Depth
The girl-pretending-to-be-a-boy trope is always a hit, and Coffee Prince executes it brilliantly. The twist here is that a coffee shop exclusively hires men, and Gong Yoo’s character finds himself irresistibly drawn to one of his employees—who is actually the female lead in disguise.While there are suspicions about her identity (like never changing in the men’s locker room or being uncomfortable with personal space invasions), the heart of the story lies in Gong Yoo’s internal struggle. He falls for this "man" without knowing the truth, and what makes it compelling is that he genuinely acknowledges his feelings, even questioning his own identity in the process. His emotional turmoil adds incredible depth to the romance.
Kim Jae-wook’s role was a treat to watch, and seeing how far he has come in his career makes it even more special. Yoon Eun-hye, the female lead, eventually reveals the truth, leading to an emotional fallout before the couple finds their way back to each other. The drama is filled with memorable moments, like Gong Yoo trying to set himself up with other women or the adorable chestnut-picking scene on the road after which they reaffirm their feelings for each other.
Overall, Coffee Prince is a must-watch, heartwarming, beautifully acted, and with a satisfying happy ending!
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The screen time that the second lead couple got should have went towards Min-yeop, and Sun-ki. The second lead couple are so toxic together and I felt like the only reason that they are still with one another is because they are comfortable with each other. Everytime they were on screen, I resisted the urge to not fast forward because I didn't care about their storyline.
Eun Chan and Han-gyeol were so cute. The bickering, the cute moments, and the angsts were all well done and you just can't help but root for them as a couple. I didn't care much for the soundtrack of the series and there was a couple of scenes that made me laugh.
All in All, this is the first cross dressing drama I got to finish fully. I plan on watching "Your Beautiful" soon but the female lead and her lack of a personality in that series annoyed me with the couple of episodes I previously watched. That's why I liked Eun Chan. She's spunky, kind hearted, but also stands up for what's right. Now that I am getting older, I can't really deal with the mute female leads anymore.
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This review may contain spoilers
Gender Benders and Heart-Spillers
Revisiting Coffee Prince felt like cracking open a shoebox full of old love letters — some yellowed, a few awkward, maybe a little too earnest for their own good… but impossible to throw away. It’s messy in that very 2000s K-drama way: dramatic music swells, slow-mo glances, plot points that loop a few too many times — and yet? I felt something. A lot of something, actually.What struck me most was how ahead of its time it managed to be, even while stumbling through the execution. This wasn’t just a gimmick about a woman pretending to be a man. It asked, sincerely and repeatedly, “What does love look like when it challenges everything you think you know about yourself?” And it didn’t always answer that elegantly, but it did ask with guts.
Yoon Eun-hye’s Go Eun-chan is pure chaotic empathy — full of heart, full of hunger (both literal and emotional), and impossible not to root for. Her energy was so open, so unpolished, that I didn’t care whether the story was smooth. And Gong Yoo — well. His arc surprised me. I remembered the confusion, the brooding, the tension. I forgot how deeply vulnerable he allows himself to become once the armor cracks. When he breaks, it’s quiet and honest and a little bit beautiful.
Of course, the drama shows its age. The pacing limps in the back half. Some subplots feel like filler dressed up as meaningful side quests. And a few of the supporting characters deserved more than they got. But even when it dragged, I never wanted to walk away. Because underneath the outdated quirks and occasional melodrama, there was something true. A kind of raw sincerity I don’t always find in more polished dramas.
It’s not perfect. It meanders. But it also dares — in its own awkward, lovable way — to say that love isn’t about boxes or roles or labels. It’s about recognition. Soul-level stuff.
And for a drama about coffee, it gave me a whole lot more than caffeine.
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