Bingsoos Become More Unique

With the increasing popularity of bingsoo, Korean shaved ice, many cafes have been venturing to make different types of bingsoos.

With flavors ranging from strawberry cheese to black sesame, many new and unique bingsoos have gained popularity in South Korea over the past few years. Now, well-known Korean shops such as Caffe Bene have opened in America, spreading their new products to the US.

Sold in bakeries such as Paris Baguette, traditional bingsoos contain plain shaved ice, red beans, and fruit. The new bingsoos are different. Some are either very simple with just shaved milk and red beans, and some are non-traditional with strawberry syrup or yellow bean powder.

Recently, shops have opened that are solely dedicated to bingsoos, as opposed to bakeries that sell them on the side. As a result, more emphasis has been placed on bingsoos and these stores carry more variety than before.

Okrumong and Sul & Beans, in Koreatown, make these unique bingsoos. They usually have very long lines of people willing to wait because of their unique bingsoos.

“I’m willing to wait because I know I can’t get the Injulmi bingsoo everywhere. And the places that do sell it also have long lines, so there really isn’t another choice but to wait,” Kyung Kim, a customer at Sul & Beans, told JSR.

Recently, the injulmi bingsoo has gained immense popularity. Injulmi is a Korean rice cake covered in yellow bean powder, and these bingsoos have that yellow bean powder over shaved milk. Injulmi toast, which has the Injulmi rice cake in the middle of two pieces of honey-glazed bread, has also been very popular.

“I thought I wouldn’t like the Injulmi bingsoo because it contains bean powder, it was surprisingly really good. I’m glad I tried it and now I understand why there are so many people obsessed with Korean bingsoos,” said Sul & Beans customer Jackie Lee.