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North Korean cafe offers Labubus to customers who spend $100

Published: 28 Nov. 2025, 20:22

A notice at the “Mirae Reserve” cafe in Pyongyang, North Korea, announces the sale of Labubu punch cards. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A cafe in North Korea's Pyongyang — that appears to have copied Starbucks' interior design — has drawn attention for its punch card: Spend $100, and get a Labubu doll.

Sally Yin, a marketing and promotions specialist, wrote on her social media account on Wednesday that the cafe was “quite interesting.”

“Last time, they held a blind-box event [during which] people could get vouchers, and now you can collect points to receive a Labubu figure,” she wrote. “It’s incredible that you have to spend $100 on coffee to get just one Labubu.”

She also posted a photo showing a notice that reads “Labubu punch cards for sale.” The cafe sells the cards for $1 to paying customers and $3 to everyone else.

Coffee is reportedly priced at $25 for three cups.

Yin uploaded another photo that shows the cafe’s interior, which looks almost identical to that of a Starbucks store. Its name, “Mirae Reserve,” also closely resembles Starbucks Reserve, and its logo replaces Starbucks' star emblem with a stylized “M.”

According to Yin, the cafe is inside the Ragrang Aeguk Geumgang Hall (translated).

The cafe was featured in the New York Times in August.

The interior of the “Mirae Reserve” cafe in Pyongyang closely resembles that of a Starbucks store. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]