This year, there were only four birthday cafes for Kim Jonghyun, and the three my friends and I went to were rather subdued. This year will mark the 7th anniversary of his death, and what would have been his 34th birthday.
I was surprised there were so few birthday cafes, as there were more last year and several had been really well-decorated with plenty of decorations. (If anyone knows of any other birthday cafes in Korea, both in Seoul and other cities, let me know. My friends and I were only able to find the four.)
advertisement for Cafe Aside’s Jonghyun “April Boy” Birthday Event, in bright pink with large pink heart-shaped balloons
Our first cafe was also a Jonghyun birthday cafe last year, Cafe Aside. This year, the theme was “April Boy” and his pink-haired era was everywhere to be seen this year. This was probably the highlight cafe for me this year, as I adored his pink era and everything was so well-decorated. They had a photobooth but we didn’t get our photos taken here.
poster in the window of the cafevarious photos along the wallcontinuation of photos along the wallmain display of paper cups, photos, iced grapefruit juice and iced tea, and shortbread cookies for saletypical birthday cafe menu, featuring two sets, one with grapefruit ade and cookie and one with iced tea and cookie that includes the basic perks plus A4 poster, but you can also just buy a single drink and receive the basic perkssamples of the photobooth sets you can purchaseclose-up of display board at the registerclose-up of the cookies and the poster we received when orderingshortbread cookie with “say hello with a smile, bye” written into the doughclose-up of the drinks for sale, with stickers on themstack of pink paper cupspinboard with photos of Jonghyun and stickers of his name in Koreandisplay of a photo of Jonghyun with two pink paper cups, a candle in a fancy holder, scent diffuser, on top of a white fuzzy fabric with a string of fairy lightsTV showing clips of Jonghyundisplay of some of Jonghyun’s albumsthis is what I would refer to as a subdued display–a regular display of books and a clock, with a picture of Jonghyun placed on topsmall birthday cake in the center of a tablethe other side of the table for referenceposter of Jonghyun on a pinboardphoto station sign with pictures of Jonghyun on a pinboard in the backvarious photocards and stickers of Jonghyun, all in bright and pastel colorsadvertisement for Cafe 333’s Jonghyun birthday cafe, in black and white and gray with a “playlist” theme
Our second cafe was nearby, Cafe 333. It was much more subdued than Cafe Aside and when you sat in a certain part of the cafe, you couldn’t even tell that it was temporarily a birthday cafe. (In fact, a group of soldiers were in the cafe while we were there, with one sleeping on a sofa the entire time.) I loved the paintings of Jonghyun, as well as his album displays, including the Smini keychain albums. I’m super jealous of whichever fan has the Japanese lightstick that let the cafe borrow it as well.
facade of Cafe 333poster outside the cafe with Jonghyun’s photolamp and flowers behind a sign that reads “오늘도 수고했어” or “you did well today too”table display of paintings and albumspainting of a photoshoot of Jonghyun with some freebies on the table in frontphotos and albumsSmini keychain albums of Jonghyun’s workpainting of a photoshoot of Jonghyun with photos on the table in frontclose-up of the paintingclose-up of the photos, in bright and pastel colorsan A4 poster of Jonghyun with some smaller photos on a pillar in the cafestack of paper cups with photos of Jonghyun in front“Happy Birthday” in balloons on a wallphotos of Jonghyun posted on the wallphotos of Jonghyun posted on a pillar and walla picture of Jonghyun making a goofy face while stretching backwards in a chair; this was one of the pictures they gave us; clearly our fandom has a sense of humorpaper cup, iced americano in a plastic flask, and macaron with a photo of Jonghyun with his face covered in cake printed onto itinterior shot of the cafecutout of Jonghyun next to a record player with a Japanese Shinee lightstick adorned with a ribbon, next to a Korean lightstick and a pink Jonghyun dollclose-up of the Japanese lightstick… if anyone wants to buy me something for Christmas…close-up of the Korean lightstick and Jonghyun dollcut-out of Jonghyun next to a stack of paper cupsphotos from Jonghyun’s concertsmirror decorated with photos of Shinee, including two photos of them in Halloween costumes
Our last cafe was a 40-minute subway ride away, io3 in Seongsu. This cafe was offering t-shirts and eco-bags for sale. In addition to a paper cup, they also gave out a reusable cup. This cafe had several flavors of macarons, and the strawberry one I got was delicious. They had a photobooth here and I convinced everyone to take a photo together.
poster outsidetwo posters on the door, one in green and red and the other blue and yellowlist of menu items and pricesTV displaying video clips of Shinee performances with pictures of Jonghyun on the wall behindmacarons above bottles of dutch coffee (cold brew) and chocolate lattes in a display casethe paper cup inside the yellow reusable cupstrawberry macaron and dutch coffee (cold brew)silver streamers behind gold balloons that read “JJONG DAY”
There is a big difference between your typical birthday cafe and a birthday cafe for Jonghyun. For many, birthday cafes represent a celebration of your idol’s birthday, where we can gather to drink iced americanos and eat macarons with cute pictures printed on them while collecting stickers and paper cups, all with the hope that maybe the idol themselves will come walking in through the door to say hello. We can meet new friends and reunite with old ones, make new concert buddies, or grow our network when we discover someone with a passion for sticker-making or lightstick decoration.
A birthday cafe for Kim Jonghyun is a celebration of not only his birthday, but of his lived life and memory. We know that he’s not going to walk through the door. No new photoshoots will be printed in glossy magazines. No new music will be released. We won’t be able to hear his high notes in a live performance again. Still, we come together to drink the often poor-quality iced americanos, eat the way-too-sweet cookies, collect the silly little paper cups, and hang out with friends who hold a soft spot in their heart for Kim Jonghyun just like we do.
My favorite birthday cafe this time was Cafe Aside. I really loved pink-haired Jonghyun. My favorite era of Jonghyun, and my favorite photos of him, are whenever he’s wearing a hat.
You did well, Jonghyun. You did better than well. You were amazing.
Koffee & Kpop 
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