The cappuccino foam kiss in "Secret Garden" was such a classic k-drama moment that it's hard to ever sip a latte without wondering if Hyun Bin is going to wipe the foam from your upper lip.
In the "Secret Garden" scene he accuses Ha Ji Won of leaving the foam on her lip on purpose because it's something girls do to get men to touch their lips. Of course Ha Ji Won's character Gil Ra Im had no such intentions.
Apparently that scene has had the same effect on k-drama writers because so many dramas pay homage to it. It happened again this week in "Discovery of Love." It took place shortly after Yoon Hyun Min and Lee Seung Joon realized they were both in love with the character played by Kim Seul Gi. She had some foam on her upper lip and they both wanted to wipe it off.
They might have suspected they were falling for her when their vision blurred and their hearts started beating erratically but it was the coffee foam kiss that sealed the deal.
Several dramas and parodies have reenacted that magic "Secret Garden" moment. In "Monstar," B2SR's Junhyung and Ha Yeon Soo parodied the moment as part of their teenage romance. His character, Sul Chan and hers, Se Yi, had an unintentional coffee shop date. He tried to pretend he didn't like her but when he saw the foam on her lip, he said, "It looks like you watch a lot of dramas."
He tries to wipe away the milky foam on her lip but she beats him to it by wiping it away with her tongue. And that results in him getting all flustered.
And the scene also had a parallel in "Queen Inhyun's Man" when Ji Hyun Woo studied the coffee cream foam on Yoo In Na's upper lip and tried to wipe it away. Since he was a time traveler from the Joseon era, she did have to introduce him to life in the modern world and that should include being up to date on k-drama's most romantic moments.
The scene has also been parodied outside of dramas. G-Dragon and T.O.P. of Big Bang once did it with G-Dragon playing Ha Ji Won's role and T.O.P. taking Hyun Bin's role.
And many k-drama kiss scenes have tried to imitate the sweet moment. Characters have had Coca Cola kisses (Lie To Me), cotton candy kisses (That Winter The Wind Blows) and doughnut kisses (The Heirs). But none may ever be as memorable.
