Animisery – A Blog About Living Miserably with Anime (Among Other Things)

Originally had this blog post up for all of three hours before I realized I had some misguided information that I should have removed. This is a long post just to express some sentimental feelings so there’s no anime or anime accessories in this. Read accordingly!

As of July 19th 2026 (which I’m sure some of you will read this far after that point), my favorite cafe in the entire world will have shut down after having been served the town of Duluth, Georgia for ten years. That cafe, if you couldn’t tell from the title of this blog post, is Cafe Rothem or 카페 로뎀 as it is known it the owner’s language of Korean. Cafe Rothem was located in the aforementioned town of Duluth, Georgia which is quite noted for its abundance of Korean citizens. It’s not uncommon to drive through Duluth and see signage that includes English as well as Hangul, the written Korean language. Some select businesses even forego English entirety due to the specific niche they serve for the Korean-American residents! This is all to say that Cafe Rothem served a community that was more familiar with the flavors and style that it had to offer up yet it still was open to all with the kind of atmosphere that one can only find in those popular “comfy” novels about twenty-somethings working a used bookstores or coffee shops that somehow have mystical powers to unite people together a la Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop if you’re familiar with those books.

Cafe Rothem simply exuded that “off the beaten path” kind of hidden gem energy despite, in my regular visits whenever I was in the area, always seeming to be full of people. Maybe that was because the owner, James, worked so hard to provide the kind of atmosphere that felt like stepping back in time to a place that may not have ever existed. Rothem was surrounded by bookshelves overflowing with used books and vinyl (which they sold as well as using as decor) that always seemed to imbue the seating area with such rustic charm. My first visit in 2021 with my girlfriend, who found Rothem on Instagram and immediately noted how MATT it felt, had me aimlessly leafing through a Korean bible noting the small illustrations on certain pages including Jesus reaching out to a lamb which softly sipping on a pour over and munching on one of Rothem’s signature breads. I used pour overs to gauge how quality a coffee place is just because the flavor profile of a pour over always seems to reveal the caliber of beans. Yeah, I know I seem like a coffee prude with that statement but I’ve drank more coffee than water at this point in my life and it’s a severe problem that I don’t think I can remedy at this point.

My subsequent visits to Rothem had me testing out a variety of drinks but eventually settling on regular: a hot mugwort misu latte. It had a very earthy taste mixed with the sweetness of milk that satisfied in ways unlike any other beverage before it. It had a grainy thickness that wasn’t unpleasant and paired so well with Rothem’s sweet and creamy pumpkin bread. I tried replicating their recipe at home eventually and failed spectacularly. I ended up with just green mud that was all grain and pain. I’ll never know how they did it. Recipes online didn’t assuage that there had to be some magic involved for the owners/operators to produce such a drink like that; each recipe I tried never had the same flavor.

Speaking of magic and the mysteries that often accompany them, I never did learn very much about those behind Rothem. The perpetual employees was an older Asian man named James who regularly served up eager conversation and his wife, a shorter Asian woman who never failed to convey unrelenting joy in her delightfully jovial eyes. I never saw her without a smile and I never heard the man in question speak without an air of kindness in his relaxed words. They also were routinely clad in shirts bearing the Cafe Rothem logo which the man would have tucked into his jeans displaying how slim he was. There was a mild language barrier that I was always too nervous to try and break but their English was solid and way better than my Korean could ever hope to be. I would sometimes fail to understand the woman’s casual comments and the man was prone to not replying in the small words I would exchange with him. It was a very asymmetrical relationship but I was a customer and they were the hosts so it’s not as if anything meaningful had to form.

From what I do know, James is a pastor and Cafe Rothem would regularly host a church service on Sundays hence why they were always closed then. From what social media presence Rothem has, you can infer that James was dedicated to spreading the word of God and hoped that Cafe Rothem could be an outreach for the community of Duluth as he regularly participated in events to feed Atlanta’s homeless alongside other volunteer activities. There is in fact a meaning to the name rothem that relates to this idealogy: Rothem trees are regularly mentioned in The Bible although usually by different names depending on the translation. Most notably in 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah rests underneath a rothem tree and eventually encounters an angel which provids him with the spirit to continue his trek in the wilderness. Cafe Rothem wanted to be that very same rothem tree as a cafe, a place to revive yourself during the hardships of a sometimes cruel world. No matter what you faith is, James was dedicated to being a beacon of comfort through his actions. I can only speak on what I see on the exterior but I don’t doubt that Pastor James was intent on peace in his own kind way. He struggled through surviving COVID and launched a GoFundMe to keep Rothem alive even as he was hospitalized and couldn’t even work at his own shop. His wife worked the cafe alone as restrictions were enacted and clientele slowed to a crawl. While his GoFundMe did not reach its goal, it still granted him a sizable amount of money which he said only went to the necessities of maintaining the cafe. Personally speaking, I’m absolutely positive he meant it and I’m absolutely thrilled that kind strangers gave him outreach as I might never would have found Rothem otherwise.

I actually took an emergency visit to Cafe Rothem with my girlfriend after finding out about Rothem’s impending closure. I found out due to an act of sheer serendipity: I randomly opened my hardly used Instagram app but to see that their last day with be on the 18th. With no hesitation, we set off a couple of days later and took a hotel room relatively close by. This was, for perspective, a six hour drive just to see this cafe a few more times. It wasn’t for a concert of epic proportions, it wasn’t for a conference on issues plaguing the American population (I doubt I’d be invited anyways), it wasn’t for some ailing and soon to expire family member: it was for this little slice of peace that was always waiting for us when we were in the Gwinnett county area. I don’t know the owners on a personal level and I had no financial stake in the Rothem’s success. They just gave me a little piece of invaluable shade in the blazing desert known as the world. I could never have the perfect coffeeshop and book store in my own home yet Cafe Rothem was there to provide. It was the soft jazz over the speakers, the uplifting scent of fresh coffee, and the sight of shelves teeming with used books of all varieties. I had my perfect shade in this quaint cafe.

I’ll never forget the excitement of pulling up to Cafe Rothem whenever I was in the area. I got to experience a syphon coffee for the first time, watching water and coffee mix in a delightful display of physics. I tasted new flavors I might never have otherwise gotten a chance to experience such as mugwort. I got to feel comfortable at a place that was the product of the hard work that these strangers put on every day. I am sublimely grateful for them and the efforts they expended.

In a weird way to show my gratitude, I started back on my Korean studies again. I abandoned learning Korean within two months as I struggled to replicate the noises and sounds used in the spoken tongue. I loved writing the language but I always stumbled over my words when I spoke. I, however, want to thank these kind folks by the chance among chances that we meet again. I want to talk to them in their own language and say “thank you for all the food and the happiness you gave me”. I want to be equipped to express the gratitude that I could never express as I walked out for the final time just yesterday. I can never forget the image of James and his wife working together in the kitchen as I walked out. I didn’t know what to say. What could I say to convey how happy I was to have gotten to go their cafe for five years? All I could really say was thank you and a humble bow. James and his wife were talking amongst themselves in the kitchen and as I walked out I gave them a huge wave which they both heartily returned with bright and beaming smiles. The yellow light of the kitchen contrasted against the natural and minimal light of the cafe giving James and his partner an almost angelic glow as James said “we’ll see you soon”. I still replay it in my head.

I don’t know what they’re like outside of that cafe. I know they went to church. I know they held open mic nights for the musicians of the area to come in play. I know they offered a place of rest where eight dollars got me a nice treat of a bread and beverage alongside a moment of peace and tranquility at their wonderfully curated cafe.

Everything that you love or enjoy will inevitably end. Cafe owners become weary and have to close down. TV shows that you enjoy reach conclusions, be it natural or premature, that can’t be undone. All the best books have final pages no matter how much we wish they didn’t. It’s a trite observation but it’s true. Everything will end but how much we cherish those experiences and moments don’t. Cafe Rothem may be closed, much to my dismay, but my love for what this stranger created never will. Maybe I’m being too sentimental but screw it. Places like this are sparingly few and all.

Regardless, I’ll study my Korean just in case there’s this chance encounter. Maybe I’ll even post about my progress on this blog.

I hope the day will come. Until then: 감사합니다, 카페 로뎀.