Siesta offers 24 hour nap café, cereal bar to Guam

Swetha Kotwal | Pacific Daily News

Show Caption Hide Caption Siesta, 24- hour nap cafe Siesta opened their doors on June, 10, 2018 in Tamuning. Siesta is a 24-hour Nap cafe that offers specialty drinks, an unlimited cereal bar and a place to take a nap.

After visiting Guam in September 2017 from Korea, Jeonghoon Choi realized the island lacked a 24-hour nap café to rest after a flight. Fast forward to June 10, 2018, Choi opened Siesta, a 24-hour nap center and café.

Choi, a former banker who also spent time working for Korea's National Assembly left his job to open his first business, bringing his wife alongside.

Yonghan Kim, Choi's childhood friend and Incheon United professional soccer player is the general manager.

The two-story warehouse building is equipped with a café on the first floor with three computers, a printer, a scanner, projectors, a camera photo printer, flat-screen TVs and a private nursery room and about 50 seats.

The second floor is where the siesta party happens. The nearly pitch-black room is equipped with 46 leather reclining chairs with a cup holder, two USB charging ports, a foot rest and reclining features.

“It’s like a first-class airplane seat,” Choi said.

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Although each chair is singular, up to eight chairs can be portioned off by a curtain for privacy.

According to Choi, each chair is wiped down with a special-leather cleaning product after each use.

For comfort, a dehumidifier is placed in the room to freshen the air and guests are also supplied with ear plugs and eye masks.

Choi drew inspiration from unconventional cafés across Korea and Japan when envisioning Siesta.

“Sleep is a very important part of our lives. In Korean and Japanese societies people are always really busy, so they need an opportunity to rest,” Choi said.

Nappers are required to spend a minimum of one hour to nap and can maximize six hours. In special cases, delayed flights can cause tourists to stay up to nine hours.

Though the café has no age requirements, the napping center does put an age restriction on those below 7-years-old.

The café isn’t just catered to working people and tourists, Choi also thinks of the working college students keeping prices at $5 per hour to nap. Add another $5 per hour and indulge in an unlimited cereal bar.

“We want to provide great service at a great price,” Choi said.

Over five cereal options are present at the cereal bar. Choi says the Oreo cereal, which he imports from Korea, is a crowd favorite.

"Right now, I don't have Oreo cereal because the demand was so high," Choi said.

On top of an unlimited cereal bar, the café offers cakes and hand-made specialty drinks.

Popular favorites include Siesta’s Guam Beach Lemonade, Apple Lemon Tea and a Cereal Latte.

Choi says the lemon juice used is fresh squeezed. The Guam Beach Lemonade is a citrus purple drink. The drink gets its signature purple color after being infused with blue colored ice cubes that Choi makes from a flower.

Choi said the Apple Lemon Tea is special because of it is imported from Germany.

“Apparently, it was a special drink that only German kings drank,” Choi says.

Another popular drink is the cereal latte, says Choi. The 5-grain drink comprised of various grains are blended with milk and sugar.

Although Siesta has only been open for less than a month, Choi said he is setting up a live band and expanding the menu to include sandwiches are in the works.

“Locals like a lot of sweet stuff, but we also want to focus on the health stuff so we’re always thinking of both,” Choi said.

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