We’re ‘nuts’ about Korean HBAF flavored almonds! Possibly South Korea’s most scrummy souvenir snack, HBAF almonds 바프 are a popular tourist treat that come in dozens of different flavours.
This post may contain affiliate links to tours and hotels. These help us earn a small commission at no additional charge to you.
Mosey on by Myeongdong and you’ll find several huge HBAF stores stocked with all manner of almond flavours, nice nuts and perfect pretzels.
They can be found in stores all over the country including 7-Eleven South Korea, and a huge display at Seoul Station Lotte Mart Zetaplex and Incheon Airport. New for 2025, there is now a HBAF shop at Gwangjang Market too.
From the original honey butter almond flavour to more interesting flavours like injeolmi and wasabi, we’ve visited numerous HBAF stores in Seoul to give you the lowdown on all the HBAF flavors.
Plus did you know you can get Korean HBAF merchandise and even HBAF Makgeolli rice wine?
This article was originally published on 13 October 2023.
You might like – 100+ things to do in South Korea, Seoul >
South Korea checklist
We love using agoda.com, expedia.com and booking.com for researching and booking all our hotels, and Hostelworld for booking hostels.
For booking tours, transfers and SIM cards we recommend Get Your Guide, Viator, Trazy or Klook.
For booking rental cars visit Discover Cars. For private drivers and taxis, check out our Transfer guide >
Check out our South Korea travel booking resources >
All set for South Korea? Do one final check with our Seoul first timers guide and our South Korea packing list
What is HBAF in Korea?
Primarily known for selling flavoured almonds, HBAF actually stands for Honey, Butter, Almonds, and Flavours. Although according to local advertising, the H in HBAF is silent so we should all be referring to it phonetically as ‘BAF almonds’.
We’ve also seen HBAF referred to as Healthy But Awesome Flavors on the new Gwangjang Market HBAF shopfront – so we aren’t sure; but what we do know is that they are damn tasty almonds!
HBAF is a relatively new snack brand in South Korea, launched in 2015 as a sub brand by Gilim, a nut business.
HBAF is famous for its bright coloured packaging, its huge range of flavours plus its cartoon characters that feature on all the packets. The South Korean actress Jeon Ji Hun is also the HBAF ambassador and stars in many store posters and adverts.
HBAF is primarily known for its flavoured almonds but recently, other new HBAF products have launched like flavoured cheese balls and pretzels, plus other nuts and snacks.
There are over 30 different HBAF flavours – read on for the full list of flavors currently available in 2025!
You might like these Seoul neighbourhood guides:
Dongdaemun
Euljiro
Gangnam
Hannam-dong
Hongdae
Ikseon-dong
Insadong
Itaewon
Myeong-dong
Seongsu-dong
Sindang
Or check out our best neighbourhoods in Seoul Guide >
Where can I buy HBAF products 바프?
Whilst you can buy HBAF all over Korea in convenience stores, most of their own brand HBAF stores can be found in Seoul.
The flagship store in South Korea is located in Myeongdong located very close to Myeongdong Underground Mall.
Such is the popularity of the main Myeongdong HBAF store that on our recent revisit in October 2023, we noticed the store had doubled in size and they’d also taken over the next unit as well – now that is a awful lot of flavored almonds.
As of summer 2025, there are half a dozen HBAF dedicated stalls in Myeongdong (we’ve noticed a few of the smaller ones have closed down). Why not combine a trip to Myeongdong Night Market with some HBAF hedonism?
We also spotted a new HBAF store at Gwangjang Market, plus a BIG section at most Lotte Mart Zettaplex supermarkets including the one right next to Seoul station.
You can also buy HBAF products in some Olive Young beauty stores, 7-Eleven stores (usually just the malt balls), Lotte Duty Free shops, plus in various Korea Marts and souvenir shops.
HBAF flavored almonds are also available at Seoul Incheon International Airport but the prices are a lot more than at HBAF Myeongdong or in 7-Eleven.
If you are looking to buy HBAF from overseas, it is a little more difficult although there are some unofficial stockists on Amazon.com and other small sweet suppliers.
You might like – Things to do in Seoul at night >
HBAF flavours – a full list!
The big HBAF flavoured almond question – how many flavors are there? As of our last visit to Seoul in summer 2025, there are around 30+ different flavours of HBAF almonds.
The full list of HBAF flavoured almonds (with pictures) is as follows:
1. Honey Butter Almonds – the original flavour and how HBAF got their name (Honey Butter Almond Flavor):
2. Wasabi Almonds – a little bit of heat to the mix, these almonds can bring tears to your eyes.
3. Injeolmi Almonds – one of the most popular flavors, Injeolmi is popular South Korean rice cake made from a mixture of sticky rice powder and powdered soybeans. Of all the flavours we tried, Injeolmi Almond was quite subtle in taste; not overpowering at all.
4. Baked Corn Almonds
5. Garlic Bread Almonds (with pretzels)
6. Salted Caramel Almonds (with pretzels)
7. Roasted Onion Almonds
8. Cheddar Cheese Almonds (with pretzels)
9. Cheongyang Mayo Almonds
10. Hot & Spicy Chicken Almonds
11. Tteokbokki Almonds – a Korean classic, Tteokbokki is a nice spicy rice cake big on flavours.
12. Jeju Matcha Almonds – the green tea flavours from South Korea’s most popular Jeju island retreat. We’ve seen this flavour for sale on Amazon too >
13. Black Sugar Milk Tea Almonds – sweet as!
14. Cookie and Cream Almonds – our favourite sweet almond flavour.
15. Tiramisu Almonds – one of favourites!
16. Laver Almonds – Laver is a South Korean dried seaweed, often classed as a superfood.
Join our Facebook South Korea Travel Planning and Tips Group!
Need help with your itinerary or have any South Korea related questions? Head on over to our friendly and active Facebook group with over 130,000 members!
Click here to join our group >
Or if you just want to see more of our South Korea photos, follow our South Korea Facebook page >
17. Carrot Cake Almonds – nice but the carrot taste was a little chemically for our liking.
18. Black Sesame Almonds
19. Starlight PangPang Almonds – this is basically a popping candy almond that explodes in your mouth; probably the most unusual flavour (which is saying a lot when there are 23 flavours to try!).
20. Cherries Jubilee Almonds
21. Mint Chocolate Almonds – another of our favourites!
22. Toffeenut Latte Almonds
23. Boseong Green Tea Crunch Almonds
24. Strawberry Almond Crunch
25. Cookie and Banana Cream Almonds
26. Cookie and Strawberry Cream Almonds
27. Apple Cinnamon Mixed Nuts
28. Choco Churros Almonds
29. Coffee Biscuit Almonds
30. Dalgona Almonds
31. Injeomi Sweet Red Bean Almonds
32. Green Tea Sweet Red Bean Almonds
33. Seoul My Seoul Hechi mascot collaboration – Fried Chicken Almonds (available in Regular, plus ‘Sweet and Spicy’ and ‘Soy Sauce’)
You might like – Our guide to the Discover Seoul Pass – see dozens of Seoul attractions for one fixed price!
Other HBAF Products / Non Almond Products
Whilst the company is primarily known for its flavoured almonds in South Korea, in recent years, there have been lots of other equally tasty HBAF nuts and products to hit the shelves including:
HBAF Malt Balls
These Malteser style chocolate balls are widely available in South Korea 7-Elevens and CU convenience stores and come in several flavours:
- Cookies and cream malt balls
- Cherry Jubilee malt balls
- Starlight Pangpang popping candy malt balls
- Milk coconut malt balls
- Injeolmi malt balls
- Banana malt balls
- Melon malt balls
You might like – How to get Seoul baseball tickets – a visit to Jamsil Stadium >
Crunchy Pretzels
It isn’t just nuts or chocolates that HBAF produce – they also have flavoured pretzels that can be bought alone or mixed up with nuts e.g. Caramel Salted Peanuts & Pretzels.
Baked Corn / Peanuts
Flavoured peanuts in unusually spicy / hot flavours like Sichuan peanuts or Wasabi peanuts.
You might like – things to do in Gangnam, Seoul >
Roasted Anchovy Almonds
Available in several flavours including roasted onion anchovy almonds and spicy pepper paste anchovy almonds.
You might like – The best shopping malls and centres in Seoul >
Hazelnuts
Available in Bong Bong flavour – we aren’t too sure what this is, something to do with chocolate! We’ve seen this flavour available on Amazon too >
Macadamias nuts
Available in the following flavors:
- Injeolmi Sweet Red Bean
- Honey Butter
- Vanilla Chocolate
- Jeju Matcha
- Chedder Cheese
- Cookies and Cream
There is also an HBAF and 7-Eleven collaboration macadamia chocolate bar available from Korean 7-Eleven stores.
You might like – Guide to visiting the Netflix Knife-Cut Noodle Lady stall at Gwangjang Market, Seoul >
Limited Edition Selection Packs
Whilst exploring the Myeongdong flagship store, we also founds lot of random multipacks like the cupid pack consisting of cookie and cream, plus the injeolmi flavoured maltballs.
You might like – 75+ Things to do in Busan, South Korea >
Honey Butter Almond Makgeolli
Did you know that HBAF now also have alcohol in addition to their flavoured almonds?
Available in a chilled section in most of the Myeongdong stores, you can buy Honey Butter Almond Makgeolli (5% ABV) for 3,800 Won a bottle. If you didn’t know, makgeolli is a milky, lightly sparkling rice wine!
Dried Persimmon
This is one of the more unusual HBAF products, a mango like dried fruit with a jelly like inside.
You might like – Things to do Insadong, Seoul >
Dried Sweet Potato
Healthy-ish chewy snack using 100% home grown sweet potatoes!
Honey Butter Donut
Widely found in South Korean convenience stores.
Roasted Seasoned Seaweed
Available as a multipack of 16 small bags for 7,900 Won.
HBAF Merchandise
It isn’t just nuts anymore!
HBAF is now so popular as a brand, you can even buy branded merchandise from their Seoul stores.
If you are visiting Seoul with kids, this might be a cute gift to buy given they feature cartoon characters.
We’ve spotted several items of branded merchandise including:
Mini travel bag – 4,900 Won
Drawstring back – 5,900 Won
Shopping bags – 5,900 Won
Mug available in four colours – 12,000 Won
How much do HBAF products cost?
The price of the products varies – the flavoured almonds tend to be the most expensive items costing around 7,900 Won per bag (or 30,000 Won if you buy five different bags).
Other HBAF products cost much less like 2,500 Won per packet of HBAF malt malls (often on a buy 1 get 1 free promotion in 7-Eleven and CU stores) or 3,800 Won for a chilled bottle of Honey butter Almond makgeolli rice wine.
HBAF Popularity
HBAF is now one of the most popular souvenirs to take back home from South Korea (especially Seoul).
As HBAF is a little expensive compared to other South Korean snacks, HBAF is generally bought by tourists, not normally by locals.
We’ve genuinely seen tourists and travellers with big bags full of HBAF so if you are really keen, make sure you buy or bring an empty suitcase to take all your flavoured almonds home!
HBAF is even starting to get known in Japan now! In Japan’s famous gachapon / toy capsule machines, you can buy miniature HBAF bags of flavoured almonds (alas they are not real, but still a very fun keyring for your bag).
Other facts and things to know
If you want to try HBAF before you buy, some (but not all) of the HBAF stores in Myeongdong have tasters so you can sample before deciding which of the flavoured almond types to buy.
To note that on our last Seoul visit to Myeongdong in May 2025, the flagship Myeongdong HBAF store had stopped doing tasters but the smaller stores did still have tasters – so choose your shops carefully!
The cheapest place to buy HBAF in South Korea is generally the dedicated HBAF stores, as they offer a deal where you can buy large multipacks or five different flavours for a much lower price than when buying one pack.
The most expensive place to buy them appears to be at the airports, particularly Seoul Incheon international airport.
HBAF are a great South Korea souvenir and as they are commercially packaged, you can bring them home on the aeroplane as a gift – we always take pack packs of tiramisu HBAF and cookies and cream HBAF.
In the HBAF Myeongdong stores in Seoul, you can pose with huge models of HBAF’s cute cartoon characters!
The HBAF cartoon characters were created by South Korean designer Yang Jung-eun, whose colourful creations are credited with helping turn around HBAF’s sales after a period of decline.
And Finally – Beware of HBAF Imitations
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but beware of HBAF rip-offs!
There are so many other copy-cat, flavored almond products now available with similar cartoon packaging so it is easy to get caught out! Keep an eye out for the HBAF logo if you want the real deal!
And anyway, why would you want to buy any other flavoured almond? We’re H-Baffled!
You might like – 30+ things to do in Myeongdong, Seoul >
Found this guide helpful?
Did you enjoy our blog post? Let us know in the comments or by sharing it on social media.
You can follow South Korea Hallyu on:
Instagram
Facebook group
Facebook page
TikTok
