Estimated credit and debit card spending at Starbucks Korea rose 5.5% in August to 116.12 billion won ($86.1 million), marking a second consecutive monthly increase. The gain sharply narrowed the gap with Twosome Place, which remained the leading coffee brand by estimated card spending at 117.99 billion won. Twosome Place led Starbucks by about 1.9 billion won, down from roughly 7 billion won in July, and has outspent Starbucks for four straight months since May. Starbucks' August spending was still 15.9% below the 138.05 billion won recorded a year earlier, while Twosome Place's spending increased 7.6% year on year. Starbucks' spending has risen by approximately 15.7 billion won since bottoming out in June, but the latest figures remain insufficient to characterize the trend as a full recovery. Starbucks had suspended summer product launches and promotional events in May after the so-called "Tank Day" controversy and began gradually restoring product releases and customer benefit programs in July. The figures, compiled by Mobile Index, a platform operated by AI technology company IGAWorks, are based on card transactions and exclude much of Starbucks' spending through its own prepaid cards and mobile gift cards, limiting their use as a measure of total sales or customer recovery.