Club Espresso
Club Espresso, established in 1990, is one of Korea’s old school specialty coffee houses. They’re located up in the hills in Buamdong, on the northern side of the Blue House/Gyeongbokgung area in Seoul. It’s a unique area that reminds me of Silverlake in Los Angeles (well, just a little bit, and minus the hipsters). Their...
Coffee Lab Express
Recently opened, Coffee Lab Express is a cool looking spot clad in bare grimy concrete, just big enough to accommodate a tiny bar and a line of people. Coffee Lab Express is an offshoot of a larger cafe and roastery a few blocks away in Hongdae. (Long review soon. Short review: it’s great). The main...
Chan’s Espresso Bar
I stumbled across Chan’s Espresso Bar one night in Hongdae when I glanced into a shop window and saw a Clover (a much hyped, quite expensive, mechanized way of brewing a single cup of coffee quickly with consistency) amidst a coffee bar full of shiny new coffee brewing equipment. I’d never seen a Clover in...
Star City’s Star Kitchen
Korea is a nation of giant apartment blocs, and many of the nicer ones have large shopping complexes at the lower levels. The Star City development next to Konkuk University station (Gundae Ipgu) has an E-mart, Lotte mall, and a bunch of shops, complete with a weird Brian Eno-esque soundtrack piped in to the hallways...
Coffee at Work & Home
This is part of the coffee setup I keep at work. I like the pour-over filter, it’s fun for people to watch, easier to clean than a French press, and less awkward than straining over an Aeropress imagining what might happen if your mug decided to shatter underneath you. I can’t really recommend the Kalita...
Quickshot: Cafe Cantata
Posts tagged ‘Quickshot’ will be brief tips on where to get a coffee or espresso fix, highlighting places that don’t really need a full blown article and photo spread. First up: Cafe Cantata. This small coffee counter is part of the ‘Luxury Food’ court at Star City’s Lotte Supermarket next to Konkuk University (Gundae Ipgu/Konguk...
CBTL in Korean
Around Insadong and Gyeongbokgung there is a law mandating that signage must use the Korean language. Here’s what “The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf” looks like spelled out phonetically in Korean. Around Insadong and Gyeongbokgung there is a law mandating that signage must use the Korean language. Here's what "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf"...
Miz Moren
Hongdae, or Hongik University, is famous for its art programs, as well as the district immediately surrounding the school. Near quite a few universities (Ewha, Yonsei, Sogang, etc.), the area is a one-stop destination for everything trendy, artsy, and otherwise entertaining. There are so many very nice looking cafes around this area that it can...
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