Fresh Ground is a blog for global nomads and kindred cosmopolitans. Plan your own trip, or follow along with my guides to cafes and reviews of the world's best coffee in Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond.

Korea

Coffeelab

Coffeelab is a quirky specialty cafe located in Hongdae and run by Bang Jong Koo, 2005 Korean Barista Champion. I’ve only been there twice – the first time just long enough to drop in and try a single espresso. I finally made it back this weekend. Click below for my thoughts and photos. Click here...

Cafe Soho

The first thing you get at Cafe Soho, an hour outside of Seoul in Suwon, is a menu and a piece of paper to write your order on. They have some fruit drinks (Koreans call it “ade” whenever they mix fruit juice flavor and Sprite) that aren’t bad, but I’d stick to the pour-over coffees....

Caffe Themselves – Roasting

I picked up a couple bags of coffee on my last visit to Caffe Themselves (read my review here) – labeled “Indonesia Mandheling” and “Brazil Cup of Excellence #25.” It’s too bad that they aren’t labeled more specifically. After a little searching online I figured out that the Brazil is from Fazenda Djanira. Can’t tell...

Coffee Factory

Coffee Factory is one of my favorite cafes in Korea. It’s in the popular Samcheongdong neighborhood around Gyeongbokgung palace, the Presidential Blue House, and a number of foreign consulates. It’s an upscale but unpretentious area that blends traditional and modern Korean culture with its various art galleries, old and new architecture, tea houses and coffee...

Caffe Themselves

When I came to Korea in 2007 for a summer at Yonsei University, I was excited to see that Seoul is jammed full of cafes – in fact, I don’t think there’s any place in this city where you’re more than a five minute walk from a cup of coffee (if you know of a...

Caffe Themselves

When I came to Korea in 2007 for a summer at Yonsei University, I was excited to see that Seoul is jammed full of cafes – in fact, I don’t think there’s any place in this city where you’re more than a five minute walk from a cup of coffee (if you know of a...
Club Espresso

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...

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.