Instant Coffee Past and Present
Smithsonian magazine started a recent article with the question, “is there a future for instant coffee?” For most of us reading this site, the answer is probably no (right?!) but this is an interesting point of departure for a tour of the current instant coffee market and its history. They point out that the instant...
Fresh Cup Magazine on Korean Coffee Culture
Dan Leif at Fresh Cup magazine recently wrote a great piece on the specialty coffee industry in Korea. I’m quoted a couple times and was happy to provide background for the story. Definitely recommend reading if you’re at all interested in the state of the industry in Korea. While growth in South Korea has...
Korean Cafe Interior Design
When I lived in Korea I tried to find all the cafes in Seoul that were focused on high quality coffee (you can find all of them on my global cafe map), but in the process I visited a bunch that were less than stellar. However, even the least palatable coffees in Korea are often...
Best Cafes in Seoul, Korea: 2012 Updates
Below you’ll find a list of the best quality focused cafes that have opened in Seoul since 2010. For great cafes opened before 2010, check out my other reviews of Korean cafes. I moved from Korea to Sweden back in the summer of 2010, and that unfortunately marked the end of my coverage of Korea’s...
Espressamente Illy – Seoul, Korea
A lot of coffee drinkers stumble upon Illy in their initial quests for better coffee. It’s hard to miss their shiny silver and red packaging in the supermarket or at the cafes serving their coffee. Established in the 1930s, Illy is family owned and known for pursuing scientific coffee research, and creating standards for brewing...
Belief Coffee in Seoul, Korea
Belief is a relatively new cafe that I first visited many months ago in the Hongdae neighborhood of Seoul, Korea. When I stopped in the first time they were just setting things up, didn’t have an espresso machine installed, and were still apparently adjusting their roast profiles. I stopped in again a couple months ago...
La Caffe in Seoul, Korea
UPDATE: La Caffe’s owner writes in the comments below: “Big thanks to all our lovely customers. LaCaffe currently closed. We are renovating to cafe related business workshop, not cafe. See you soon with big news.” La Caffe is a restaurant and cafe hidden away in the neighborhood near Wangsimni station. I heard that they had...
MK2 Cafe
MK2 is a cool looking spot in the neighborhood to the west of Gyeongbokgung palace. The decor is made up of mostly mid-century modern furniture, and they have a Faema E61 espresso machine on which they churn out a pretty decent espresso. It seems like a really chilled out place to relax and study, do...
KT Olleh Square Cafe
Korea Telecom has built quite a nice little cafe in their first floor show room, amid all the office buildings and historical attractions at Gwanghwamun station near Gyeongbokgung palace. One would expect that a cafe in an electronics showroom would be little more than a gimmick to draw in more potential customers, but I was...
Dalmont Cafe
Dalmont is a nice looking cafe and restaurant next to Hakdong station. I’ve lived right around the corner from it for the past year and popped in many times for one of their tasty shrimp or salami sandwiches. Their coffee has been hit or miss for me in the past with an amazing double ristretto...
Madagascar
My friend Sammie showed me the way to this cafe out near Sookmyung Women’s University. It’s a nice looking cafe, with a spacious and eclectic interior full of National Geographic style photography (the theme is Madagascar after all), photo gear, photo books, and random curios. I guess the owner is a photographer who visited Madagascar...
Lugo Coffee
Lugo is a well appointed cafe in the huge Garden 5 shopping mall, complete with their own roaster in shop, La Cimbali and Ditting espresso set up, as well as kit for hand drip. Combining the two main Korean cafe trends, they offer all their coffees (around ~10 single origins) as either espresso shots or...
