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...
Republic of Coffee – Kenya & Costa Rica
I received these two coffees from Lee Jong Hoon (Korean Barista Champion ’09) and his girlfriend and partner Seol Mi Gyeong, who run Republic of Coffee together. Two great people and very dedicated coffee professionals that I feel privileged to have met! The Kenya AA Top Mchana is complex and fruity. Dry red wine is...
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, 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...
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...
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...
Coffee Mill
The Korean “Kuh-pi Bang-aht-gan” is roughly equivalent to “Coffee Mill.” This is one of the cafes I visited in 2007 on my first trip to Korea. It’s located in the Samcheongdong neighborhood near the Blue House Presidential residence and Gyeongbokgung Palace. While their coffee is not really worth mentioning, the interior style is pretty cool...
Instant Coffee Eclipses Rice Consumption
“Rice has long topped local food retailers’ best-selling list, but not this year. The country’s traditional staple lost its place for the first time in years, bumped by none other than instant coffee.” Korea Times article here. Instant coffee is everywhere in Korea, I’ve never been in an office or meeting without it, even though...
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