Cafe culture in South Korea - becoming a coffee lover in no time

As soon as you are in South Korea yourself, you will realize how big and popular the cafe culture is here. Cafes are a dime a dozen here. They are all clustered one after the other in a neighborhood, even on one street - cafe, restaurant, cafe, noraebang, pc bang, cafe again, then restaurant again. When my buddy Louis visited me here, he asked me how all the restaurants and cafes survived with so much competition. The answer is: Koreans love food and coffee. I think the last thing that would die out and go broke here are the cafes, because almost everyone spends their days studying on their laptops or chatting with friends in cafes. And on the street you can see many people with the typical "Iced Americano". Here you can't avoid becoming a coffee lover sooner or later. That's what happened to me too. Before my trip to Korea, I would occasionally sip an espresso shot to wake up or a latte (if that can even be called coffee), but once you're in South Korea, you're automatically drawn in. There is really coffee on every corner and to my amazement it is surprisingly good. I'm excited to "take you" to some of my favorite cafes in Seoul and show you my favorite drinks, food and atmospheres. I could write endlessly about great cafes here in Seoul, so there will definitely be a part two. But for now, enjoy some first impressions of Cafes in Seoul!

One of my absolute favorite cafes is Sadam Cafe near Seoul National University Station (사담 서울 관악구 남부순환로 1852). While I am writing this post, I am sitting in this very cafe and just enjoyed the brunch platter around 2 p.m. They serve All Day Brunch (10 a.m. - 8 p.m.) with a beautiful view over Seoul from the 5th floor. It was by coincidence that I came across this cafe, simply by googling it. The first time I came here with Celine was after we had a busy BTS merch weekend. If you haven't read the post about how we spent a whole weekend trying to get BTS merch, you can check it out here: BTS Yet To Come at Lotte World Mall, Seoul 2022

Anyway, I haven't been able to stop coming here ever since. Google really is your best friend sometimes. And as much as Google Maps unfortunately doesn't work in Korea (it doesn't show you exact buildings/streets or walking routes), the search ads related to restaurants still work. So we found a great brunch cafe in no time. Don't get confused if you're looking for the cafe, because to get in here you first have to go inside a building and take the elevator to the 5th floor. In Seoul, I often noticed that many great cafes and restaurants are hidden in old, run-down buildings. So always keep an eye out for people sitting on the second, third floor or higher and dare to use the elevators, even if the house looks like a normal apartment building.

What I look for most in cafes is the atmosphere and whether there is a good food/ drink selection. Sadam scores a full 10/10 stars for me. Not only does good music play here 24/7 (mostly indie, lofi, chilled alternative music and sometimes cool pop music too), but the view is also beautiful, apart from the tasty selection of food and drinks. What I also noticed is that there is no real "Korean breakfast". Koreans rarely eat bread or eggs, but rather soup, meat and rice for breakfast - if they eat breakfast at all. So be prepared to find that most brunch cafes offer American breakfast instead, and they do it surprisingly well. At Sadam, I love eating the KRW 13,000 brunch platter with scrumbled eggs, bacon, sausage (chorizo ​​and two small sausages) along with bread, a red bean-like sauce, and a small side salad. Absolutely delicious and very filling for the price! There are also many hearty sandwiches with salmon and potatoes on the side or salads. If you like it sweeter, you should definitely try the berry compote pancakes. I ordered these with a scoop of ice cream for KRW 15,000. These were incredibly soft and delicious pancakes with a berry sauce and added maple syrup. French toast is very popular here and I've never eaten it as often as here in South Korea. At Sadam, this is such a huge, intensely sweet portion that I don't know if I could eat this on my own again. The French toast is served with bananas, dusted with lots of cinnamon and sugar and, if you want, a scoop of ice cream. Here, too, there is the berry sauce that was also used with the pancakes. Together, this forms an unforgettable taste explosion in the mouth, but after that you are full for the rest of the day.

As for the drinks, I can say that the coffee is incredibly delicious. Here I recently tried a Homemade Vanilla Bean Latte with real vanilla, which you could see from the black dots in the coffee and later in the cup. Vanilla doesn't taste as intense and "fake" here as it does in Germany. Vanilla softens the taste of coffee in Korea. You can taste vanilla very easily, but for the most part the coffee taste remains - and for a very reasonable price (5,500 KRW ~ 4.50€)! The teas are high quality and delicious (I tried the Meadow Chamomile and Reeves Peppermint in hot) priced at KRW 4,500. My personal highlight was the Apple Cinnamon Ade and a friend of mine tried the Tomato Ice Tea - sounds less appetizing at first, but it was delicious! Those who don't shy away from high prices for good quality are in good hands at Sadam. I leave about 15-20€ in the Cafe per visit. By German standards this is a normal price, but by Korean standards it is expensive considering that otherwise you can get a huge dinner, free water and side dishes for 8,000 KRW ~6€.

I stumbled across this cafe while amusingly walking down the street from another cafe I was going to. In the street of Yeontral Dabang (연트럴다방
서울 마포구 동교로41길32) there are still a few cafes that I would like to try out. Hongdae is just full of nice cafes and I think in Seoul one can spend a lifetime discovering new cafes. At the Yeontral Dabang, I especially like the interior design - the pictures speak for themselves. There are also some homemade drinks such as the "Blooming Ade" (I think it was lavender on ice) for 7,000 KRW ~5€. The French toast (a lot cheaper here at 9,000 KRW ~ 7€) is incredibly delicious with its homemade strawberry jam, topped with cornflakes and bananas. Koreans really put a lot of effort into their food and I also really like the older owners of this cafe who made me feel really welcome. Not only were they happy with my broken Korean, but they were very friendly and service oriented. I used to spend several hours there, either to study or to write my blog posts. In Korea you don't need to worry about WiFi, because you can get it in every cafe free of charge and without question. The WiFi access is either written on the receipt or is posted everywhere in the store, just like free water dispensers for refilling are available everywhere. A true luxury that has not yet been taken for granted in German cafes.

I also drank my first black coffee at Yeontral Dabang, which was simply given to me due to "service". After I ordered an American breakfast they informed me that unfortunately they ran out of potatoes. Instead, they made me two fried eggs instead of one for breakfast and a hot tea. The price was lowered especially for me, the food was brought to my table (in Korea you actually order and pay directly at the Dresen and pick everything up there) and then I was given a coffee after I had been sitting on my laptop for about 2 hours. The elderly lady was very nice and wanted to make me happy. I had to swallow a bit at first because black coffee was just a bit too intense and hard for me. However, this coffee wasn't overly bitter like most black coffees, so I actually enjoyed it. I know very little about coffee, so I can't explain why I liked this coffee. But here, too, I think that quality simply has its price, even if I didn't have to pay anything for it. Out of gratitude and, of course, German courtesy, I brought my empty cutlery back to the lady at the counter. After I thanked her hundreds of times before for her hospitality with "감사합니다", this time she thanked me with "감사합니다" back and gave me a smile. Such encounters are really nice, because as a "foreigner" in a new country you somehow feel less alien and as if the others actually accept you.

This Japanese tea cafe (청수당공명 서울 마포구 성미산로 152) is right around the corner from Yeontral Dabang and is a cafe I've wanted to go to for a while. From the outside, it invites you to take photos with its green bamboo and lanterns. And so an incredible number of passers-by gather in front of the small river and waterfall directly integrated at the cafe to pose for photos. I also took a photo here some time ago before I even visited the cafe. But since then it has been on my list for a very long time. Here is a smaller selection of homemade, huge cakes served in a square clay bowl. Just plastering this cake was incredibly difficult because the shape was huge. However, the portion was just right for the price considering that you can't get a cake here for less than KRW 13,000. I then got the matcha cake. I don't regret my choice at all, because the cake was really delicious. But I would always be careful with Matcha, because the taste can quickly become too intense and too much. I would therefore not order the cake again, because the lumps of matcha that covered the cake were definitely too much of a good thing. You can't complain a bit about the tea, though. There is a lot of traditional black and green tea here, which are also traditionally served. Namely with a huge tea set, where you have to pour the tea yourself in a vessel that also contained a piece of volcanic rock. Take off your shoes, as is traditionally done in Japan and Korea, and then you can enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of the cafe sitting on cushions on the floor. Well, unless there's a couple in love next to you.

As lucky as I was with my seat and the view, because I was sitting right in front of the window and could marvel at the waterfall - and the photographed, posing people - it was annoying to sit next to this Korean couple for about 2 hours. Let me tell you one thing: the couple culture in Korea is huge and incredibly annoying. The expressive and already loud Koreans are even more unbearable once they are in love. Expect hours of loud giggles, laughter, teasing slaps, baby sounds, kisses, hugs and massages. They really don't care who else is disturbed, because in their world, of course, there only the partner exists. Understandable, but still incredibly annoying, like watching a kindergarten. But all of Korea is full of couples like that, because Koreans love clichés and exaggerated love, and that's what you always see in K-Dramas (Korean series). Couple clothes, holding hands, endless posing together in front of the camera and much more. Singles have fun here :D

And last but not least, I introduce you to my go-to cafe. Why? Well, it's not even 2 minutes away from my Airbnb and it's perfect for when I just want to get out and have a coffee or when I'm feeling down at home and need a different atmosphere for blogging. In Korean, the cafe is called "어느멋진날" (서울 관악구 신림로11길 67), which translates to "What a nice day." The name fits quite well, because when the afternoon sun shines there, the small, inconspicuous and, as I initially thought, unspectacular cafe shines. On the small wooden terrace in front of the cafe you can enjoy the beautiful hours of sunshine or inside directly at the window. There isn't a huge or special selection of dishes here, but the prices are amazingly cheap and the quality doesn't suffer one bit. And in this cafe I fell for a Korean trend. My favorite thing to eat here is a croffle with ice cream (5,000 KRW ~ 3-4€). A croffle is a croissant in the shape of a waffle and tastes amazing with ice cream and maple syrup. A vanilla latte or tea completes the taste experience. If you fancy something "hearty", you can try the croissant sandwich here. This is loaded with tomatoes, lettuce, ham and cheese and mustard - I never thought I could love mustard as much as I do here. I recommend the homemade ice cream coffee - literally a scoop of ice cream in the coffee with caramel and biscuits. I then sit satiated for several hours in this quiet cafe and have already written so many of my posts here or simply read a book. The music is super diverse and I even discovered one of my current favorite songs here, "Shine Bright" by ANA. Otherwise there is a lot of Korean music here, especially Korean ballads by IU and Taeyeon or pop music, but not typical radio music, rather very specific music that I can hardly put into words. The cafe has already helped me to meet a lot of new music and artists, for which I am very grateful; Because nothing is more annoying than music that everyone knows or that has already been heard to death. I also strongly recommend everyone to try ginger teas in Korea. Because real ginger is used here and especially in this cafe I enjoy it the most. I remember drinking that spicy ginger tea once and my stuffy nose suddenly burst because of the intense taste, but at least it got me breathing. The small cafes are sometimes the best, also because you can simply enjoy your peace and quiet here for several hours without a big rush. Truly - I love the cafe culture in Korea.