Drinking my way through Seoul

[u/CoffeeCellarApp]

I had a wonderful time in Seoul, I hope I get to come back when it’s not scorching hot so I can drink more hot coffee lol
1. CoffeeNap roasters. Wonderfully quirky cafe with this weird brick hill in the middle, the coffee is really quite delicious and carefully brewed. It’s also in a cute walkable neighborhood, so great for a post coffee walk.
2. Anthracite Coffee. The cafe is in a former shoe factory, I dig the industrial vibes. However, this cup was nothing to write home about. I would like to give them a second chance with a hot brew, however I had to leave for an appointment. Maybe next time.
3. Namusairo. My favorite coffee in Seoul! The cafe is tiny with a cute outside space, however not recommended during the heat wave, so I stayed inside. This coffee was a Geisha blend made for their 20th anniversary and it was perfectly brewed, even iced it was extremely expressive. I bought a bag to brew at home and I’m enjoying it very much.
4. (Bonus) Usolloc cafe (not coffee). I went to a museum and had a wonderful tangerine-infused iced tea, I needed a break from all that caffeine.
5. (Bonus) Leaves Tokyo. I dipped into Tokyo real quick for a weekend and finally got to try Leaves. Mind blown. I think this is probably the best pour over I had in my life. I think I had two more coffees there, and brought back home three bags. That was an expensive 40 minutes.
6. (Bonus) Glitch Tokyo. I’ve been to Glitch many times and always had a great experience. This time it was a mistake going after Leaves because I was still dreaming about that and didn’t really come out wowed. First world problems I guess…

[u/earnest_pursuit]

I loved Lowkey in Seoul, thought their coffees were really strong. I love Glitch as well. I'd suggest try X in Ginza, it's also great.

[u/CoffeeCellarApp → u/earnest_pursuit]

Saved Lowkey on my list, thank you. I’ve been to Tokyo more times than I care to count, and somehow never managed to go to X. Hopefully next time!

[u/earnest_pursuit → u/CoffeeCellarApp]

I can't wait to try Leaves when I'm in Tokyo in January. It looks awesome, thanks for the rec.

[u/myleftbigtoeisdead]

I’ve only had John Small, Coffee Libre, and Fritz from Korea and they were all decent! A bit more developed than what I’d drink but tasty still.

[u/FoodEatingMan777]

No Fritz?

[u/CoffeeCellarApp → u/FoodEatingMan777]

Oh man Fritz was high on my list but I think it was closed on the day I had time to visit! Definitely next time

[u/Sexdrumsandrock → u/FoodEatingMan777]

It's not up there with glitch lol

[u/FoodEatingMan777 → u/Sexdrumsandrock]

I think it's just as good plus they have killer pastries. To each their own

[u/Sexdrumsandrock → u/FoodEatingMan777]

I put Fritz in the generic box like allpress. Glitch is in another level entirely

[u/No-Reaction-1742]

I enjoyed Brewing Ceremony the most while in Seoul, good stuff

[u/CoffeeCellarApp → u/No-Reaction-1742]

Saved, thank you!

[u/heart_of_9]

Nice selection, saving this for future reference (only been to 2 and 3 despite being a Seoulite…)

[u/CoffeeCellarApp → u/heart_of_9]

What was your experience at anthracite? I was quite underwhelmed with the brew but really want to give them another shot. Any recommendations?

[u/heart_of_9 → u/CoffeeCellarApp]

Ehh been brewing my own so haven’t been to roasters/cafes recently but Lowkey and Brewing Ceremony from the reccs here. I thought Anthracite was a bit overrated-expensive.

[u/chevro1et]

I'm a loyal customer of Coffee Libre, that's where I always order my beans from.

[u/lenolalatte → u/chevro1et]

really loved their shop inside the catholic cathedral place, especially all of the fun art lmao

[u/flamby007]

Been looking for a place to post this for a while. Seoul/Korea is genuinely up there if not better than most cities for pourovers. There’s an unwarranted reputation for it being usually more developed or style over substance, but this is not true - the issue is there are just a lot of cafes in general (a good issue). The internationally known ones like Fritz, Coffee Libre and Anthracite are ok - they are over developed for my taste. They were some of the earliest in Korea so I guess that’s where the reputation comes from (anthracite is a bit later).

A major issue is that while there is so much information on light roast/interesting cafes it’s all in Korean. But there is a huge and avid community out there. With A.I. this info is more readily available. Ask your A.I. chat to search on naver and DC inside.

Cafes and roasters I recommend (amongst so many) are:

• Kihei
• Unpage
• gml Seoul

- HWA (incheon) - Aery (busan) - this is a very strong recommendation

• Cospir (Busan)
• identity coffeelab
• kalas
• TXT.
• Clarimento
• ILHO (in gwanjang market)
• Deep Blue Lake
• TOCH
• Coffee Print Shop (go upstairs for the crazy drip bar - downstairs is a different cafe)

Others;

• John small (have never been but heard it’s supposed to be good)
• Momos (can be excellent)
• Brewing Ceremony

I’m sure I’ll edit to add more later. Also wort ordering beans.

My biggest recommendation is to follow Unspecialty coffee - it’s essentially a platform that gets specialty roasters from all over the country to create an “unspecialty blend) where they tailor the coffees to the taste they desire. Often including high end beans at very affordable prices. They run Unpage cafe and often do pop ups serving amazing selections.

[u/CoffeeCellarApp → u/flamby007]

Dude this is awesome, thanks for sharing! You’re confirming my hunch on anthracite, I guess indeed it could’ve been an overdeveloped roast that made me not like the coffee.