Here's a list of South Korea coffee shops you should check out

While my friend and I were in South Korea, we visited 13 coffee shops in 9 days. To be honest, we wanted to go to more coffee shops.

I’ll start with the lists of coffee shops I recommend and don’t recommend. I’ll finally include the list of the other coffee shops my friend and I wanted to go to but didn’t have time for.

How did my friend and I judge coffee shops?

Instagram and Reddit!

We both agreed we wanted more artisanal or unique coffee shops.

Coffee shops recommendations

We were in Busan and Seoul for our trip so I’ll split the coffee shop list for each city.

I’ve ordered the shops from most favorite to least favorite and included some brief notes on what I liked or disliked at each coffee shop.

Busan coffee shops

1. Aery

Terrific coffee! I thought it was the best coffee I had on my trip. I got a café latte. The milk was incredibly frothy, and the coffee wasn’t overly bitter, even though a dark roast blend was used. They use their own custom dark blend, and it had excellent notes of dark chocolate, caramel, and roasted nuts.
They also have some pastries but not a huge selection. We got their Gateau Basque – it was excellent!
Very minimal shop design with plenty of space to study and hangout.
Super friendly staff. The head barista and lead barista knew enough English to tell me about my coffee
Interesting fact: the head barista won 5th place at a World Barista Championship with his innovative coffee drink (he does something super special with the milk – I was only shown a picture of his set up so I don’t want to explain it). He only sells five cups of his super special coffee; however, each cup is like $18.
An absolute must visit in Busan!

2. Yeongyeongjae

Decent coffee; I got a vanilla latte. I forgot to ask what beans they used but it was a bit bitter for me so I’m pretty sure it was a medium to dark roast blend.
Their pastries are unique and fantastic and the best I’ve had out of all the cafes I went to in South Korea. I got a Baenkja Dal Hangari (8000 won or roughly $5.50 USD), which was a gateau filled with vanilla ganache, had a berry and pistachio compote at its center, and sat on top of a rice cookie. A must try!
Plenty of room to study (this café has 3 floors!) and hang out with friends. I appreciate that there are different seating arrangements (couches, tables, floor mats)
Interesting wood architecture on the 2nd and third floors.
They also have an elevator if you don’t want to climb up the stairs (although I suspect that this is very common in South Korea coffee shops)

3. Momos Coffee

Good coffee and really good pastries. My friend got this Creamello coffee drink that looked so good. I didn’t drink any coffee since I hadn’t had any food yet. I did have a Kouign-Amann pastry. Super flaky and just the right amount of sweetness! I would come here again to try out their coffee!
They do have plenty of seating, but it was pretty full when we went. They have a large window wall facing the ocean. You can’t see the ocean though!

Seoul coffee shops

We were in Seoul for 6 days. Here are the coffee shops we went to.

1. Maxim Plant

the largest South Korea coffee shop we went to

Good coffee. Interesting coffee drinks too – I got their seasonal white gold black sesame latte; it was a bit on the sweeter side but nonetheless good!
They also have a small selection of cakes and pastries; I didn’t get any though.
So much space to hang out and study. The coffee shop (really it’s a whole building) has 5 floors. It has a store on one of the floors and their own roasting room in the basement. They have this huge cylinder hanging from the ceiling on the main floor. Super cool!

2. Ikovox Coffee

I remember their coffee being REALLY smooth and easy to drink. I got a vanilla latte and it was one of the best vanilla latte’s I had. They used their custom JAZZ Blend.
It’s located right next to Starfield Library so it’s really easy to buy a drink and enjoy it at the library.
There’s a decent amount of space in the shop but it was full when my friend and I got there
They had a small selection of cake rolls at the time we were there, but we didn’t get any.

2. Osulloc Tea House Bukchon

They don’t serve coffee, but their matcha latte was the best matcha latte I’ve ever had. It was rich and earthy and it was so easy to drink.
They also have really good desserts too! My friend and I got a strawberry matcha cake.
Plenty of indoor and outdoor space to sit.
They also have a small store on the first floor with teas and hand soap. The hand soap smelled so good that I purchased 2 bottles.

4. Leedorim

This was by far the most unique coffee shop I went to. They have this mountain or volcano centerpiece on the first floor. They also have this optional walk through experience where you walk from the first floor up to the second floor and back down to the first. You get to see a little bit of the coffee shop history and aesthetics. The whole walk was a bit much in my opinion but fun to experience! If you don’t want to do the tour, there’s a small side door on the first floor that opens directly to the coffee shop.
I got a vanilla latte with the Changdeokgung blend. It was excellent coffee! Not too sweet and the coffee taste was well balanced. The vanilla complemented the milk chocolates notes of the coffee.
They also have vegan and non-vegan pastries. The pastries were alright and a little dry.
The shop also has a third floor with some additional interior and a nice rooftop view of the local district and the local mountains.

4. Anthracite Coffee Roasters

Solid coffee; I got a café latte with their William Blake dark blend. It was a bit too bitter for me but I finished it all 🙂
They have pastries but not a huge selection. Their pastries were alright. We got a corn scone but I remember it being a bit dry.
The shop has two floors and a good amount of space for hanging out and studying. Most of the people studying were upstairs while all the people hanging out and talking were downstairs
They also have a decent view of Seoul on their second floor.

6. ACR (Algeria Coffee Roasters)

Another coffee shop we spontaneously went to. Nice coffee, comfortable atmosphere, and super friendly staff. The barista spoke decent English when explaining the coffee blends.
I got their Panela Café Latte with the Jungle Expresso blend. Even though the latte was made with unrefined sugar and the espresso blend was marketed to have a sweet aftertaste, the whole drink itself wasn’t actually that sweet.
They also serve pastries! I didn’t try any since I was still super full from my breakfast.
I really liked the mugs they served the coffee in. It felt weighty like a traditional American diner mug.
The interior design was quite simple and spacious. It’s definitely somewhere I can study.

7. Perception

I put this on the list because it was quite the experience to sit in the café. It’s a small wooden theme coffee shop with a pretty unique ceiling and floor aesthetic.
My friend and I didn’t drink coffee here but we got a refreshing orange ade drink (sparkling fruit juice)
I would come back to taste their coffee! They offer some signature blends that sound interesting!

Coffee shops that aren’t worth going to

There are two coffee shops that I thought weren’t worth going to.

1. Avant Garde Café – Busan

My friend got a vanilla latte and didn’t think the coffee was good. I got an orange ade (sparkling fruit juice) which was way too sweet. The view of Gamcheon Culture Village was the only thing great about the place. You do have to pay for a drink in order to see the view of the village from their balcony.

2. Caffeinated – Busan

I got their Vanilla Latte and it was pretty sweet – almost Starbucks level sweet. The food was also very bland. The place is catered for foreigners. I wouldn’t recommend coming here.

Other South Korea coffee shops

Here is a list of the other coffee shops we wanted to go to but didn’t have time for. I’ll split it between Busan and Seoul. I’ve included links to either the coffee shop’s Instagram or main website.

All these coffee shops are specialty and independent coffee shops.

These are in no particular order.

Busan

Seoul

Final thoughts

There are two reasons why we didn’t hit some of the coffee shop we originally wanted to go to:

The coffee shops didn’t open early. Most coffee shops we went to opened 10AM or later. We started our days at 9AM.
The coffee shops were far away from our planned destinations. We didn’t account for how far some of our coffee shops would be.

Even though we missed some of our originally planned shops, we were still very pleased with the ones we did go to!

There are just so many coffee shops to go to. Each offer their own unique aesthetics and coffee. Just the other day, I saw a coffee shop on Instagram that had a rainy theme to it.

I hope these lists helped you! If you’re travelling to South Korea, I really hope you have time to checkout their coffee scene. South Korea’s coffee culture is just something else!

Here’s a list of South Korea coffee shops you should check out

How did my friend and I judge coffee shops?