As Seen Abroad: Hidden Latte Dreams at Coffee Hanyakbang in Seoul

We’re on vacation! For the first time since we started this blog, we’re traveling abroad. As we journey across Asia, Europe, and America, we’ll update with some of the fun places we visit. Yay!

Responding to the fans

We recently received the following letter from a real reader of this site:

“Dear Gregg and Eriko,

I think you are both so attractive and beautiful and sexy and smart and also gorgeous. I’m wondering, what’s the best coffee you’ve had on your worldwide trip so far? If you don’t answer my question, that’s okay. Just knowing two sexy sexpots like yourselves are out there makes life worth living.

Sincerely,

Napoleon Bonaparte”

Thanks for the question, Napoleon. Your assessment of the two of us is accurate. You might think the best coffee we’ve had on our trip thus far would come from Italy, where just like everywhere else, no one can agree on what a cappuccino is (or what any drink is for that matter) and the espresso is powerful and rewarding, every city and cafe having its own spin on dozens of drinks by which to deliver coffee deliciousness.

Or maybe you’d think Paris, where I’ve been consuming around 7 coffees a day sitting in cafes and bistros and doing as little as possible.

However, you’d be stupid and wrong to think those things. The best coffee we’ve had on our trip so far came from a tiny alleyway in Seoul, South Korea. This is the exciting tale of a time we got coffee a couple weeks ago.

Hanyakbang Coffee in Seoul: no fatties may enter

We’d read about Coffee Hanyakbang, located in east central Seoul not far from our Insadong hotel and my favorite restaurant in the nation. It’s famous for being hidden, tucked down a tiny alleyway. I’ve been to places like Dwit Gol Mok in Los Angeles and Hambara in Sofia, so I enjoy a good hard-to-find spot. However, I wasn’t prepared for just how tiny this alley would be.

This is the teeniest, tiniest, little itty bitty — well, you can see from the pictures above. It’s very small and very easy to miss if you’re not paying attention. The painted walls lead interested coffee-seekers single-file toward a tiny shop with gorgeous old-fashioned fixtures and a pleasant English-speaking staff that takes credit cards and is ready to prepare just about any coffee drink your heart desires.

The coffee experience

There are a very small number of tables in the shop, which were occupied when we came in. You can also go across the street and up some stairs to find more seating, but we elected to get our drinks to go. We were informed that in Korea, if you get a to-go drink, you’re legally not allowed to sit down for a bit before taking your cup with you. This may or may not be true.

Like most places in Korea right now, the staff wore masks and so did many of the customers. This is a departure from Europe, where pretty much everyone is maskless all the time now. The menu is vast, and there are sweets available as well, though we weren’t hungry since we’d just been dining on North Korean food. Though I normally judge a coffee spot by their espresso or cappuccino, it was about one bajmiljion degrees inside the shop, so we went for iced lattes.

How does the iced latte from Coffee Hanyakbang taste?

Wow. Wow wow wowweeewowow.

Normally, when I get an iced latte, I’m just looking to cool down and feel a little kick of caffeine. I’m used to the big chains where the iced lattes taste like flavorless nothing, basically water with a mild coffee aftertaste. This is not that. The espresso kick here is real, and it rules. The flavor was deep and complex (like me), soulful and brilliant (like me), and I could not get enough of it (like how you feel about me).

Even the coffee collars were pretty - look at those things! If you had told me a few weeks ago that the best coffee I’d have on this trip would not only come from Korea, but be an iced latte, I would have reached into your chest, pulled out your heart, and eaten it right in front of you. But it turns out you were right, and that I can’t do that because you have no heart, you monster.

Please please please, if you are in Seoul, seek out Coffee Hanyakbang. It’s fun to find, the staff is pleasant, and the coffee is out of this world. I don’t know how they sourced it, how they brewed it, or what they did, but the richest, most exquisite coffee experience of your sad and meaningless life is waiting for you down a teeny tiny alleyway in South Korea.