Koffee & Kpop

Located on the first floor of the Ryse hotel, the Blue Bottle in Hongdae has a unique set-up. In addition to tables, there is built-in seating along the stairs, and the iconic Blue Bottle image reflects a blue wall behind the espresso bar as well as a blue art installation hanging from a skylight.

This Blue Bottle location felt like it fit right in. It seemed like a cool place to hang around while you wait for check-in. However, unlike every other Blue Bottle location that I’ve been to, they did not offer their signature pour-over coffee, only espresso-based drinks. This points to the “pit stop” nature of this particular location.

The bathroom was the most accessible Blue Bottle bathroom that I’ve seen. It had wide, sliding doors with low buttons for easy access for wheelchair users, braille on the sink tap, a handrail next to the toilet, a toddler seat for your squirmy one while you use the facilities, and additional perks like a bidet, plenty of toilet paper, paper towels, nice smelling hand soap and lotion…

But when I came out of the bathroom, I turned around. There was nothing but a wall. Then I slowly walked back to my seat, taking in the surroundings. The steps were people were sitting, leaning against pillows and chatting with coffees in hand…

“Hey, did you see an elevator anywhere? Or a ramp to get up here?”

Whoever designed this space put a beautiful, accessible bathroom at the top of a bunch of stairs. Stairs with no ramp. Stairs with no handrail.

There is a single door next to the merchandise display that could, I assume, be wheelchair accessible from the other side, but it has a non-accessible handle and looks, well, locked and inaccessible.

A week later, and I am still scratching my head. Did someone mess up this badly? I reached out to Ryse Hotel about my concerns and received this reply via e-mail, “If the disabled person want to using a 1st floor toilet, we can release bock the elevator and they can using a toilet.” Somehow that still seems… inaccessible to me, but at least I got a swift response.

I was disappointed I couldn’t get a pour-over at this location, but I appreciate that Blue Bottles serve oat milk so I could get an espresso-based drink that wasn’t an iced americano.