Koffee & Kpop

If you come to Seoul and you visit only franchise cafes, you’re doing it wrong.

While there’s nothing wrong with a franchise iced americano or specialty drink once in a while, there are a wealth of small, independent cafes just waiting to welcome you in.

In my 5+ years of living in Korea and visiting over 100+ cafes, there have only been a few that have disappointed me for one reason or another. Usually it’s that the cafe put aesthetic over quality, and one time, the coffee was actually just… not very good.

I don’t have hard and fast rules when it comes to what cafes I’ll visit, but I do have my preferences: hand-drip or oat milk, in-house roasting, good variety of pastries.

Cafe Hanjan was suggested by a fellow member of my book club as a good place to sit with a coffee and read. It has a quaint, rustic appeal, further enhanced by the fact that when I rolled up shortly after their opening time of noon, the owner was sitting in the window of the cafe, enjoying his own coffee.

My hand-drip was served in a beautiful little ceramic (or glass?) cup and saucer, and there were many more on display in the cafe. While I didn’t try any of the pastries, they had a small but good looking variety.

I really enjoyed my coffee and the ambiance there, so I definitely plan on returning with a book in tow.