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Warm up in a Seoul Cafe

During the cold winter months, warm up in a Seoul cafe while seeing the city's sights! When the weather is bitingly cold, can visitors can take refuge in one of these three trendy tea-centric cafes.

 

Ilsang Dabangsa

 

Ilsang Dabangsa is a cafe that blends modern and traditional Korean design. Located next to Seoul's largest ancient palace, Gyeongbokgung, the cafe is a tranquil and quiet place to take a break during a day of sightseeing. Patrons can choose from an array of different teas, coffees, and light refreshments.

The cafe's infused blended teas are quite popular and the cafe uses tea leaves straight from one of Korea's major tea-producing regions, Gyeongsangnam Province. The rose camellia tea and their grapefruit chrysanthemum tea are two of the cafe's most popular menu items. The rose camellia tea is made by blending camellia flowers and roses in hibiscus tea. It has a beautiful color and a sweet, subtle flavor. Visitors can also order gelato, tteok (rice cakes), waffles, and ssambap (leaf wraps and rice). Ceramic tea sets are also available for purchase here.

Two of Ilsang Dabangsa's infused blended teas

 

Steven Smith Teamaker

Steven Smith Teamaker is a cafe chain that was founded in the city of Portland in the United States. Steven Smith Teamaker's Apgujeong location is the company's first international cafe. The cafe has different "stations" set up in the cafe and each station offers different varieties of tea.

Tea sampler from Steven Smith Teamaker

Visitors who sit at "tea sommelier" table, can get tea recommendations from the tea sommelier and enjoy a tea sampler put together by the sommelier. At the "draft" table, sparkling tea is made in-house by tea experts. The nitro strawberry honeybush tea is one of their expert creations. There is also a range of desserts on offer at Steven Smith Teamaker. The bungalow blueberry cheesecake is one of the most popular menu items. It is made daily by the famed Dore Dore Bakery in Sinsa-dong. The cafe also offers seasonal tea blends and desserts that change throughout the year.

 

Tea Collective

Located in Seoul's ritzy Cheongdam-dong neighborhood, the Tea Collective is a modern cafe that sells organic teas, desserts and coffees. The tea all hails from Korea's own tea-producing provinces such as Gyeongsangnam Province and Jeollanam Province. The various teas all indicate their county of origin so discerning palates can choose their drinks by origin if they wish. The cafe's desserts are made with organic ingredients and two popular menu items are the citron tea and the persimmon tea.

Sangria from the Tea Collective

The cafe has a range of milk teas and organic teas. Visitors may want to try the special vitamin fruit tea for a vitamin boost. The vitamin fruit tea contains various fruit, herbs, and honey. The regular teas are served in a glass tea dripper rather than a run-of-the-mill teapot.

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