If I had the luxury of time and money, I’d love to go back to Seoul and do a cafe tour, hopping from one coffee shop to another. Never mind that I’m not much of a coffee drinker, I’d just do it for the aesthetics, because have you seen Korean cafes? Especially the concept cafes? Describing them as “instagrammable” will be understating it, because of the overall experience they provide. On top of my list would have been the Innisfree Cafe.
Innisfree is one of the more popular K-beauty road shop brands, and part of that is thanks to its high-profile celebrity endorsers, most notable of which is Yoona from super girl group SNSD. Lately, the idol reality show Produce 101 (Season 2) and its resulting group WannaOne also endorsed some of their products.
Personally, I have very good experience with the brand. It was their cleanser that first worked for my acne-prone skin, and of course I have moved on to other more effective brands since then, but I will always have a soft spot for Innisfree in my heart. To this day, I use their clay mask, some cream, sunscreens, and mineral powder.
But talking about their skincare and makeup products is not the purpose of this post.
When we were in Jeju, it would have been great to have visited the Innisfree headquarters, with its cafe and the green tea plantation. Unfortunately, it was a bit far from where we were, and we didn’t have enough time.
Since that did not happen, the next best thing would be to go to any of the Innisfree Cafes in Seoul. As far as I know, there are two Innisfree Green Cafes in Seoul: one in Myeongdong and the other one in Samcheongdong.
We first went to the one in Samcheongdong.
You won’t miss it…
If you just follow the streets as we did when we got out from the Gyeongbukgong Station, you won’t miss it. The Innisfree Jeju House in Samcheongdong is definitely noticeable, with that logo and store name in front.
The Innisfree Jeju House in Samcheongdong has three floors, with the second floor occupied by the Innisfree Green Cafe. The third floor, which is a bit of a “half-floor”, since half of it is a rooftop-style terrace, holds more tables.
I saw this cafe featured in one of the Joanday vlogs of Joan Kim, by the way. And that sparked my interest to experience it for myself.
Inside the Green Cafe
I’ve had “orders” from friends and family to purchase some Innisfree products, but since we were staying in Myeongdong, where there are a multitude of Innisfree stores, we decided to forego buying anything here so we won’t have to carry stuff as we were walking around the area.
So we went straight up to the second floor and placed our orders. They have a selection of desserts, salads, beverages (coffee- and non-coffee-based), and even souvenirs. As the name implies, it is a “green” cafe, promoting products with organic and healthy ingredients, majority of which are in Jeju. I bought their tangerine tea to bring home and luuuuuuved it. I tried other citron teas after, but they just don’t compare.
After placing our orders, we went up to the third floor and made a beeline directly for the long table at the end of the floor, the one overlooking the road below.
It was 11AM, and the place was empty except for the staff that were discreetly going about their business of prepping the place for the lunch hour rush that is sure to come.
By the window we sat…
As you can see below, it was still drizzling outside. But we didn’t mind, since we were warm and cozy inside.
From here, you can see the street down below. Some hanok-style buildings across the street, and other road shop brands here and there. If I remember correctly, there was Aritaum, IT’S SKIN, A’Pieu, and the flagship store of moonshot a bit down the street.
Those two round thingies are like buzzers. When your order is ready and due for pick up at the counter, it will vibrate, so you’d go, well, pick it up.
These are actually pretty nifty, and not all of these are the same. Other cafes and dining places – fast foods, mostly – use ones with different mechanisms. Like some light up instead of vibrating. Others let out tinkling sounds. There are also some that light up in different colors.
So when it vibrated, I went down to the counter and brought out loot up.
The moment I laid eyes on it, I went “Huwwwwwwooooow! SO PRETTY!” The lady at the counter laughed and graciously thanked me for the compliment.
It was raining outside, but these colors made me think it was all bright and sunny.
They have a fixed menu, but from time to time they come out with special “edition” items or, as they called it, “special menu”. That’s where we gravitated.
Under normal circumstances I’d have ordered their Green Tea Latte. It’s a thing, I guess, because it’s one of my default go-to drinks when I go to coffee shops.
But this time I went for something else, after asking for recommendation from the lady at the counter.
The one on the right, the larger one, is the Black Green Tea Foam Latte, which is 6500 KRW. A bit pricey, but hey, you only live once. Or, in my case, come here, once. Haha!
It was marked in their menu as one of their bestsellers, and when I asked the lady if it is sweet, she said “yes”. I went, “very sweet?” and she went, “…so-so”.
It turned out to be not very sweet at all. It was juussssst right.
That triangular plastic thingie are complimentary dried fruits, which are mostly citrus rind. I brought them back home to the Philippines and thoroughly enjoyed munching on them.
The smaller, thinner cylinder is another Special Menu, the Jeju Pudding Yoghurt, costing 4,800 KRW (~PHP 225.00 or ~USD4.25) They had two other pudding options: Mouse Cake Strawberry Banana and Jeju Pudding Plain.
Again, I went with what was recommended, because it has to be something that isn’t too sweet, and I’m pretty sure the Mouse (yes, it’s MOUSE, not mousse) Cake Strawberry Banana is all sorts of saccharine sweetness.
I swear if you looked over the racks and shelves to check out their dessert options, you’d be tempted to try all of them.
Check out the Jeju Tangerine Shaved Ice. It’s huge, and it costs 8,000 KRW (~PHP375.00 or ~USD7.00).
Even if we wanted to eat their pastries and desserts, we wanted something kinda light, because we may end up eating something heavy later on.
But this is definitely one of the best shaved ice treats I’ve ever had. Of course, the best one would be the most memorable one: my first encounter with shaved ice at the Shilin Night Market yeeeaaaars back when we went to Taipei.
So back to this Jeju Tangerine Shaved Ice. The shaved ice is milky without being sweet. Creamy but not at all fatty. There is a bit of syrup you can pour over it. It’s not quite maple, because it has a more citrus-y taste to it, if I remember.
Which makes sense, since this is Tangerine Shaved Ice. Clearly, they make use of the tangerines that Jeju Island is famous for.
And those orange and brown toppings? Dehydrated fruits, mostly from tangerines. And they’re not just toppings, because there are more of them when you dig in.
This serving is definitely enough to feed 3 people. There were only two of us, so… no complaints. Hah!
Innisfree Green Cafe is also known for their Cloud Souffle Hotcakes, but again, we weren’t up for anything too heavy too early, so we just had to be contented with the ones we tried.
Overall, I loved it. If we had more time, it’d have been fun to camp out at the Innisfree Green Cafe at Myeongdong, but if you had more food options, too little time, only one stomach, then that was a bit difficult. 🙂
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